Introduction: The purpose of your assignment is to create meaning from the text and to reach a larger
understanding of the importance of setting in a work of fiction. Setting, as used in literature, is part form
and part content. I will be using the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee to introduce you to this
concept and its application in literature. You will be using your text (novel) and this webquest to connect to
the material. First, let us define what a webquest is, and what purpose it serves:
   "A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners
      is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use the learners' time well, to focus on usining
      formation rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis,
      synthesis, evaluation" ( http://webquest.sdsu.edu/overview.htm ).

Objectives:   The curriculum we follow is set by the NCDPI  (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction) 
you may click on the link above to find out the description of your educational objectives as a North Carolina
high school student. The objectives for this webquest are as follows: The student will gain knowledge and
insight into the cultural, social, political, and literary elements that are intrinsically related to the novel
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The student should be able to discuss and write insightfully on the topics
that he/she is introduced to through the reading of source materials and the novel. The student should be organize and analyze information
to come to a greater understanding of histoical and social issues and relate this knowledge to literary works. The student should gain insight
 into the importance and function of Setting in a work of narrative fiction. Click on Assessment to see the exact definiton of the
NCDPI Competencies that we will be conquering by completing the webquest assignments.

Setting is one of the most important descriptive elements used in narrative fiction. Here is a literary definition of Setting: "The background against whichaction takes place. The elements making up a setting are: (1) The geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room; (2) the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters;
(3) the time period in which the action takes place, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions.
When setting dominates, or when a work is written largely to present the manners and customs of a locality, the result is LOCAL COLOR WRITING OR REGIONALISM. The term is also often applied to the stage setting of a play (A Handbook To Literature, C. Hugh Holman & William Harmon, Macmillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York  10022, Copyright 1992).
(http://www.macmillan.co.uk/ )

Information about Resources: You are encouraged to follow any of the links provided on these pages to help create comprehension
and stimulate your thinking. For example you can click on the underlined phrase to go to a page that gives a short description of
other Elements of Fictional Writing. Another resouce that you will probably want to use is this link to an Online Literary Glossary .
This link is also found on your Project Resource Page , along with most of the other links you will need. Some additional links are also
provided to you on the Homework Helpers page.You might want to begin by reading Key Facts information about the novel and
author, Harper Lee . Two additional links that will help your understanding are a chapter by chapter Vocabulary, Allusion, and Idiom guide,
and you might also want to check out these two examples of Visual or Graphic Organizers: 1) Models and a specific  Visual or Graphic Organizer.

          Questions to ponder as you read: As you read from the resource materials, you should think critically about likely opinions
          of your selected characters to the topical events and culture of  the times. Consider the following questions and make notes for your
          persuasive or personal essay and webgroup timeline, and graphic organizer:

     (1)    How would the environment (setting) described in the novel, and in your resources, shaped the values and
             opinions of the different characters in the novel?

     (2)    Would the environment of the story and outcome of the story been especially different if it was set somewhere
             other than the South during the same time period?

     (3)    What similarities do you see in the environment (setting) of your own life? What differences do you find?

     (4)    Do you think that racism is less pronounced nowadays or just less flagrent than in the past?

     (5)    Do you think that the Scottsboro Boys trial influenced Harper Lee's decision to write a novel with a
             similar theme?

     (6)    Why do you think she used the fictional town Maycomb, Alabama which resembles her hometown
             of Monroeville, Alabama ?

     (7)    Do you think this novel would have been published by a New York publishing house if it had been set in a
              northern city? Why or why not?

     (8)    Why do you think the story is told from the viewpoint of a young girl?

     (9)    Could Scout's character be representative ( symbolic ) of innocense in the novel?

    (10)  Would the narrative have the same impact and focus if it was told by another of the novels characters?

          Bonus Question (A one page answer may be turned in for extra credit--10 pts): The novel deals with   many universal issues, yet is
          set in a distinctive local, consider the following: do you think that the setting  was more,or less, important to the novel's overall effect when
          compared to the other fictional elements employed by Harper Lee?

Organization: Each  webgroup will contain a maximum of four students and must (whenver possible) include one member of each gender
There is a computer use schedule posted on this site, as well as a project calender. Please refer to these to organize your time and activities.
Use the Rubric posted on this site to assess your progressas a group and individually toward the completion of the assignments.

Assignments:
 
Activity # 1: Each group will construct a timeline of the events of the novel and label it also with corresponding
social, cultural, and political events of the times that you think are important to your reading of the novel.
You should begin your timeline with the date of the ending of the Civil War (1865) and the contineum should run to
the publication date of the novel, 1960 . You may use any of the information provided to you in the resource list to
complete your timeline. The properly constructed webgroup timeline should use 2-4 standard size poster boards (18x22)
and be connected to each other either horizontally or vertically in progressive sequence. Each group member is encouraged
to share information and insights about the characters , themes , motifs , symbols , plot and setting in group discussion periods.

Activity # 2: You will also construct a graphic organizer using themes, motifs, and symbols as your central topic.
Find quotations in the text to support your assertions of the fictional elements they reveal. Put circles around the
quotes and connect them with lines to the central topics. Use different colors for each fictional element.
You will spend the first week reading the novel and reviewing the resources, making notes, and discussing
the novel with your group members. During the second week you will construct your Timeline as detailed above.
By the end of the third week you will have completed your Graphic Organizer and your Timeline.
Lastly, you will use the information and knowledge you have learned to aid you in wiriting your persuasive
or personal essay.

Activity # 3: Your writing assignment for this webquest is to write one three-page persuasive essay,
typed (double-spaced) and create a bibliography of works cited. You may choose to write in the voice of one
of the novel's characters. If you choose this assignment,  your audience is the publisher, Mr. Underwood of the
Maycomb Tribune.Your essay  may be from the viewpoint of a female or male character of the novel.
The topic question to consider for this essay will be one of the following: (1) Did Tom Robinson get a fair trial?
Why or why not? You are expected to write your essay in the narrative voice and tone of the character.. It does
not matter which gender character you select to voice an opinion. Remember as you write that you are not
an attorney writing a brief, you are a citizen with opinions and you want to share those opionions with the public.
Rright or wrong is an opinion and arguement, you want to find the character's narrative voice and write your essay
as if you were that person. You must attempt to persuade the publisher and the public (and your teacher) that your opinions
are valid, or (2) You may write a personal essay to a general audience) describing an experience in your life when you
witnessed racism, or (3) write an essay that compares and contrasts   the moral strengths and weaknesses of two of the characters in the novel.

FunStuff and Prizes: The webgroup with the most outstanding timeline poster will receive a Lane Cake
baked by your's truly, yum, yum. The two most outstanding essays will be rewarded with a VHS or DVD
of the movie version of To Kill A Mockingbird . Click here to hear a Mockingbird singing or if you want to
find out more about Mockingbirds . You may also be interested in the dual meaning behind the Mockingbird symbol .
Click here to see the real courthouse that was the model for the one depicted in the film version of the novel
What do people who knew Harper Lee as a child say about her? Click here to read their firsthand accounts
of Harper Lee as a child . Click here if you think you might enjoy  challenging yourself by taking an Online Quiz.