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Grade Level: 9-12
Academic Areas: English Language Arts
Duration of service: 10 weeks
Character Virtues: Respect, Civic Virtue and Citizenship
Service Areas: Human Services, Education/Tutoring
Service Learning Project:
Harper Lee’s influential novel To Kill a Mockingbird contains
valuable life lessons that can easily be tied to service learning
and character education. For example, the main character, Atticus
Finch, is constantly trying to teach his children, Scout and Jem,
to see life from other people’s perspectives so that his
children may reach a deeper understanding of human nature and
learn to be more empathetic towards their fellow human beings.
Atticus uses this walk-a-mile-in-your-brother’s-moccasins
approach in one part of the novel when he gives this significant
advice to his daughter, Scout: “If you just learn a single
trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds
of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider
things from his point of view . . . until you climb inside of
his skin and walk around in it.” Throughout the novel, Scout
and Jem constantly learn this lesson through their interactions
with a variety of characters from Mrs. Dubose to Dolphus Raymond,
and this lesson helps them to fight the prejudice beliefs put
upon them by the racist society that they are surrounded by so
that they do indeed learn that all of their fellow human beings
are worthy of equality despite their skin color. The idea of seeing
life from another’s perspective also helps to support another
of the major themes of To Kill a Mockingbird, that education is
not limited to the classroom but is an important part of a person’s
every day life, as we can learn so much just by considering another’s
point of view. A strong connection, therefore, can be made between
this novel and students’ lives. The idea of bridging the
generational gap can be approached, as both sides of the generational
gap often misjudge each other. Students and elders can learn that
they truly aren’t as different as they think they are and
that each has a lot to teach the other. A balance can be struck
between the two groups so that mutual admiration and respect can
exist.
After reading To Kill a Mockingbird and focusing on Atticus’
advice, students will work in pairs to interview and to be interviewed
by elders from the community. The goal for each side is to learn
as much about one another as possible so that they can then each
write a creative short story in first perspective from the other’s
point of view. In other words, the students will write a story
from the elder’s perspective and the elder will write a
story from the young adults’ perspective. All stories will
be published in a booklet to be distributed at the celebration
to all who took part in the project. Copies may also be distributed
to the local senior center. Also, throughout the school year,
the elders and students will continue to write to one another
and elders will be invited in periodically during some class activities
such as watching The Crucible movie after reading the play. The
purpose of this project is to encourage young people and elders
to gain mutual respect for one another. Students and elders alike
will realize that they have a lot to offer to one another.
Goals and Objectives
Academic
Learning Goal: Students will learn the important components of
the interview process.
Standard: ELA #1 and #4
Learning Goal: Students will learn the components of writing a
business letter.
Standard: ELA #1 and #4
Learning Goal: Students will learn the importance of historical
background for understanding literature.
Standard: ELA #1
Learning Goal: Students will delve into their creative writing
abilities and enhance them through writing the elders’ stories.
Standard: ELA #2 and #3
Service
Community need: There is a need to help bridge the gap between
young people and the elderly population so that young people can
gain a sense of respect for their elders and elderly citizens
can feel invested in the school district.
Possible Community Partners: senior centers, rotary club, veterans
associations, local library
Objective: Students will gain respect for elderly citizens and
the elderly will feel a connection to the students, therefore,
strengthening the community as a whole.
Objective: Students and elders will break down barriers that
exist between one another.
Character
Virtue: respect
Objective: Students and elders will increase their regard and
value for one another.
Virtue: civic virtue and citizenship
Objective: Students will have an increased feeling of belonging,
empowerment, and ownership due to their hard work as a result
of being advocates for the elders. In return, the elders will
feel less fear and anxiety associated with young people and will
feel a connection to them.
Key Activities
Key Planning Activities
1. The teacher will reach out to the community in search of active
senior citizens who are willing to participate in this project.
Participants must be willing to be interviewed by and to interview
a pair of young adults and to write a story from the young adults’
perspective. Therefore, they must be willing to come to school
several times for an informational session about the project,
to be interviewed and to interview, to meet with the teacher for
help writing their story, to come in for student-led computer
tutorials if needed so that the story can be typed, and to come
in for the end-of-the-unit celebration. Elders must also be willing
to write letters back and forth with students throughout the school
year and perhaps come into the classroom during select activities.
2. Students will learn/review the components of the interview
process. It is possible that an expert in the field of interviewing
(newspaper reporter, journalist, etc.) can come into the classroom
to share his/her tips on how to conduct a successful interview.
A list of quality interview questions will be generated.
3. Students will learn/review the process of writing a business
letter. This letter writing format will be used by students to
introduce themselves to their elder partners and invite them into
the school for the interview. The friendly letter format will
be used for subsequent letters.
4. The idea that we all have more in common than we think and
that it is important to take the time to see life through someone
else’s perspective (a connection here to To Kill a Mockingbird
will be made) will be discussed. Students will be made aware that
the purpose of the interview is learn as much about the elder
as possible so that they can then write a story in first-person
point of view from the elder’s perspective.
Key Service Activities
1. Students will be paired with one another and then partnered
with an active, elderly citizen. The two students will interview
the elder and the elder will interview the two students. Each
side will then write a creative story in first-person point of
view using one another’s perspective.
2. Stories will be published in a booklet to be given out to everyone
who participated in the project (elders, students, community partners,
etc.) as well as perhaps putting copies out in the community,
i.e. local and school libraries, historical society. A photograph
of the students and their elder partner will be included.
3. Students and elders will continue to write to one another throughout
the school year. Students will write a letter as each major literature
unit is completed, most likely for a total of about four times
throughout the school year. Students will describe what they learned
from reading the literature to their elder partner, fostering
a further understanding of the literature.
Key Reflection Activities
1. (oral) At the start of the unit in groups of 3-5, students
will migrate to different areas in the classroom where they will
view a variety of pictures of elderly people. In their groups,
they will discuss what thoughts, ideas, words, and opinions come
to mind as they study each picture. One group member will be responsible
for jotting down the group’s responses to this brainstorm.
Once every group has spent 3-5 minutes at each picture, the class
will be called back together and a discussion will take place
about what they noticed about each picture. This will bridge nicely
into a discussion about stereotypes and how unfair they can be.
responsibility/civic virtue and citizenship/justice and fairness/respect
2. (written) After the interviews take place, students will write
thank you notes to the elders they interviewed. In the thank you
note, they will include their thoughts and feelings about the
interview and what they learned from the interview. caring/respect/giving
3. (performance) Students will compose a short monologue using
their elder’s voice. They will read it to the class as if
they are the elder that they interviewed. This activity will allow
fellow classmates to get a feel for what each pair of students
learned from their elder during the interview and encourage students
to step into someone else’s shoes for a short while. giving/caring/respect/civic
virtue and citizenship
Demonstration Activity
A grand celebration complete with food and bringing students
back together with their elder partners again will be given. There,
everyone will receive a copy of the booklet of published pieces.
Also, each pair of students will introduce their elder partner
to the audience and discuss the most interesting thing they learned
from the interview. The elder will do the same for each student.
Booklets will be on display in the local and school library and
perhaps the historical society. An article on the entire service
learning project will appear in the school’s newsletter.
Parents and community members will be invited to attend the celebration.
They will read the stories that are published in the booklet and
the article that will be published in the school’s newsletter.
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