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Teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Get ready for the perfect storm of teaching.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 60

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Grab your boots and raincoats because this book is quite the storm. Frequently found on the “banned books” list, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is filled with tough-to-talk-about topics like racism, inequality, and poverty. With our teaching guide in hand, you’ll feel prepared to face these discussions with your chin held high.

In this guide you’ll find

  • an activity exploring the process of desegregation in America’s history.
  • tips and strategies for fostering sensitive discussion about violence, racism, and poverty.
  • resources that provide historical context and further study of the Civil Rights Movement.

You might want to bring an umbrella, too.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13-18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students.
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students.
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text.
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students.
  • A note from Shmoop’s teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles.

Want more help teaching Teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: T.J. is bad news from the very beginning. From the time he asks the Logan kids to get the test answers from their mom, to the final scene at T.J.'s house, this kid is on the road to trouble. For this assignment, students will compare T.J.'s increasing problems with the escalation of troubles in the book as a whole.

Materials Needed: Students will want access to Shmoop chapter summaries for the book, as well as poster paper or a computer program for visual presentation.

Step 1: Cassie doesn't like T.J. from the get-go—he's always up to no good, and somehow, he's also always around. Why is that? Anyway, ask your students to partner up and look back at T.J.'s journey from beginning to end, charting out his behaviors and noting how they become incrementally worse as the book progresses.

Some examples (they may find more):

  • T.J. asks the kids to steal their mother's test so he can cheat.
  • T.J. eyes the pearl handled gun in the mercantile and wishes he had one.
  • T.J. gets caught cheating.
  • T.J. befriends the white kids, who eventually beat him to a pulp after robbing the mercantile and stealing said gun.
  • T.J. gets blamed entirely for the crime and his family gets beaten up (and almost killed).

Step 2: It's time to explore parallels. Okay, so T.J. spells trouble—we get it—but what's the point? Well, there could be lots of reasons he's in the story, but one major possibility is that T.J.'s troubles are symbolic of the bigger problems facing the Logans. Ask your students to go back and review the story once more. They can do this the old fashioned way (a.k.a. by using the book), or Shmoop's chapter summaries are always there, too. This time, they are looking to find escalating plot developments that accompany T.J.'s troubles.

Their answers may vary, and that's okay—it will be interesting to see what strikes different students as similar and significant. To really drive this point home visually, students can make their notes right alongside the T.J. lists they've already compiled.

Step 3: Now it's time for students to turn their attention to presenting their findings. Their presentations should reveal the ways in which T.J.'s journey aligns with that of the Logans, and can take the form of tables, pyramids, plot diagrams, lists, or something else completely. This is a chance for students to get creative, while also encouraging critical thinking about the data they've collected. Be prepared to give them two to three periods to collect and organize their information.

Step 4: Sharing is caring, right? Put each pair with another pair, and have them share their presentations with one another. Once they've both shared, they can discuss the following questions:

  • Which plot elements occur in both projects?
  • What does T.J.'s decline represent? 
  • What might have happened to the Logans if the men hadn't ended up at T.J.'s house?
  • How does your project differ from the other one? How were they similar? Any surprises in there?

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: T.J. is bad news from the very beginning. From the moment he asks the Logan kids to get test answers from their mom, to the final scene at T.J.'s house, this kid is on the road to trouble. For this assignment, you will compare T.J.'s increasing problems with the increasing troubles in the book as a whole. It's bad news all around.

Step 1: Cassie doesn't like T.J. from the get-go—he's always up to no good, and somehow, he's also always around. Why is that? Anyway, partner up and take a look back at T.J.'s journey from beginning to end, charting out his behaviors and noting how they become incrementally worse as the book progresses.

Some examples (but you may find more):

  • T.J. asks the kids to steal their mother's test so he can cheat.
  • T.J. eyes the pearl handled gun in the mercantile and wishes he had one.
  • T.J. gets caught cheating.
  • T.J. befriends the white kids, who eventually beat him to a pulp after robbing the mercantile and stealing said gun.
  • T.J. gets blamed entirely for the crime and his family gets beaten up (and almost killed).

Step 2: It's time to explore parallels. Okay, so T.J. spells trouble—we get it—but what's the point? Well, there could be lots of reasons he's in the story, but one major possibility is that T.J.'s troubles are symbolic of the bigger problems facing the Logans. Go back and review the story once more. You can do this the old fashioned way (a.k.a. by using the book), or our chapter summaries are always there, too. This time, keep an eye out for escalating plot developments that accompany T.J.'s troubles.

Your answers may be different from another group's, and that's okay—it will be interesting to see what strikes different people as similar and significant. To really drive this point about parallels home, make your notes right alongside the T.J. lists you already compiled.

Step 3: Now it's time to turn your attention to presenting your findings. Your presentations should reveal the ways in which T.J.'s journey aligns with that of the Logans, and can take the form of tables, pyramids, plot diagrams, lists, or something else completely. This is a chance to get creative, while also encouraging critical thinking about the data they've collected, so bust out your imagination skills. Be prepared to take two to three periods to get this all together.

Step 4: Sharing is caring, right? So partner up with another pair, and share your presentations with each other. Once you've both had a turn, discuss the following questions:

  • Which plot elements occur in both projects?
  • What does T.J.'s decline represent? 
  • What might have happened to the Logans if the men hadn't ended up at T.J.'s house?
  • How does your project differ from the other one? How were they similar? Any surprises in there?