In the Minority

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?

1 thought on “In the Minority”

  1. 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

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