Independently generate a thesis about a symbol, theme, or character in To Kill a Mockingbird and write a full literary analysis essay defending it with organized evidence.
This week repeats the literary analysis essay process from Week 26, but with far less scaffolding: rather than choosing between two provided thesis directions, the task is to generate an original, specific, arguable thesis from scratch about To Kill a Mockingbird, built around a symbol like the mockingbird motif, a theme such as courage, prejudice, or growing up, or a character's development, whether Scout, Atticus, or another character studied this unit.
The bar for this essay is real independence: choosing a genuinely arguable claim, not just a safe restatement of a theme already discussed in class; organizing two or three body paragraphs, each anchored in specific textual evidence; and writing a conclusion that extends the argument's significance rather than merely repeating the thesis. This essay is meant to demonstrate, in one piece of writing, everything built across the unit: characterization analysis, symbol-and-theme construction, and now full essay structure, done with real independence.
Mastery looks like: They can independently generate a specific, arguable thesis about the novel and defend it across a fully organized essay with textual evidence and a conclusion that extends the argument.
Common stumbles: Defaulting to a safe, widely-agreed-upon claim instead of a genuinely arguable thesis; treating the conclusion as a restatement rather than an extension of the argument.
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Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.