Functional Texts

1
Controversial Huck Finn
Unit Title
1
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Major Work
Functional Texts
Informational Texts
Literary Texts
Slavery in the United States Jackdaw Publishers,
Golden Owl Publishing, P.O. Box 503 Amawalk, NY
10501
Pink and Say by Patricia Polaco
Adventures of Hucklebrry Finn, Curriculum Unit
The Center for Learning The Important Book by Mar
garet Wise Brown ISBN 0-06553227-9
Latitudes by Perfection Learning
Reconstruction America After the Civil War by
Zac Mettger Cultureshock Huck Finn in Context A
uthors in Depth The American Experience
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Coming Home by Floyd Cooper
2
Identify Desired Results
What overarching understandings are desired?
What are the overarching essential questions?
People can be friends even if they are different
colors. Everyone has times in his life when he w
ill have to make moral choices.
Should Students read Huck Finn?
What was American society like during the time of
the novel?
What essential and unit questions will focus
this unit?
What will students understand as a result of this
unit?
Is this book too controversial for students to
read in 2000s? What were the issues of this time?
Does Mark Twain do justice to the slavery issues
of the novel? Is Jim and Hucks friendship real?
Are the issues faced then still faced today?
Jim and Huck overcame their prejudice and were
friends. The way to behave is a moral decision ev
eryone will have to make. Huck chose to be Jims
friend even though he could have walked away from
him.
3
Determine Acceptable Evidence
What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Tasks, Projects
Create a newspaper Create a brochure Develop a g
ame
Quizzes, Tests, Academic Prompts
Journal writing Discussions Student-generated q
uestions Read the book
QAR questions
Student Self-Assessment
Other evidence (e.g., Observations, Work Samples,
Dialogues)
Letter of metacognition Personal response
Group Discussions Inner-outer circles
4
Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
What evidence will show that students understand?
Students will need to know
Students will be able to

• Make inferences
• Synthesize
• Summarize
• Organize
• Read and find other information

What was happening during the time of the novel
Some of the controversy the book has created
Different viewpoints

• - Videos - Text-to-self
• - Articles - Use childrens literature
• - Discussions with groups - Poetry
• - Questions and answers
• - Internet
• - Teach inferencing, sequencing, comparison, and
  contrast
  
• Text-to-text understanding
• Text-to-world

5
Cross-Curricular Connections
What are they learning in Social Studies?
What are they Learning in language arts?
6
Read the text Read related short stories Backgro
und articles Articles about the controversy Ques
tions and answers of QA Shelly Fisher Fishkin
Read childrens literature
Readers Theatre Poster
Shock Culture Video Mark Twains Hannibal Art
View and compare pictures TLC Great Books Americ
a Tonight
Core Curriculum
Reflections of a Comet Watcher
Introduction to the unit
Reading childrens books
Debate over the controversy of Huck Finn
Discussion
7
Create a two-page newspaper, typed, based on
events from the novel.
Prompt
Response groups Teacher edit Self edit Six Trai
t rubric
Write an obituary for someone who ha died
Write an editorial defending or opposing the
right for high school students to read Huck Finn
Develop a political cartoon based on something
from the book
Read a newspaper Discuss satire read and practi
ce Summarize and take notes Journal writing Mod
el Six Trait Assessment
8
Strand
Before Use an anticipation guide before watching
sections from the video Culture Shock. Have the
students focus their attention on their argument
for or against. During During the video, have
the students answer the questions provided and
take notes. After Have students discuss in sm
all groups the pros and cons of teaching, then
discuss in larger groups.
9
Detailed revision activity Ideas, Organization,
Voice, Word Choice, or Sentence Fluency (Choose
One)
Trait
Using obituaries from the newspaper, have the
students determine the format of the writing.
Then have the students write their own obituaries
for someone who died in the novel.
10
Reading Activity to Teach Text Structure Other
Than Narrative
Text Type
Using childrens books, have small groups
determine whether the book is descriptive, cause
and effect, sequence, comparison, problem and
solution. Have them present their reasons why.
Using problem and solution text, have the studen
ts explain the three moral decisions that Huck,
must make.