Language Arts 9 assignment
Due Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Mrs. Marston

Choose one. Writing assignments must be handwritten and may be illustrated.
Novel - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

H - 1. WRITE: Draw a picture of Aunt Alexandra according to the description in Ch 13.
Write a three paragraph description of Aunt Alexandra. Include her physical and personality traits. Compare and contrast her way of being and thinking with Atticus’s way of being and thinking.

H - 2. WRITE: Explain what you think Atticus means by “the summer’s going to be a hot one.” Predict what you think might happen in Maycomb during the trial from the perspective of the various people of Maycomb (the Cunninghams, the Ewells, Miss Stephanie Crawford, Jem and Scout, Aunt Alexandra, the black community, the sheriff, the judge.)

3. WRITE Compare and contrast Maycomb, county seat of Maycomb County, with Port Townsend, county seat of Jefferson County. Include geographic, historic, social similarities and differences.

H - 4. WRITE: Atticus’s behavior in Chapter 13 is very out of character. Describe how you have come to understand Atticus. Explain why and how he behaves differently in Ch 13.

5. WRITE: your definition of the word “rape.” Atticus’s definition of rape.
WRITE: at least three reasons why a child would run away from home; why Scout wanted to run away in Chapter 14; why Dill ran away; why Boo has not run away
WRITE: at least three explanations the children have for how babies are made.
WRITE: why children “need” parents; why parents “need” children;
why people “need” other people
What do these ideas tell us about the children’s understanding of their world(14).

6. Choose CAST:
Characters: town’s people Atticus Aunt Alexandra Calpurnia Scout Jem Dill Dill’s mother and stepfather Boo Radley
Actions: squirm remind sewing ponder revive retreat
fuss spank hit pull pinch gouge mind fetch emerge recite search eat breath explain wonder imagine need run off
Settings: on the sidewalk living room bathroom pink cotton penitentiary Jem’s room on the bed down the hall Scout’s room under the bed kitchen picture shows in Meridian quietness of a foggy island gray house with sad brown doors
Themes: disagreement maddening superiority reverence imagination responsibility pleasant dryness from rape to riot to runaways
WRITE: an account of one evening in the Finch’s house during the summer. This could be from your imagination or from the story.

Writing tips:
Make the paragraph the unit of composition Use the active voice.
Put the statements in positive form. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Omit needless words. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Express coordinate ideas in similar form. Keep related words together.
In summaries, keep to one tense. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.