Unit+Plan+Outline+-+Huckleberry+Finn

Christine Lively
 * Huckleberry Finn - Unit Plan **

Unifying Concept: This unit will center on the canonical text __Huckleberry Finn__ by Mark Twain and will focus on the theme of the reluctant hero who is forced to take a stand. The supplemental texts will include __Al Capone Does My Shirts__ by Gennifer Choldenko and __Rules__ by Cynthia Lord. Through these stories, students will meet characters their own age who feel forced to take a stand against injustice and become heroic. By offering the supplemental texts, students can choose to focus on a male or female character and a modern setting or an historical one. Through Huck, Moose and Catherine students will be able to view the heroics of everyday adolescents as they confront bigotry and discrimination in their communities.

Bridge Texts: __Al Capone Does My Shirts__ by Gennifer Choldenko This story is set on Alcatraz in 1935.Moose Flannagan and his family have just moved to the island where his father has found a job as a prison guard. Moose has to worry about fitting in with new friends, which is complicated by the small community and by the fact that his sister, Natalie is autistic and behaves very differently from other kids. Autism wasn’t recognized by doctors or society at the time, so the family fears that Natalie will be institutionalized. They hope instead to enroll her in the prestigious Esther P. Marinoff School, but, because she is older than the other students and because her behavior is unpredictable, she is initially rejected by the school. Moose joins the warden’s conniving daughter, Piper in a scheme to have their classmates pay them to have their clothes washed in the Alcatraz laundry by famous inmates like Al Capone. Moose is forced to decide between breaking the rules and saving his sister and his family or remaining silent and risk losing everything.

__Rules__ by Cynthia Lord Catherine has taught her autistic brother, David, many rules for life including, ‘It’s OK for boys to take of their shirts to go swimming, but not their pants.’ These rules are updated and relearned constantly, since David has a hard time remembering and following the rules. Over the summer, Kristi moves in next door and Catherine hopes that she’ll become the best friend that she has dreamed of having. Catherine also meets and befriends Jason, a wheelchair bound boy who speaks by pointing to pictures of words. Catherine wants the world to look past David’s disability, but she must decide if she is willing to look past Jason’s disabilities and face the outside world at his side.

Reader Response Activities:

Taking a Stand Essays – All students will write an essay taking a stand on an issue. The issue that they discuss can be an issue that they have personally faced or one that they feel passionately about in the world. These essays should include the reasons that the students feel that it is important to them and to others as well as specific actions that they will take to show their stance on the issue and to show their heroism.

Visual Responses: Students will choose one of the two activities for their response Decision Volcano – Choose one character, Huckleberry Finn, Moose or Catherine and draw their decision volcano. Each character is pushed to a decision point by many pressures and these pressures result in the character ‘erupting’ in a decision to take a stand. Draw a volcano and write out the many factors along the slopes of the volcano that affect the character’s decision. At the apex of the volcano, show the character’s response and the effects of the decision or ‘fall out’ which erupts as a result of the decision.

Bookshelf- Choose one of the characters from your reading and design their bookshelf. Show the character’s unique interests, loves, desires and passions through designing book titles and other objects that you believe the character might display to show who he or she is.

Writing Response Activities: Advice Column – Students will write a letter asking for advice in the voice of a character of their choosing. The character will ask for help with a problem that they are facing which happens within the course of the novel or may ask for help with a problem that results after the end of the novel. Students will then write a letter back to the character as the advice columnist addressing their problems and offering solutions to their problems.

Appreciation Letters – Write a letter from one main character to another in appreciation of that character’s bravery and boldness in taking a stand. Use the letter to have the character draw parallels between his or her own decision and the other character’s decision.