Te 408 Final Unit Lesson 2

Ms. Morcom’s Role of Society Lesson Plan Huckleberry Finn and “Incident” Date: TBA Age/Grade Level/Class Make-Up: 15-16 years old/10th Grade (Honors)/ Gender ratio is 2 females to 1 male with approximately 60% Caucasian, 25% African American, 15% Latino and Asian. Unit: Social Issues and Action Objective/ Learning Goal: Students will be able to… 1) Employ a pre-reading quick write in their journals that accesses prior knowledge to help make text-to-self connections. 2) Critically examine the role of society in racist thinking and situations. 3) Respond to the poem by collaborating to create a visual representation about society’s role in racism (historic and present). Skills Taught: MI Standards: CE 1.2.2, CE 2.1.1, CE 3.2.4, and CE 3.3.3 Context: Students are in the second week of the unit (day 9). Materials: Journals, novel (Huck Finn), copies of poem (“Incident”), large post-its, and markers. Activities: 1) First students will write in their journals for 10 minutes, reflecting on this prompt: “Recall a personal past event caused by stereotyping or some other social injustice. How, do you think, society influenced this negative situation? For example, you could describe a time in which you were stereotyped as being a juvenile delinquent just because you were a teenager.” 2) Then transition into reading the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (4 short chapters: XXXII-XXXV). Allow students to decide if they would prefer to read aloud or silently today. (20 minutes) 3) Pass out copies of the poem, “Incident,” by Countee Cullen. I will choose groups of 3 students for this activity. I will then pass out large post-its and markers for the groups. Each group will elect a reader (to read the poem aloud), a scribe (to write on the post-it), and a speaker (to report back to the class). After reading the poem, the students will collaborate to create a visual representation of how society influenced the event in the poem. The students may also bring in events

from Huck Finn to explain their points. This visual aid may take the shape of a symbolic picture or a graphic organizer (maybe a cause/effect type chart). The students will report back to the entire group when finished. (20 minutes) Assessment: I will formatively assess students based on their in-class participation in groups, whole class discussion, journal writing, and reading. I will act as a facilitator and walk around and listen/join in on the conversations of each group during the activity. Resources:

“Incident” Countee Cullen Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me. Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, “N***er.” I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember.