Oak Forest HS Freshman English Classes Get Symbolic

Oak Forest High School Freshman English classes recently completed a To Kill a Mockingbird symbolism project under the guidance of teacher Ms. Kate Vana and student teacher Ms. Caitlyn Slattery.

Students had to choose a character and then choose two or more symbols that represented their character’s originality. The students thought the project was fun. Cole Silha said, “The project was fun and made you think a little bit. I liked it.” Cole’s project was based on Boo Radley, the mysterious neighbor in To Kill a Mockingbird. He represented Boo by creating a black box that kept all of the mysterious and secret trinkets that Boo was sharing with Scout. Also, he left a key that symbolized the key to Scout’s heart.

Carmel Al-Sheikh created a project based on a lesser known character, Miss Maude. She created a hat with roses around it. “She wasn’t like the rest of the women in Maycomb,” Carmel said. “The project was fun to do. It made symbolizing the characters fun because it made me understand them better.”

Briana Alarcon created the tree house that Scout and Jem played in. For her, she said, “The tree symbolized growth, and flowers symbolized friendliness, and the treehouse symbolized comfort. I liked the project because it gave me a different outlook on the different characters of the book.”

Taylor Valuch created a poster for the various Scout symbols. She created a blue female symbol “because she is a tomboy,” Taylor said. She also defined “Scout” which means searching for different things in various places. Taylor said, “The project was very fun and challenging to do well because you had to come up with two different symbols for your character.”