To Kill a Mockingbird: The Student Survival Guide

What was I thinking? Do you have ANY idea how many resources there are for putting together a unit on To Kill a Mockingbird? I feel like I'm drowning in an ocean of options, and every fish who swims by leads to a better shipwreck treasure of depression-era webquests, race-relations primary sources and lit circle project ideas.

So even though I am tempted to give up on any of these resources due to interest death by overkill, I am going to give my students this ONE website to help them understand the book. It's an illustrated annotation of the text, and although I really prefer to read with a physical book in my hand, this site is so helpful that it may be worth reading the text at the computer.

I love its simplicity: each chapter has highlighted vocabulary, idioms and allusions. When you click on the high-lighted word you don't understand, it either explains the word very simply, or (my favorite part) it shows you a picture.

Check out this example:

"Atticus kept us in fits that evening, gravely reading columns of print about a man who sat on a flagpole for no discernible reason...(p. 36)."

See those blue highlights? Go ahead, click the one I know is bothering you the most, the part about the man who sat on a flagpole!

Way cool. So students, you ARE allowed to use the computer while you read.

See my list of links on the right for more annotated texts.