In this activity, students explore the courage and strength that Atticus shows when he decides to defend Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. You will need a copy of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
Art of Persuasion
- Arrange students into groups of six.
- Tell the groups they must select one person to be the resister, while the other five will be persuaders.
- The five persuaders must try to convince the resister to change his/her mind about something. It could be as simple as arguing that cats are better than dogs, or that it’s better to be too hot than too cold.
- Afterwards, discuss the challenge of going against the majority.
The Road Not Taken
- Ask the students if they have ever been in a situation where they had to stick to their beliefs despite pressure not to.
- Put Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” on the overhead (read to your class if you don’t have an overhead projector).
- Discuss the poem and connect it to the novel.
- Why was it important for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson?
Love this!! TKM is our novel during our poetry unit, adding a little more by doing TPCASTT analysis of poem first then making TKM connections. Thanks for the great ideas!
E