Prejudice: Where have you seen it?
I have been awfully excited about the changes to edublogs (and learnerblogs) lately and was on the verge of assigning you some independent blogging challenges, but then Edublogs had to remove the function that enables us to install lots of cool stuff on the blogs (they’re called text widgets if you’re curious). It was a security issue for Edublogs, so I can’t really complain when the free blogging host has to shut a feature off due to security concerns. The guy who runs them hopes to have the widgets back sometime - we’ll see if it happens this year or not.
On another note, as we read To Kill a Mockingbird, you should be noting that a major theme has emerged: prejudice. And the theme is bigger than racism. Consider racism a category of prejudice - other well known categories would be sexism or elitism. Harper Lee presents us with a number of prejudicial situations, giving us a well-rounded view of the concept. Hopefully you’ve recognized things like the kids’ and town’s view of the Radleys as prejudice, as well as the town’s view of Tom Robinson. If you’re extra attentive, you might recognize the kids’ view of Atticus as prejudiced, that is until he shoots down the mad dog.
What I’d like you to do in your own blog is think back through your life and describe an incident or behavior you recognize as an example of prejudice. Tell about it like a story that any reader of your blog might enjoy, not like a response to a writing prompt that makes no sense to anyone who hasn’t read this posting I’ve written. It’ll be a 15 point assignment, and if you simply tell a story, I’ll give you 13/15; but if you connect your example of prejudice to To Kill a Mockingbird, I’ll boost you up to 14 or 15/15. Minimum length: 10 sentences.
______________________________________________________________________________
Original image: ‘Birmingham 63 by Jack Levine 1963 oil on canvas (1)‘ by: Mary Harrsch
www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/335257448
Filed under: Assignments, To Kill a Mockingbird and
