Introductory WebQuest Research
PART 1 - Once you are assigned a topic (1-Author, 2-Scottsboro Boys, 3-Jim Crow Laws, 4-The Great Depression, 5-North/South in 1930s) it is your responsibility to become an expert on that area. Explore the websites provided to answer the guiding questions to help you gain as much knowledge as possible on the subject. Record your answers in your preferred method (on paper, in a notes app, Google doc, etc. ) REMINDER: Use the questions and websites as a starting place, but feel free to expand your research.
Topic 1 - About the Author
Your job is to become an expert about Harper Lee. Click on the links below to read her biography. All of the guiding questions can be found by reading the provided links, however do not limit yourself to this research. To become an expert you will need to create new questions that arise as you determine the answers of the guiding questions and this may lead you to different websites.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/harperle.htm
http://www.biography.com/articles/Harper-Lee-9377021
Guiding Questions:
1. When and where was Harper Lee born? What was her family like?
2. Who was her childhood best friend?
3. What did she study in college? Did she participate in any extra-curricular activities? Why might this be important to consider while reading To Kill A Mockingbird?
4. How did her decision to move to New York make To Kill A Mockingbird a reality?
5. What year was To Kill A Mockingbird published? When was it adapted to screen?
6. Was Harper Lee honored in any way following the publication of To Kill A Mockingbird?
7. Harper Lee's real life influenced many of the characters and events in To Kill A Mockingbird. Given what have you learned about her life (including personality traits, friends, family, experiences) make a prediction about what kinds of issues might surface in the book. Do you think that your knowledge about Harper Lee will influence your reading of the book? Should it influence your reading of the book? Why or why not?
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/harperle.htm
http://www.biography.com/articles/Harper-Lee-9377021
Guiding Questions:
1. When and where was Harper Lee born? What was her family like?
2. Who was her childhood best friend?
3. What did she study in college? Did she participate in any extra-curricular activities? Why might this be important to consider while reading To Kill A Mockingbird?
4. How did her decision to move to New York make To Kill A Mockingbird a reality?
5. What year was To Kill A Mockingbird published? When was it adapted to screen?
6. Was Harper Lee honored in any way following the publication of To Kill A Mockingbird?
7. Harper Lee's real life influenced many of the characters and events in To Kill A Mockingbird. Given what have you learned about her life (including personality traits, friends, family, experiences) make a prediction about what kinds of issues might surface in the book. Do you think that your knowledge about Harper Lee will influence your reading of the book? Should it influence your reading of the book? Why or why not?
Topic 2 - Scottsboro Boys
Your job is to become an expert on the Scottsboro Boys. Click on the link below to start learning about them. All of the guiding questions can be found by reading the provided link, however do not limit yourself to this research. To become an expert you will need to create new questions that arise as you determine the answers of the guiding questions and this may lead you to different websites.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html
Guiding Questions:
1. Who were the Scottsboro Boys? How did they get into so much trouble?
2. Where and when did the Scottsboro Boys' original trial take place? How do you think this affected the outcome of their trial?
3. What does the NAACP acronym stand for? Why did the NAACP decide not to help the Scottsboro Boys?
4. The Communist Party came to the aid of the Scottsboro Boys. How did the South perceive the Communist Party, and how was it similar to the perception of blacks? What was the Communist Party's hidden agenda in providing aid to the Scottsboro Boys?
5. The Scottsboro Boy were not provided with adequate defense lawyers. Please list at least 3 ways in which the defense lawyers were inadequate.
6. Describe the trials. Were they fair or unfair? Please include at least 3 supporting facts to back up your description.
7. Were the Scottsboro Boys ever pardoned of their convictions?
8. The Scottosboro Boys' trial took place during the childhood of To Kill A Mockingbird's author, Harper Lee. Make a prediction about how this trial might be an important impetus, or driving force, for the book.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html
Guiding Questions:
1. Who were the Scottsboro Boys? How did they get into so much trouble?
2. Where and when did the Scottsboro Boys' original trial take place? How do you think this affected the outcome of their trial?
3. What does the NAACP acronym stand for? Why did the NAACP decide not to help the Scottsboro Boys?
4. The Communist Party came to the aid of the Scottsboro Boys. How did the South perceive the Communist Party, and how was it similar to the perception of blacks? What was the Communist Party's hidden agenda in providing aid to the Scottsboro Boys?
5. The Scottsboro Boy were not provided with adequate defense lawyers. Please list at least 3 ways in which the defense lawyers were inadequate.
6. Describe the trials. Were they fair or unfair? Please include at least 3 supporting facts to back up your description.
7. Were the Scottsboro Boys ever pardoned of their convictions?
8. The Scottosboro Boys' trial took place during the childhood of To Kill A Mockingbird's author, Harper Lee. Make a prediction about how this trial might be an important impetus, or driving force, for the book.
Topic 3 - Jim Crow Laws
Your job is to become an expert about the history of Jim Crow laws. Click on the link below to start learning about these so called laws. All of the guiding questions can be found by reading the provided links, however do not limit yourself to this research. To become an expert you will need to create new questions that arise as you determine the answers of the guiding questions and this may lead you to different websites.
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/origins.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/resources.html
Guiding Questions:
1. Where did the term "Jim Crow" come from? How is the origin of this term offensive? List 3 ways.
2. How did the term "Jim Crow" become synonymous with the segregation laws in the South?
3. What ended Reconstruction in the South, and what effect did that have on southern blacks?
4. Legally, African-Americans had the right to vote. How was their right to suffrage compromised? Please list 3 ways whites made it nearly impossible for blacks to vote.
5. How did the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) uphold Jim Crow laws? What effect did this case have on the lives (transportation, education, social implications, etc) of southern blacks?
6. Who was Booker T. Washington? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
7. Who was W.E.B. DuBois? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
8. Why do you think Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois had differing opinions on how to survive in the South? Please give 3 facts to support your opinion.
9. How did many southern blacks escape the South? Where did they go? What was this movement called?
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/origins.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/resources.html
Guiding Questions:
1. Where did the term "Jim Crow" come from? How is the origin of this term offensive? List 3 ways.
2. How did the term "Jim Crow" become synonymous with the segregation laws in the South?
3. What ended Reconstruction in the South, and what effect did that have on southern blacks?
4. Legally, African-Americans had the right to vote. How was their right to suffrage compromised? Please list 3 ways whites made it nearly impossible for blacks to vote.
5. How did the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) uphold Jim Crow laws? What effect did this case have on the lives (transportation, education, social implications, etc) of southern blacks?
6. Who was Booker T. Washington? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
7. Who was W.E.B. DuBois? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
8. Why do you think Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois had differing opinions on how to survive in the South? Please give 3 facts to support your opinion.
9. How did many southern blacks escape the South? Where did they go? What was this movement called?
Topic 4 - The Great Depression
Your job is to become an expert on the Great Depression. Click on the link below to start learning about this sad portion of US history. All of the guiding questions can be found by reading the provided links, however do not limit yourself to this research. To become an expert you will need to create new questions that arise as you determine the answers of the guiding questions and this may lead you to different websites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression Use this website for the first 4 questions.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Memories+of+the+dust+bowl:+for+people+of+the+Southern+Plains,+the+...-a0144296833
Guiding Questions:
1. What is "Black Tuesday" and why does it mark the beginning of the Great Depression?
2. Many people believe that WWII marked the end of the Great Depression. How did the war affect the economy?
3. What president was inaugurated in 1933? What were some of the changes made by this administration?
4. What was the New Deal? How did the New Deal affect American citizens?
5. What was the Dust Bowl?
6. How did the Dust Bowl affect the Southern Plains?
7. What affect did the Dust Bowl have on agriculture? How would this affect farmers and their employers?
8. Given what you learned about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, make a prediction about what you think the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird will look like. What will the houses look like? What will the characters be wearing? How will the characters act towards each other? How will Scout's classmates act toward Scout knowing that her father is a lawyer?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression Use this website for the first 4 questions.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Memories+of+the+dust+bowl:+for+people+of+the+Southern+Plains,+the+...-a0144296833
Guiding Questions:
1. What is "Black Tuesday" and why does it mark the beginning of the Great Depression?
2. Many people believe that WWII marked the end of the Great Depression. How did the war affect the economy?
3. What president was inaugurated in 1933? What were some of the changes made by this administration?
4. What was the New Deal? How did the New Deal affect American citizens?
5. What was the Dust Bowl?
6. How did the Dust Bowl affect the Southern Plains?
7. What affect did the Dust Bowl have on agriculture? How would this affect farmers and their employers?
8. Given what you learned about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, make a prediction about what you think the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird will look like. What will the houses look like? What will the characters be wearing? How will the characters act towards each other? How will Scout's classmates act toward Scout knowing that her father is a lawyer?
Topic 5 - North/South in 1930s
Your job is to become an expert on what it was like to live in both the North and in the South in the 1930s. All of the guiding questions can be found by reading the provided links, however do not limit yourself to this research. To become an expert you will need to create new questions that arise as you determine the answers of the guiding questions and this may lead you to different websites.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/migrants/ATZ_Migrants_Dec1990.pdf Ignore the Lesson Plans listed at the end of this link.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/race.htmlhttp://www.scholastic.com/browse/subarticle.jsp?id=1674
Guiding Questions:
1. In what ways did racism exist in Southern states?
2. In what ways did racism exist in Northern states?
3. What was life like for white people in the North at this time? For black people?
4. What was life like for white people in the South at this time? For black people?
5. Given what you know about life in the 1930's, make some predictions about what you think life will look like for the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. What will life be like for the white characters? For the black characters? How will these characters interact with one another?
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/migrants/ATZ_Migrants_Dec1990.pdf Ignore the Lesson Plans listed at the end of this link.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/race.htmlhttp://www.scholastic.com/browse/subarticle.jsp?id=1674
Guiding Questions:
1. In what ways did racism exist in Southern states?
2. In what ways did racism exist in Northern states?
3. What was life like for white people in the North at this time? For black people?
4. What was life like for white people in the South at this time? For black people?
5. Given what you know about life in the 1930's, make some predictions about what you think life will look like for the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. What will life be like for the white characters? For the black characters? How will these characters interact with one another?