To Kill a MockingbirdBook Club Projects

People form book clubs to meet new people, socialize, share a good book and explore issues in literature. Because we are a small group of people reading books together, we might as well form a book club!

In this book club, your job is to create a simple presentation of your assigned chapter(s) for your classmates. In this presentation, you must create a powerpoint/word document in which you

  1. Summarize your assigned chapter(s).
  2. List and explain all of the new characters in your chapter. If there are no new characters, please say that there are no new characters.
  3. Explain the main theme of your chapter(s).
  4. Come up with an Essential Question to ask the class based on this theme. An essential questionis a question without a right or wrong answer and can therefore lead to a discussion. For instance, “Is there a God?” is an essential question while “What does it say on page 111 of the Koran?” is not.
  5. Come up with 2 Sub-Questions to make sure that your discussion lasts at least 5 minutes. Sub-questions are similar to the essential question, but are more specific and reveal the opinions of the different group members. For instance, if the Essential Question is “Who is responsible for the Jewish Holocaust?” a good Sub-Question would be “How should Jews be compensated for their losses?”
  6. Come up with 1 Devil’s Advocate Question that reflects a contrarian point of view and forces the group to think about their assumptions. For instance, if the subject were the Holocaust, a Devil’s Advocate Question would be something like “Why should people today have to pay for crimes of the past?”
  7. Create a word/powerpoint document with all of this information and send it to your teacher at by 6 PM Tuesday.
  8. Print your powerpoint/word document and give it to me at the beginning of the period.
  9. Come to class Wednesday prepared to stand up in front of class, present your work and lead a discussion based on your questions.

Book Club Grading Rubric

1510152025

Did not summarize assigned chapter(s)Accurately summarized assigned chapter(s)

Did not list/explain new characters Listed/explained new characters

Did not explain main themeAccurately and thoroughly

explained main theme

No Essential Question/Strong, clear Essential Question

Essential question done incorrectly

Missing Sub-Questions/Had 2 strong Sub-Questions that were

Sub-Questions were unrelated to clearly related to the Essential Question

Essential Question

Missing Devil’s Advocate question/Had a strong Devil’s Advocate question

Devil’s Advocate Questions werethat was clearly related to the Essential

unrelated to Essential QuestionsQuestion

Did not seem to understand quotes,Showed a strong understanding of

Essential Question, Sub-Questions, or Devil’squotes, Essential Question,

Advocate QuestionSub-Questions, and Devil’s Advocate Question

Unprepared to lead a discussionPrepared to lead a discussion