Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry Lesson Plan

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

This novel is filled with many opportunities. We use it in a variety of ways.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry addresses several themes that students are able to identify as we travel through the novel. The most obvious is racism, but others are injustice, betrayal, and the power of choice and consequences. Working with behavior students in an alternative school, we try to focus on the power of choice and consequence as much as possible!

When we begin the book, I have the students choose a character and analyze that character in their journal as we continue reading. Students document what kind of person that character is and support their analysis with excerpts from the novel. For example: T.J. is a sneaky person because he conned Stacey into giving T.J. his coat.

As their character is presented with a conflict, students journal a diary entry from that character explaining the conflict and possible solutions. Discussion of consequences resulting from each solution is required. The novel offers several opportunities for this type of diary entry.

After the completion of the novel, we have conducted a mock trial for T.J. in the classroom. This activity has gone well sometimes and not so great other times. The students are so upset with the injustice, they forget to play characters according to the personalities in the novel. It’s a learning experience… but the success will depend on the maturity of your class.