To+Kill+a+Mockingbird+-+Wonder

= Pairing Project, Part One = Names of Group Members Margaret Timmer, Paige Schoenborn, Sam Ford, and Kaitlyn Nix = Classic Text Title = Lee, Harper. //To Kill a Mockingbird//. New York City, New York: Warner Books,Inc., 1960. 1-281.
 * Basics: ** //To Kill a Mockingbird// by Harper Lee
 * Links ** : "To Kill a Mockingbird" is not yet in the public domain. There are no found links to online sources for the text.

**Possible Connections**: In approximately 500 words, identify elements of the classic work that might connect to a work of young adult literature. You might focus on a major theme of the work, a character or characters, its setting, its form, or another component. Speculation is fine and expected: you are identifying //potential// links.

There are many elements of the classic work, //To Kill a Mockingbird,// that might connect to a work of young adult literature. One of the biggest potential links in this book is having to do with a central story-line in the book, judging those that are different from oneself. In //To Kill a Mockingbird,// the children, Jem, Dill, and Scout, are all very afraid of Boo Radley because he is different from them and they are unsure about his life. They know that the man stays inside his house all the time and because this is different than the way they live, they start believing terrible rumors or even making up the rumors themselves to try and explain his #|strange behavior. In the end, the main character Scout realizes that Boo Radley is very similar to everyone else and is in fact a good person. This will likely be the strongest connection between the classic book and our young adult text, //Wonder,// that is about a young boy with a facial deformity and therefore ostracized in a similar fashion as Boo Radley. (PS) Other themes such as family, youth, and compassion/forgiveness are also #|compatible themes between these two works of young adult literature. Family is a theme connected to both //To Kill a Mockingbird// and //Wonder// because both the main characters have strong relationships and strong family values. In both works, their parents play a large part in teaching them to hold good moral values and not to be prejudice of others. Youth is also a theme carried in both works, not only because the narrators are both young kids, but because of the way we as readers see them grow throughout the story and see the situations and scenes through their perspectives. We also notice how big of an influence the adults in the stories are on the young children. They learn their prejudices through their parents beliefs and actions. Compassion and forgiveness also play a large part in both of these works in my opinion. Characters in both works pass judgement before really getting to know the person, but in the end #|realize that those characters they judged and teased/talked about are just like everyone else and those characters who were being treated differently, Boo Radley and Auggie, show compassion and forgiveness towards those who treated them differently. (SF) Along with the characters treating Boo Radley different because of his different lifestyle, another central theme of the book is racism. This connects to the idea of treating people poorly or judging them because they are different. This is strongly connected to the sociocultural conditions though, so this perhaps may not be the strongest connection. Some of the other possible connections are the themes of: growing up, working with people that are different than you, poverty, and problems in our judicial #|system. The two marginalized characters in each book, Boo Radley and Auggie if given the opportunity to communicate would have a great deal to communicate with one another about the weight of oppression and being viewed as different by their peers. Auggie would probably have a better grasp on his marginalization because of the physical manner of his affliction, whereas Boo Radley is unable to fully see and comprehend the sociocultural undercurrents that infract on his life. Therefore, I believe their dialogue would be not only interesting for a reader such as myself to view, but also constructive for these characters in understanding the different reasons why people are marginalized. //Wonder// might have a greater success rate in helping younger readers understand these main concepts about marginalization, diversity, and poverty because the text itself is more upfront about the differences between Auggie and the rest of the children. Wonder is a more direct text and takes less subtext to understand why Auggie is ostracized, it is made clear it is because of his facial deformity. Whereas in the classic there are many different factors occurring simultaneously that surround the marginalization of Boo. (KN)

An interesting vehicle for examining the many common elements in our literary pair might be to compare the communities. A group of bright students is sure to be able to identify that every community operates by a generally agreed upon code of “law.” Students can discover through discussion that not all rules are written by legislative bodies. A newly favorite text of mine may be an informative supplement to our reading: Robert Frost’s “Wall” speaks to the community of New England neighbors who meet only once of year, for the repair of their boundary walls. Communities can be defined by their boundaries.

What kind of rules come into play in a middle school? Older students may be able to absorb a brief, informative foray into the world of psychology. How do the concepts of conformity (rules) and individuality inform one another and what roles might they play in a middle school community? Discuss how the rules of Junior High include some students and exclude others. In //Wonder//, how did the rules exclude Auggie? In Auggie’s world, who has the greatest social consequence? From whence does that consequence come? In what ways did the Beecher Prep community change during the novel? How did his position in the community change? Did Auggie remain an outsider? Did the rules change? Are the changes at Beecher Prep pleasing to the reader?

Assuming that the class assignment will begin with a reading of //Wonder//, after reading //To Kill a Mockingbird,// the class could compare the communities that serve as settings for the two stories. What might a small, southern town whose historic dignity might be greater than its political importance, have in common with Beecher Prep? Which members of the Macomb, Alabama community are the most significant and why are they at the top of the social ladder? Which members of the community, like Auggie, are excluded? Why? Do all the Mockingbird characters follow the rules? Are there consequences for being different in Macomb? Mockingbird offers many options for students to identify and examine the effect of internal and external “different-ness.” What changes does the reader observe in Macomb between the novel’s beginning and end? Do the rules change for the black members of the community? Do things change for Arthur Bradley? What changes occur for Dill? In this story, who changes? Although the children are saved from a would-be murderer, does this author give us a “happy” ending? Students may be challenged to imagine the future of Macomb, Alabama. With their existing knowledge of American history, they may be able to write new chapters for Jem and Scout. How are they different at the end of the story? Might the next generation change the community’s rules? If the rules don’t change, what is likely to happen to the community?

This approach offers the flexibility necessary for students to take personal ownership of their own analysis. Certainly, the classic novel is layered with examples of inclusion and exclusion, allowing many options for the reader to find a topic which may elicit interest, if not passion in a world which, for the purposes of this unit, begins in a modern day junior high school and expands to encompass historic events; and issues.

(MT) 1195 final world count = Research Focus: Pairing Classics with Young Adult Works = In this section, list **at least three scholarly** sources (MLA style) that will help you pair your classic text with a work of young adult fiction. Your main research question is "What methods or strategies are recommended for pairing young adult works with classic texts?"

1. Herz, Sarah K., and Donald R. Gallo. //From Hinton to Hamlet : Building Bridges Between Young Adult Literature and the Classics//.
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. 1-144. //ProQuest//. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. <[|From Hinton to Hamlet]>.

====This book focuses on both why today’s teachers need to teach classic literature with Young Adult Literature and how to do so successfully in the classroom. The text starts out describing the problems with “force-feeding” classic literature to students who are uninterested, and then continues to describe the importance of Young Adult Literature, and the reasons why young adult books are useful and helpful to make students better readers. The authors then describe the importance of finding meaning in all texts they are reading and offer strategies to help teachers do just this. At the end, the authors discuss the most common classic literature that is taught in classrooms and the most popular young adult literature that is taught in classrooms. They make some possible connections of “bridges” as they say between the classics they offer and the young adult literature, along with some of the common themes found in all these books. At the very end of the book they also offer a list of over 1,000 young adult books recently published that could be used in English classrooms. (PS)====

2. Stover, Lois T. ""Mind the gap": Building bridges between adolescent readers and texts." //English Journal// 92.4 (2003): 77-83. [|Mind the Gap]

This article focuses on teaching students that they can enjoy texts, become lifelong readers, and be confident in their ability to connect with text in personal ways. Teachers can help students "bridge the gap" between their world and the world of the literary texts presented in the class. The article gives examples of "bridges" to use, such as: props and drama, other literary works, a poem, short-story, various forms of media, or even the teacher themselves. The purpose of the "bridge" is to help students connect with difficult texts. Therefore, the teacher "may have to develop several bridges for a given text and determine which route to take based on their knowledge of their class' personalities, needs, interests, and abilities". Using another text, such as a young adult work, helps students create connections between the two texts by analyzing the theme, characters, and style, which scaffolds them later when reading difficult novels.

3. Valazquez, Deana Lynn. //Using Young Adult Literature to Teach the Classics: A Study in Pairing Young Adult Novels with the Classic Works in Secondary English Classrooms//. Diss. University of Central Florida, 2011. [|Using Young Adult Literature]

Here we find a thesis that echoes the principle claim of //Reading Unbound//, that young adult fiction is a valuable tool in the secondary classroom. Ms. Valazquez gives definition and a brief history of terms, all in reasonable agreement with Willhelm and Smith. She asserts that effective instruction demands reader engagement. Although this paper does not give the careful and loving attention to the pleasures of reading our classroom text does, the author is very clear in outlining her theory and outlining the agreement of numerous experts. She outlines a research project in which she surveyed a small number of Seminole County educators. Although the practices in classrooms varied greatly, it was agreed that incorporation of young adult literature benefits secondary students of English. Ms. Valazquez includes a listing of quality juvenile literature and offers a number of suggested pairings which may be a useful resource to the educator. (MT)

4. Sanderson, Christine. //"Birth/Death/Rebirth: Pairing Young Adult and Classic Novels to Teach Situational Archetypes."// The Alan Review (2001): 24-27. Web.

Birth/Death/Rebirth: Pairing Young Adult and Classic Novels to Teach Situational Archetypes Christine Sanderson explores a broad concept of reoccurring archetypes in literature and introduces this concept to the teaching of Young Adult novels. Sanderson focuses on the circular fashion of literature and philosophy to prove the point that most writers are actually writing about the same human experience just using different words and styles to target different audiences. This thesis becomes extremely relevant when trying to teach literature to young readers because understanding this means that one will effectively be able to teach these fundamental and repeating archetypes by choosing the style that is best suited for the intended readers.

= **Process** = In this section, detail your plan for moving forward. Assign responsibilities to group members and establish a timeline for completing the next step of this project.

1. Group Members will have the Young Adult Literature book, "Wonder" read by Monday, September 22, 2014. 2. For the second part of Part Two, "Points of Connection," group members will all brainstorm different connections between "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Wonder." We will discuss these different connections in class, and all group members will add different "connections" between the two texts on the WikiSpaces template. Each member should come to class with at least 2-3 points to share to make the group discussion run more smoothly and efficiently. 3. For the "Research: Online Instruction" portion of the next part of the project, each group member will be responsible for finding one scholarly source and citing it MLA style that will help us design our mini-unit for part three. We will focus on the question, "What strategies and methods are effective for online instruction?" After finding the article the group members will also directly link their article to the wiki and write a 100-word annotation so other group members know what the article is about. 4. In class, group members will discuss the required tasks for moving forward on to Part Three and discuss the due dates to make a plan to proceed into the third part of the Pairing Project. 5. Hopefully, members will tutor the technological weak link (specifically, the granny in the group) in the utilization of on-line resources and consider the topic of appropriate strategies and/or accommodations for students without home internet access. 6. For the comfort of different personalities with different time management styles, a calendar of additional mini-deadlines for postings, will be established during class or in a short, after class meeting.