There is kids

“There is kids.”

Great. To connect Sandlot to To Kill a Mockingbird, I charged students with writing similarities between the two on the board. This was the first similarity. Of course, he did this to get under my skin. And it worked. But I wasn’t the only one.

The next student I handed the marker to and asked to write another similarity on the board neatly erased the first response and corrected it and as well as writing her own thoughts down “Rites of Passage” and the using bullets to chronicle the different rites of passage the characters experienced.

This really got things going. Students began to call out examples, “first black eye” and “first fight” and “stand up for yourself” were added.

Another scrawled “They got in a lot of trouble” across the board. Then students began to chronicle what kinds of trouble the characters got in.

Then someone else added “Creepy house” as an element and “both will face their biggest fears.”

Finally, I wrote “narrators” and students made the main connection I was hoping for – both are told by adult narrators reflecting on their childhoods. Why would the author/director choose to structure them this way? What is added? What would be lost if the children had to narrate the stories from a child’s point of view.

They talked. I got out of the way.

Then we finished the movie and I gave them this assignment –

Lit & Language 11
Mr. Reynolds
Writing Workshshop #3

Directions: Choose one of the topics below to write about over the weekend.

1. Write about the biggest pickle of all time that you got yourself into.

2. Smalls declares, “And we did the stupidest thing we had ever done.” Write about the stupidest thing you have ever done.

3. Write about a time you overdid something to the extent where you either got sick, hurt, or in trouble.

5. Write about a mean old lady or grumpy old man from your neighborhood.

6. Write about childhood games you used to play.

7. Write about a childhood prank you played on a friend or sibling.

8. Write about a childhood legend you believed.

9. Write about a fear you had as a child.

10. Write about a lie you told as a child.


Simply going over some of these prompts generated some good stories. Once those are written, the next step will be to have them do some writing (or discussion) linking their experiences to those of Sandlot or TKM.