Ms. Frick's Teaching Portfolio

"Scout's Journal" served a few key purposes as a routine part of our study of "To Kill a Mockingbird". First, it aided and demonstrated comprehension of key events in the novel. It also called on the students to practice using textual evidence to analyze the story as well as the significance of the literary terms used in it. Finally, the journals encouraged the students to reflect on the ideas and themes from the perspective of a child (the main character Scout) in order to broaden their worldview and practice putting ourselves in others’ shoes in order to contemplate the essential question, "how to environments and experiences shape our views?"As they journaled, students were prompted answer both “who/what” and “why/how” questions in the journals to show that they not only understood the readings but also had an opportunity to assert their own interpretations and conclusions. There were 8 journal entries in all, assigned for both classwork and homework at intervals as we read. 2 pictures were also required to be submitted with the final project at the end of the book. The pictures were to depict important scenes in the novel, and were to be accompanied by a caption explaining the significance of the scene. The finished journal project was collected after we finished the book and served as one of the graded summative assessments for the novel.