Welcome!

Welcome to my To Kill a Mockingbird blog page. To the right you will find examples of excellent blog posts to use as a guideline for your own blogs. By no means, however, are you limited only following these examples. Come up with your own style that works for you! Just make sure you refer to the blog posts guidelines below.

Blog Posts:
At the end of each literature circle discussion, each group member will create a blog post worth 25 points. In this blog post, the students will type their answers from their roles. Students will also reflect upon what they learned during their literature circle discussion. Blog posts should be between 250 and 300 words in length and categorized in one of two ways: TKAM or To Kill a Mockingbird.

1. Step 1: Answer the questions associated with your role in full sentences/paragraph form so that it is interesting for your readers. Do not paste the questions into your blog post or place the answers in bullet points.
2. Step 2: Summarize the discussion your literature circle had. Consider the different things you learned from your group members about the plot, the literary devices that were utilized, and the connections made to life as we know it.
3. Step 3: Describe what you learned about what it means to be human or what it means to be a part of a community through this discussion. This is your philosophical moment; the time to exert your opinions about the book and the world around you upon your readers. Do not merely state that you learned that Scout, Dill and Jem are scared of Boo. State why you think this important and what this shows the reader. For example: Scout, Dill and Jem are afraid of Boo primarily because of the rumors and gossip that filters down to them from adults in the community. They have never actually met or talked to Boo and formed their own opinion. This reminds me of when I was a child and some of the opinions I formed of others was based on my parents’ or my sisters’ opinions. This taught me how impressionable children can be. Really, it taught me how naive and innocent they can be. I think this part is important because I think the children in the book will eventually grow up and lose this innocence some how.

Literature Circle & Blog Posts Rubric

A	Student was fully prepared for the literature circle with answered questions and was an active participant in discussion. Student demonstrates in-depth inferences about the message the author is sending through the story, about the human experience and societal issues. Student recognizes such inferences in their response to the literature role questions, discussion and in their blog posts.
B	Student was fully prepared for the literature circle with answered questions and participated in discussion when provoked by teacher or group members. Student understands the purpose of the literature circle roles and supplies sufficient evidence to support his or her analysis of the text through the role questions; however, student does not fully explain the inferences and connections made to the world around them.
C	Student answered the questions associated with their role, but was not an active participant in the group discussion. Student provides summary of the plot and characters in response to the literature role questions and in the blog post.
D	Student was not actively involved in the literature circle and merely summarized the book chapters in the blog post.
F	Student did not complete the required literature circle questions or the blog post.