To Kill a Mockingbird Webquest

Teacher Page

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Title: To Kill a Mockingbird Historical Context

Introduction: This Webquest was created for 9th grade English Language Arts students. The purpose of this Webquest is to give students background knowledge of this historical context of To Kill a Mockingbird before reading the novel.

Learners: In order to successfully complete this project, students must possess a 9th grade reading level, skills for working as a group, and basic computer knowledge.

ELA Standards:
  • 9.6: Relate a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting.  
  • 9.7: Relates a literary work to the seminal ideas of its time.

History Standards:
  • USII.9 Analyze the post-Civil War struggles of African Americans and women to gain basic civil rights.  

Objectives:
  • Students will learn the basics of doing research for a project.
  • Students will be able to explain the historical context of To Kill a Mockingbird.
  • Students will have strong background knowledge and be prepared to read the novel.

Time Requirements & Setting: The computer aspect of this Webquest can be completed in one day, and the poster part of the Webquest should be completed within 1 1/2 days. The Webquest can be completed in a regular classroom equipped with a laptop cart.

Materials:
  • Laptop cart or computer lab
  • Poster boards for each group
  • Art supplies (markers, magazines, crayons, scissors, glue)

Classroom Directions:
  1. All students should take a laptop and log on.
  2. Direct students to the address for the Webquest: http://tkmwebquest.weebly.com/
  3. As a class, read over the Introduction to the Webquest. Read the guiding questions (or have a student read them) and explain that students should keep these questions in mind while doing their research.
  4. Direct students to form groups of four (or put them in groups beforehand, depending on the class).
  5. Direct students to the Task page to get started. After reading the Task, students should move on to the Process page and begin to choose who will be researching each topic.
  6. At this point, students should begin conducting their research on individual laptops. Students should be taking notes on the websites that they are exploring.
  7. Students should be able to finish the research portion of the Webquest in one day. On day two, students should get back into their groups and teach their group members what they learned through their research. Then, groups should begin working on a collaborative poster project. They can take all of day two and the first half of day three to finish their posters. On the second half of day three, they should be ready to present their posters to  the class.

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