American Identity As Shaped and Portrayed Through Southern Literature

Megan McGee, Language Arts, McClintock MS

Curriculum Unit (pdf)

Synopsis

This unit is intended to focus on the comparison of perspectives between the main characters of To Kill A Mockingbird and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Students will be able to draw on outside resources in order to discuss the relevancy of reading these novels amongst a backdrop of current civil unrest including the controversy surrounding the removal of Confederate monuments and the educational redistricting in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. After students have read the novels they will not only be able to do a character to character comparison, but a character to self comparison, and a text to life comparison. Students will be able to tour the Levine Museum of the New South and specifically focus on their Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers exhibit. Students will also examine the existing Confederate monuments in Charlotte. In order assess student learning, the unit will end in a student led and teacher facilitated Socratic Seminar.