Unit Plan Overview

Unit: Huck Finn Introduction and African American Book Groups

Stage 1- Desired Results
Connections to Context:
EGR being a predominantly white,
upper middle class school it is
important for them to think about
and examine ideas of race and
racism in general and their own
ideas about them specifically so
they can be sensitive, discerning,
and understanding about the
subject
(How does this fit with students experiences,
the school goals, and the larger societal issues?)

Established Goals

Analyze a case in which grasping a

point of view requires distinguishing
what is directly stated in a text from
what is really meant (e.g., satire,
sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Determine two or more themes or
central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the
text, including how they interact and
build on one another to produce a
complex account; provide an objective
summary of the text.
Analyze how an author's choices
concerning how to structure specific
parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where
to begin or end a story, the choice to
provide a comedic or tragic resolution)
contribute to its overall structure and
meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-,
nineteenth- and early-twentiethcentury foundational works of
American literature, including how two
or more texts from the same period
treat similar themes or topics.
(From the Common Core English
Language Arts Standards for Reading:

Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to
Read and understand the major themes of other pieces of literature
Evaluate a text for rhetorical strategies
Be more understanding of issues of equality and racism and maneuver such issues with sensitivity, discernment, and
understanding
(What kinds of long-term independent accomplishments are desired?)

Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Students will understand
Students will keep considering
Understand the concept of perspective-taking
Their own complicitness in systemic racism and injustice
(viewing the world from someone else point-of-view
and what they can do about it.

How white privilege is present in their lives.

and understanding that point of view, even if you

How rhetoric is used to deal with important issues such as

don't agree with it).
racism.
Some of the racial tension and controversy
surrounding Huck Finn and especially the offensive
terms "nigger" and "negro."
That the book Huck Finn is a satire on society,
particularly race and religion, and on overly romantic
literature, and will be able to give specific examples.
That the main message of "My Dungeon Shook" is that
love overcomes hatred.
(What specifically do you want students to understand?
What inferences should they make?)

What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry, meaningmaking and transfer?)

Acquisition of Knowledge, Skill and Values/Commitments/Dispositions

Students will know
Students will be skilled at
Students will exhibit
Some basic facts about Mark Twain Recognizing and understanding
A sensitive understanding of the
and the context of Huck Finn.
the irony and humor of Twain's
issues of racism presented in
writing style.
these literary works and in their
How to define the words satire,
own lives and society.
dialect, vernacular, and foil and
Using quizlet and its various tools
give examples of each.
to study their vocabulary.
An awareness of their own
complicitness in systemic racism
The major foils in Huck Finn (Tom
Discussing some of the racial and
and injustice and a desire to do
and Huck, the Widow and Miss
moral issues going on in these
something about that.
Watson, Pap and the Professor,
works
Huck and Jim) and be able to
Recognizing the rhetorical
describe their similarities and
strategies used by the various
differences.
authors.

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to Curriculum

Literature for Grades 11-12)

Determine an author's point of view or
purpose in a text in which the rhetoric
is particularly effective, analyzing how
style and content contribute to the
power, persuasiveness or beauty of the
text.
(From the Common Core English
Language Arts Standards for Reading:
Informational Texts for Grades 11-12)

(What content standards and program- or

mission-related goal(s) will the unit address?
What habits of mind and cross-disciplinary
goal(s)- for example 21st century skills, core
competencies- will this unit address?
Include source and identifying number)

Evaluative Criteria
(What criteria will be used in each assessment to
evaluate attainment of the desired results?)
- We will go over the questions as a class to
make sure they understand what the right
answers are.
- For some discussions I will mark on a clipboard
who has spoken and what learning objectives
they have articulated.
- For the reading quizzes I will have an answer
key.
- I will help answer questions they raise from
their reading.
- For the Google Doc activities I will go over the
ideas they thought up with them and make sure
they have all the major ideas I wanted them to
grasp (as noted in my lesson plan).
- I will read their journal entries, seeing what
their thoughts are and noting down where they
have hit upon learning objectives.
- The perspective monologues and Invisible
Knapsack responses will have rubrics.
(Regardless of the format of the assessment,
what qualities are most important?)
An understanding of the plot of Huck Finn, that it
is anti-racist satire, knowing the rhetorical
strategies used by the authors we read, and
understanding about the mistreatment and

Some of the stereotypes we general

impose on African Americans
without even thinking about it.
What systemic/institutional racism
is and that it is still very much alive
today.
What white privilege is.

(What facts and basic concepts should

students know and be
able to recall?)

(What discrete skills and processes should

students be able to use?)

(What values and commitments and

attitudes should students acquire or
wrestle with?)

Stage 2- Evidence
Students will show their learning by
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Answering questions that they are given about their readings either in small groups or on their own at home
(depending on the lesson).
Participating in full class discussions responding to readings and video clips.
Taking brief reading quizzes on the Huck Finn chapters and students will draw pictures of their favorite scenes on the
backs of their quizzes when they are done.
Writing down questions about their reading in Huck Finn as they do their homework and then raising them in class
when prompted.
Writing ideas from small group discussions on Google Docs which I will then go over with them and leave up so that
they can study from them.
Creating monologues from the perspective of one of the characters in Huck Finn. This can be done through a wide
variety of mediums and will include a rubric.
Writing in their journals from the point-of-view of James Baldwin, connecting the ideas shared in his essay and in the
video clip of his interview.
Writing an approximately page long reflection and response to the Invisible Knapsack checklist, talking about how life
would be different without white privilege OR if they think they don't have white privilege how they relate to the
items on the list. This can be done in a variety of formats.
(How will students demonstrate their understanding- meaning-making and transfer- through complex performance?)

OTHER EVIDENCE:

(What other evidence will you collect to determine whether Stage 1 goals were achieved?

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to Curriculum

oppression of African Americans, how we (as

members if the dominant culture) are a part of
that oppression, and what we can do about it.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

The only pre-assessment in this unit plan is me asking the students a few questions at the beginning of lessons about what they already know and have experienced so
that I know where they are coming from and what I don't need to re-teach: What do you already know about Mark Twain and have ever read Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn
before? What (if any) has your prior experience with the n-word been like? Do you already know the vocabulary words satire, dialect, vernacular, and foil?
(What pre-assessments will you use to check students prior knowledge, skill levels, and potential misconceptions?)
(Toward which goal does each
Learning Events
learning event build?)
Student success at transfer, meaning, and acquisition depends upon their participation in
Acquisition
Meaning
Transfer

these learning events

Lesson #1:
- Read and annotate "Race and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
- Watch Mark Twain Mini Bio video.
- Read "Advice to Youth" and answer questions on it in small groups, then discuss them as a
class.
- Watch N-Word 60 Minutes video and discuss as a class it in connection with the "Race and
Huck Finn" article.
Lesson #2:
- Read Huck Finn chapters 1-6 and write down questions about words, events, and
motivations.
- Take the reading quiz, draw a picture of your favorite scene on the back when you're
done, grade yourself when the teacher gives the answers, and turn the quizzes in.
- Ask questions from reading.
- Use quizlet to learn the vocab words satire, dialect, vernacular, and foil.
- Briefly discus Twain's innovative use of dialects and vernacular speech.
- Use the provided Google Docs and in small groups come up with ideas of where you see
satire in the book, then discuss these ideas as a class.
- Repeat the Google Docs activity, this time think about which characters serve as foils and
how.
Lesson #3:
- Read Huck Finn chapters 7-13 and write down questions about words, events, and
motivations.
- Take the reading quiz, draw a picture of your favorite scene on the back when you're
done, grade yourself when the teacher gives the answers, and turn the quizzes in.
- Ask questions from reading.
- Discuss as a class the new and very important pair of foils added in this chapter and add
them to the Google Doc.
- Learn the definition of perspective-taking and discuss the perspectives in these chapters.

Progress Monitoring
(How will you monitor students progress
toward acquisition, meaning, and transfer
during lesson events?)
- We will go over the questions as a class to
make sure they understand what the right
answers are.
- For some discussions I will mark on a
clipboard who has spoken and what learning
objectives they have articulated.
- For the reading quizzes I will have an answer
key.
- I will help answer questions they raise from
their reading.
- For the Google Doc activities I will go over
the ideas they thought up with them and make
sure they have all the major ideas I wanted
them to grasp (as noted in my lesson plan).
- I will read their journal entries, seeing what
their thoughts are and noting down where
they have hit upon learning objectives.
- The perspective monologues and Invisible
Knapsack responses will have rubrics.

(How will students monitor their

own progress toward acquisition,
meaning, and transfer?)

- They will grade their own reading quizzes

based on the answers I give them.
- They will have rubrics to follow for the
perspective monologues and the Invisible
Knapsack responses.

(What are potential rough spots and

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to Curriculum

- Create monologues from the perspectives of characters in the book based on a rubric.
Lesson #4:
- Read and annotate "My Dungeon Shook" by James Baldwin.
- Spend the first twenty minutes of class discussing your assigned novel in your groups.
- In small groups fill out the answers to the "My Dungeon Shook" questions, then go over
them as a class.
- Watch Who is the Nigger? video.
- In journal entries written from the point of view of Baldwin discuss how the essay relates
to the video.
Lesson #5:
- Read, annotate, and answer some questions on "Walking While Black" by George Yancy.
- Watch Chris James - Black British Accent video.
- In small groups discuss the answers to the questions and then discuss them as a full class.
- Look at the Invisible Knapsack checklist online, read your assigned portion, and in your
small groups choose two that particularly surprised you to share with the group. Then
come together as a class and share.
- Spend the rest of class working on a response to the checklist based on a rubric.

Star the multiple means of representation; underline the multiple means of action and
expression; circle the multiple means of engagement
(Are all three types of goals (acquisition, meaning, and transfer) addressed in the learning
plan?)
(Does the learning plan reflect principles of learning and best practices?)
(Is there tight alignment with Stages 1 and 2?)

student misunderstandings?)

- Students may have trouble grasping

some of the more subtle and implied
ideas in the readings.
- Students may struggle with the n-word
being prominently included in the
readings.
- Students may have difficulty seeing
things from the new perspectives offered
in the readings.
- Students may struggle in distinguishing
satire from seriousness.
- Students may struggle with accepting
the idea that as members of the dominant
culture they are partially responsible for
the oppression of minorities.
(How will students get the feedback they
need?)

- I will help them figure out the answers

to the questions on the handouts and to
their other questions about the readings
if they don't by themselves.
- They will grade their own reading quizzes
based on the answers I give them.
- They will have rubrics to follow for the
perspective monologues and the Invisible
Knapsack responses.

- I will grade their perspective

monologues and Invisible Knapsack
responses and get them back to them.

Based on Wiggins and McTighe (2011) The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and Van Brummelen (2002) Steppingstones to Curriculum