Class Structure:

Grade Level: 9
th
grade Content: English High School
Text: To Kill a Mockingbird & Touching Spirit Bear
Student: 19 regular students, 1 ELL student (South Korean)
Literacy background:
Stage III Low Intermediate Proficiency: discovered by CELLA exam
Reading: 687 Writing: 697 Speaking/Listening: 700
Objectives:
Content: what the students must do to demonstrate understanding.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices
on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or
informal tone).
Student will be able to:
Recognize and comprehend the trial scenes within the text, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Language: what language do they have to understand and use to complete the content
objective.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.3
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make
effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
Student will be able to:
Use context clues to create definitions of unfamiliar legal terms.
Vocab:
- Subpoena
- Litigant
- Jury
- Witness
- Prosecution
- Verdict
- Appeal
- Contempt
- Bailiff
- Testify
- Cross-examine

Activity:
Role-play mock trial over something that students know. Students are broken into groups: prosecution
(+witness) and defense (+witness). (Teacher is judge & jury).
Trial: Peter Driscal has been accused of murdering Cole Matthews from Touching Spirit Bear and has
been provided a trial to plead his case. The students are to create a mock trial in which they have to
divide themselves into groups (prosecution, defense, and witnesses). Defense must provide evidence for
Peter Driscal. Teacher will be judge/jury and provide evidence that fits into the mock trial. Students will
be required to use legal terms that were used within the text, To Kill a Mockingbird, to fit into the realm
of the legal system.
Partly group work before mock trial students will work within their groups (figure out who is the
lawyer, witnesses) to prepare their statements, their questions (including terms learned To Kill a
Mockingbird).
Materials:
- Podium
- EVIDENCE (provided by teacher)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (text)
- Touching Spirit (text)
- Presentation materials for evidence
- Vocab list

Vocab List:
- Subpoena
- Litigant
- Jury
- Witness
- Prosecution
- Verdict
- Appeal
- Contempt
- Testify
- Cross-examine
- Suspect
- Defense
Assessment: Informal participation, respectful to peers, and used appropriate and logical evidence.
Accommodations: All students will be provided key terms with definitions. ELL student will be working
within a group of native speakers and will be provided a dictionary as well as further assistance from
peers and teacher.