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Censored book cover
CENSORSHIP and Mark Twain's
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

TEACHER RESOURCES


21st CENTURY LITERACY LESSONS

  • Brainstorming Research Questions
  • Scanning for Information
  • Skimming for Main Ideas

    • TEACHING RESOURCES

  • Search your school's Safari Montage server for video resources and additional digital content.
  • Search Promethean Planet for Promethean Flip Charts related to this topic.
  • Teaching Huck Finn in Context - Teacher's Guide from the PBS series Culture Shock: Geared to high school educators, this guide provides a comprehensive curriculum with lesson plans and companion reading assignments on how to teach Twain's controversial masterpiece within its historical and literary context.
    • TEACHER NOTES
    • Collaborate with your school’s Library Media Specialist to implement this Online Research Model.
    • Consider preparing hard copies of the note-taking and organizational tools for each student:
    • Consider creating a project-based wiki or using another collaborative Web 2.0 tool (VoiceThread, MindMeister, Groupsite.com, etc.) to use as a workspace for student collaboration. For help/suggestions, see your Library Media Specialist or visit the BCPS Office of Library Information Services Resource Wiki.
    • If a computer lab is not available, this lesson may be implemented in the classroom or Library:
      • Use an LCD projector to display the Online Research Model.
      • Provide students with access to print Library resources and printouts of the digital resources.
    TIME FRAME
  • One or more class periods in the computer lab; some steps in the research model may be completed outside of class. Provide students with the URL for accessing this online research model on their own. This is a long term assignment.

    • TARGETED LEARNING STYLES
    Field Dependent/Independent
    Global/Analytical Understanding
    Active Reflective
    Visual Auditory Tactile Kinesthetic

    DIFFERENTIATION

  • Allow students to collaborate with classmates grouped heterogeneously by reading ability and technology skills.
  • Direct students to resources appropriate to their reading levels as labeled in the databases.
  • Direct students to use a variety of media formats on the student resources page.
  • Have students use assistive tools embedded in the databases, such as dictionary links and audio read-aloud.
  • Allow students to choose from a variety of research presentation formats.
    		•
    BCPS
    Grade Level/Content Area/Unit/Objective

    Grade11 English Language Arts:
    Objective: Students will construct and support an argument for or against the inclusion of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the school English curriculum, by researching the issue of censorship and challenges to the novel from a variety of sources and perspectives.

    Focus:
    Enduring Understanding
    or Essential Question

    Essential Question: Should Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be included in the high school English curriculum? Why or why not?

    Maryland State Curriculum Alignment for Grade11 English/Reading

     

     

    AIM

    AIM

    1.1.1 The student will prepare for reading, viewing, and/or listening to a text.
    1.2.4 The student will interpret a literary work by using a critical approach (e.g., reader response, historical, cultural, biographical, structural).
    2.1.5 The students will analyze and evaluate evidence and determine the credibility of information in a text.
    3.1.2 The student will compose effective persuasive essays and arguments that advance, modify, or refute a position; use a logical structure; provide relevant and complete support; and employ effective rhetorical strategies.
    3.1.4 The student will compose effective research essays that support, modify, or refute a thesis; use a logical structure; provide relevant and complete evidence; and cite and document sources accurately.

    The student will apply knowledge of the research process in order to compose effective research essays that support, modify, or refute a thesis; use a logical structure; provide relevant and complete evidence; and cite and document sources accurately.
    Standards for the
    21st Century Learner
    (AASL)
    		1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life.
    1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g. textual visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
    2.1.1 Continue an inquiry-based research process by applying critical-thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge.
    2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
    2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
    3.1.1 Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning.
    3.1.6 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
    National Technology Education Standards for Students
    (ISTE)

    1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
    2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
    3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
    4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
    5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
    Last update: July 14, 2010
    Created by: Kelly Ray, Library Media Specialist
    Baltimore County Public Schools

    BCPS Research Model, Copyright 2010, Baltimore County Public Schools, MD, all rights reserved.
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