Week 1: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mon-Tues:
Examine the themes at right.

Define satire (see Literary Terms)
Read "Rotation Of Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness" The Onion, Feb 27, 2006   
View "He's Barak Obama".  Jib Jab. 
Read "A Modest Proposal" (modernized version) and write a short response: How would you have responded to this proposal if you had lived at the time? 

Read "The Good Samaritan Law" and watch video clip from The Incredibles. 

Wed
Research one of the topics below:
Topic 1: controversy over Huck Finn
Topic 2: author
Topic 3: timeline
Topic 4: geography, life on the river
Topic 5: slavery & abolitionist
Topic 6: slave laws
Topic 7: smallpox
Topic 8: The word "nigger"
Student Requirements for Presentation

Thurs-Fri
Continue research; begin to create a PowerPoint presentation of your research. 

Big Ideas
integrity                 discovering truth
courage                 freedom
nobility                  satire
adventure

American culture in the mid-1800s

democratic theories of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

forces of change

Themes 
Twain uses the form of satire to ridicule and rebuke the slaveholding society. 

Every person deserves to be free. 

Huck learns that Jim is a true friend entitled to full human rights.

Week 2: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mon: Read Chs 1-3 of Huckleberry Finn
Define dialect (see Literary Terms)

Tue: Read Chs 1-3 of Huckleberry Finn
Define dialect (see Literary Terms)

Wed:
Read Huck Finn Chs 4-5 

Thurs:
Read Huck Finn Chs 6-8
Quickwrite

Fri:
Several of the characters in this book try to make Huck into what they think he should be.  Print off the Character Influence Chart and in small groups fill it out for Widow Douglas.  Fill in the rest by yourself. 

Focus Question #1: Choose one person from your chart and, using examples from the text, show how that person tried to control Huck's view of the world.  Then, again using examples from the text to support your answer, tell how Huck responded to the views of others.   Answer Plan:
1. Restate the question to introduce the answer.
2. Identify the character you have chosen and give examples from the text to show how that person tried to control Huck's view of the world.  Use quotations, if possible.
3. Conclude by telling how Huck responded to the views of others; give support from the text.

Begin Huck Finn Chs 6-8   

Focus Questions
How do I communicate truth?  How can a person discover the truth about others?

What voice do I use to be heard?  How can I influence positive changes in social behavior?

Where do I see the satire in my life?

What prejudices are we taught? How are we products of society?

What is my responsibility for my own actions?

Why is the teaching of Huck Finn so controversial?  Is Huck a racist?  Should Huck Finn remain required core literature in American Literature classes?  How have criticisms of the book changed from its 1885 publication to now?

Essential Questions
What compromises of my integrity will I make in order to be accepted?

Week 3: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mon:
Read Huck Finn Chs 9-11
Read "The Hunters of Men" by Whittier
Create a wanted poster for a historical figure.  Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, Nelson Mandella, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Caesar Chavez,  Susan B. Anthony

Tues:
Present posters
Read Solomon Judges Wisely
Quickwrite assignment
Begin Reading Chs 15-16

Character Chart

Wed-Fri

Happy Thanksgiving

Week 4: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mon:
Read Huck Finn Chs 9-11
Read "The Hunters of Men" by Whittier
Create a wanted poster for a historical figure.  Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, Nelson Mandella, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Caesar Chavez,  Susan B. Anthony

Tues:
Present research projects to the class.

Wed:
Read Huck Finn Chs 11-14

Quotations
"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." (Twain)

"Human beings can be awful cruel to one another." (Huck)

Thurs:
Finish Reading Chs 15-16
Read the Fugitive Slave Act Online.   
Focus Question #2: Using Chapter 16 from the book, the excerpt from the Fugitive Slave Law, and your charts to guide your thinking, describe a situation from your own life or one that you have read or heard about when a decision made had moral, financial and/or legal consequences.
Begin Reading Ch 17

Fri:
Feud Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer
The Hatfields and the McCoys
West Coast Rappers vs. East Coast Rappers
Focus Question #3

Week 5: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mon:
In Chapter 17, Huck is taken in by the Grangerford family and spends quite a bit of time describing in detail the gaudy eccentricities of the house and its furnishings. To Huck, this symbolizes status and what it means to be successful.
Focus Questions:
· Do you agree with Huck's view of success?
· What is considered status in today's society?
· How is status related to personal happiness?
Begin Reading Ch 18

Tues:
Read Appendix 26-27, Feud Stories.
Use Read Appendix 25 Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer
Appendix 28 Focus Question #3: In a conflict are the costs of winning the battle ever too high to justify continuing the fight? 
Answer Plan
Give your opinion on the issue.
Use examples from the Feud stories and from the battle between in Grangerfords and the Shepardsons in Chapter 18 of Huck Finn as evidence to support your opinion.
Conclude by identifying what you have learned about feuds from these texts

Informational Text

Genre Study
Characteristics of
• editorial, news article
• critical analysis essay
• literary analysis essay
• feature video
• political cartoons
• satire in the media
• literary nonfiction
(The Tipping Point)
Expository Elements
• thesis
• supporting ideas
• statistical evidence
• chronology
Organizational Patterns
• fact/opinion
• cause/effect
• theory/evidence

Features
• letter-to-editor format: salutation, body, signature
• media conventions and special effects used in satire
• photographs and drawings
Critical Perspectives
• facts and opinions
• editorial perspective
• writer's tone, bias
• logic
• authenticity
• satire in film versus in print

Literary Devices
• narration/point of view
• irony vs. satire
• understatement
• vernacular language
• figurative language, imagery, symbolism
• allusions
• implied meanings
Historical/Cultural
• identify importance of events in text,
• racial equality
• perspectives on the use of epithets in the 1880s and now
• stereotyping
• culture of the 1880s
• racism through dialogue
• Realism vs. Romanticism
Critical Perspectives
• quotable lines
• challenges in 1880s and today to the teaching of Huck Finn
• perspectives by race/time/geography
• appreciation of satire in 1880s and today
• Connection to self --own perspective on issues of inequality, racism, prejudgment

Narrative Text

Genre Study
Characteristics of
• American Renaissance
• Romanticism
• Transcendentalism
• Realism
• Naturalism
• Picaresque genre
• Historical fiction
• Author study of Mark Twain
Literary Elements
• plot 
• setting
• conflict (internal/external)
• theme
• symbolism (fog, river vs. shore)
• characterization
• mood, tone, style
• author's purpose in writing the novel
• elements of satire
• motifs
• appearance vs. reality