To Kill a MockingbirdAssessment Task

Personal Analytical Reflection

• Week 7• MONDAY 6 March: Draft Due

– Email script to Ms Styles by 4pm

WEDNESDAY 8 March: No lesson – Swimming CarnivalThursday 9 March: Drafts returned, editing via feedback

Week 8FRIDAY 17 March – DUE DATE

– Submit:• Task sheet• Final script• All drafting (with feedback - print)• Your video will be uploaded to YouTube – instructions to

follow

Key Dates:

Understanding the task

Analyse and reflect the way in which a character in To Kill a Mockingbird affects you and makes you reflect on ideas and values that you believe are

important in today’s world.

What is a Personal Analytical Reflection?

A Personal Reflection is a response to a particular stimulus – in this term, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

It is written by an individual to explore personal thoughts, experiences, feelings and events. (Not necessarily about your own lives)

It is an opportunity to reconsider events, thoughts and feelings from a fresh perspective.

A personal reflection, is used to gauge how successfully you can interact with a text.

You need to show that you can -evaluate ideas and draw a comparison between those ideas, and your own.

What is a Personal Analytical Reflection?

What will I need to consider when writing a Personal Analytical Response?

The task is a personal response made by you and will be different to responses from others.

Your response will be influenced by:1. Your opinions, beliefs and experiences2. Similarities or contrasts to your own life but not necessarily

about you.(i.e. experiences you can identify with)3. Your connection and understanding of the character4. Your emotional state at a given moment5. Sympathy or empathy with characters

How do I support my opinion and ideas?

• Even though you have been asked to provide a personal response you will still need to justify your opinion.

• This means you need to give reasons as to why you developed your ideas.

• You can support your response through:1) Examples from To Kill a Mockingbird 2)

Referring to specific events within the novel3) Referring to specific quotes within the novel

What is the task asking me to do?

Your task is to pre-record a reflective commentary answering the question: What can we learn from fictional characters?

You are to choose a character from the novel you have studied in class.

You need to analyse what is presented in the novel – what were the actions/thoughts of the character?

You then need to reflect on this – what did I learn from this character? How has this changed the way I think? Or the way I might act? How can I relate? How did this make me feel?

• St Paul’s School library is asking Year 10 students to contribute to their new website pages where students are asked to record their insights into what readers can learn from fictional characters. Your work will be considered for the website: http://library.stpauls.qld.edu.au/reading/what-can-we-learn-from-fictional-characters/

Who is the audience for this site?

How will this affect the way you write and present your speech?

Audience and Context

• Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts

• Presentation should directly target audience – peers.

• Consider:– Language – Dress– Setting– Complementary features– Editing – Sounds and music

The Process

Structure• Similar to an essay, your personal analytical

reflection requires you to follow a structure:– Introduction• Which includes your thesis

– Body Paragraph 1– Body Paragraph 2– Body Paragraph 3– Conclusion

Body Paragraph • Topic Sentence that covers thesis statement

• Example or two from novel.

• Analysis of the conflict or obstacle the character faces.

• Reflect how we might learn from this

• Link back to thesis statement and next paragraph

Body Paragraph Example: Atticus Finch’s commitment to equity and social justice teach us the importance of empathy in understanding the human condition even in the face of deep rootedprejudice such as that seen in the town of Maycomb. An example of Atticus living this philosophy can be seen when he agrees to take on the case of accused rapist, African American Tom Robinson. Not only does he agree to take on this case, but he also refusesto reveal to Scout that he had no choice to take the case as he is the court appointedlawyer for the accused. His decision to keep this information private indicates that he would rather teach his children about the importance of tolerance in the face of prejudice than take the ‘easy way out’ and reveal that he had no choice but to defend Tom Robinson. Atticus further reinforces this life lesson by telling Scout, ‘…You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’ (Chp 3. p34) I believe that the author Harper Lee created the character of Atticus to act as an embodiment of this idea and placed him in the town of Maycomb in the 1930s to highlight the contrast between Atticus’ progressive views of race relations and empathy against the more typical prejudiced views of the townsfolk. Also important is the way in which the concept of empathy is explained. The useof Scout as a focal point for this message allows the definition and language to be explicit and accessible via the metaphor of climbing into a man’s skin. This reading of empathy is as relevant to the reader as it was when the novel was first published in 1960 as it is today as a guiding principle for life. <link sentence here for next paragraph>

Approach • Thesis– This is embedded in your introduction and should

clearly outline the conflict, obstacle of your character, and break this into three sub-points. These sub-points make up the three paragraphs.

– It may be broken down into three way they have dealt with the conflict or obstacle.

1. Topic Sentence that covers thesis statement (Point)2. Example or two from novel (Evidence)3. Analysis of how the character deals with the conflict (Evaluation)4. Reflect how we might learn from this (Reflection)

- Perhaps you will be able to connect this issue to other contemporary issues - ‘I’ statements may be used

5. Link back to thesis statement and next paragraph (Link)

• It would be advantageous to use PEEL, but add an R for reflection = PEERL

ApproachBody Paragraph

Questions?