Sierra Canyon’s 6th Grade students turned the Rubin Family Library into a courtroom, putting Tuck Everlasting characters on the stand for their Literary Mock Trial project.
Rooted in their in-class study of the novel, the project challenged students to move beyond traditional literary analysis and step into the roles of attorneys, witnesses, and jurors. Each class was divided into prosecution, defense, and witness teams, with students preparing opening and closing statements, constructing arguments, and rehearsing testimony in advance of the trial.
The trial’s opening phase took place in the Library, where students, dressed in role-specific attire, fully embodied their characters as they presented their cases. They returned to the classroom for cross-examinations and continued deliberations, applying their preparation in real time by questioning testimony and responding with thoughtful precision.
While students reached different conclusions on charges such as trespassing and kidnapping, each group ultimately found Mae Tuck guilty of murder, showing both the complexity of the case and the strength of their arguments.
In the end, the trial asked students to take a position, support it, and see it through—an example of rigorous, student-centered learning in which students not only interpret a text, but take an active role in it.
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