TKAM Flipped Lesson

To Kill A Mockingbird Flipped Lesson

*Lesson plan based on a 50-minute class period
Grade Level: 9th/ Honors/Advanced
Purpose/rationale: Students have just finished reading the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by
Harper Lee and are just beginning their final project on the novel, an argumentative essay on
who the mockingbird represents in the novel and why. Students will have watched the John
Green crash course video (Appendix) the night before to gain knowledge about the overall
themes of the novel (empathy, race, gender, and social justice). At the end of the video, John
Green poses the question, Who is the mockingbird in the novel? and that will be the question
the students will be attempting to answer in their argumentative essays that we will begin to
outline in class. The reason students will be asked to complete the Google Form before class is to
show that they have watched the entire video and understood what John Green was saying. The
reason the students are watching the entire video is to wrap up the study of the entire novel, give
background knowledge on the history of what was going on when Harper Lee wrote the novel,
and to help the students grasp the novel as a whole so that they could understand the
mockingbird symbol a little better. Students have already learned about the components of
argumentative writing and essays and should know what the words claim, evidence, and
warrant mean in terms of what they will write about. This lesson is important because it will
wrap up the entire study of the novel and will help in preparing students for writing essays for
the standardized tests.
Florida Standards:
LAFS.910.RL.1.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
LAFS.910.W.1.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Objectives:
Students Will Be Able To:
Determine who in the novel represents the mockingbird symbol
Create an argument graph that outlines the claim, evidence, and warrants of the
mockingbird symbol in the novel
Materials:

White Board
Markers
Writing Notebooks
iPads
To Kill A Mockingbird (students novels)
Smart Board
Projector
Computer
Wifi

Anticipatory set:
When students come into class, the question on the board will be, Who is the mockingbird?
Teacher will play the clip from the video the students watched the night before that gives the
quote about the sin it is to kill a mockingbird and John Green speculating about who it is that
represents the mockingbird (9:55-10:40).
The teacher will ask students Who is the mockingbird? The teacher will ask the students what
they think this statement means (The mockingbird is a symbol for someone who is??), then
quickly explains what it means (someone in the novel who isnt doing anything wrong but is
constantly hated/persecuted/abused/etc.) and writes the explanation on the board. The teacher
will then ask students to open their journals and write down who they believe represents the
mockingbird in the novel and give 3 reasons (textually supported) for why they believe they are.
(This will be a think/pair/share)
Teaching Strategy/Procedure/Activity:
Time

Student is doing

Teacher is doing

15 minutes

Watching the short video,

Queuing video,

Listening/Participating in
discussion on what they think
the mockingbird symbolizes in
the novel,

Facilitating discussion,

Writing in journals.

Monitoring the writing

process.

Get with the person next to

them and discuss who it is that
represents the mockingbird in
the novel to them (according
to the definition of the

Giving directions on what the

students should be discussing,

5 minutes

Giving directions for what to

write in their journal,

Monitoring discussion,

mockingbird that is on the

board) and why.

Making sure students are on

task.

15 minutes

Share with the class who you

think represents the
mockingbird in the novel and
the three textual reasons why.

Facilitating the sharing and

writing down the different
mockingbird figures on the
board.

12 minutes

Students will listen to

directions,

Teacher will tell students to

look back at their journals and
to write three vertical
categories on the next page
and label them, Claim,
Evidence, Warrant where
they will create a thesis on
who it is they believe best
represents the mockingbird
figure in the novel, the
evidences for that from the
novel (at least 3), and why
those evidences support their
claim (or thesis),

Students will write the

categories in their journal and
begin writing.

Teacher will model how to

draw the graph in their
notebook for the claim,
evidence, and warrant on the
board,
Teacher will walk around
answering any questions they
may have.
3 minutes:

Students will finish up and

listen to directions from
teacher

Teacher will tell students that

they will need to finish this
activity for homework and
bring it back the following day
where they will start to draft
the actual essay.

Summary/Closure:
Students will finish up the points they are writing down in their notebook and pack up. Teacher
will tell the students that they need to finish and edit what they would like to at home for
homework and tomorrow, they will come back to it and start the first draft of their essay.
Assessment:

Formal assessment: Homework (the Google Form) for completion grade to know they
watched the video
Informal assessment: Discussion on who they think is the mockingbird figure and why to
see whether or not students understand what they are writing about.

Homework/follow-up assignment:
Completing their Claim, Evidence, Warrant graph in their notebook for a completion grade due
the next day.
Accommodations/adaptations:
Herbert Millner- ADHD: Allowed one water break during class when getting distracted.
Preferential seating at the front of the classroom.
Paten Vander- Speech impairment: Student will be encouraged to speak in the class, however,
they will never be forced to speak in front of the class. If they do want to speak, they will be
given extra time to say what they wish to say.
Lya Gross- Mild dyslexia: The student will be allowed to type her graph out on a computer at
home if she wishes and if that would make it easier for her.
Oliver Fore- Mild autism: Will not be forced to pair up for the think, pair, share. Has preferential
seating closest to the instruction that is going on and the teacher.
Attachments/Appendices:
Flipped Lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDS32LEe1Ss
Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EuPD7QOC_HgQ_VbJWGdp7Mo1OXczr1LDHkqXSHQAUQ/viewform
Plan B:
If the students are not understanding the mockingbird as a symbol of a character in the novel, the
teacher will have to stop the lesson to go over what a symbol is and how a symbol can represent
a person in the novel. Then the teacher will have to go a little more in depth about how and why

certain people in the novel could be the mockingbird figure because of the quote that Miss
Maudie gave to Scout about the mockingbird.
If the teacher finds that the students are having trouble with the argumentative elements they are
supposed to come up with, the teacher will have to do a quick mini lesson on each of those
things, what they are, and why we use them.
If students did not get a chance to watch the video the night before, while the other students are
starting to do their graph, the students who didnt watch the homework will watch the video on
the iPads in the back.