CMWhitmillerRATIONALE

Chelsey Whitmiller I pasted mine below in case my link to Microsoft Word doesn't work! Chelsey Whitmiller “Finn” Unit plan – 10th grade Literature for Young Adults 2013 Dr. Sherry

American academic Charles William Eliot once said, “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers” (Hameed.) Books are much more than just objects with words on paper. They are works of purposeful, meaningful art chalked full of life lessons, adventures, dreams, and realities relative to individuals of every race, religion, background, culture, and kind. Books are alive, and they breathe life into their readers as each of their unique worlds are opened, studied, and marveled. They take all elements of life and show readers what it means to imagine; that the impossible is actually possible and that no dream is too wild or too vast to reach. Indefinitely, as Eliot argued, they are our friends. What a shame it would be if students were never taught what books truly are; how many windows would be closed, dreams broken, and hope lost.  In the late 1800’s, Mark Twain wrote his now classic //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//, which centers around a young boy named Huck and a runaway slave named Jim. In an attempt to break free of his alcoholic and abusive father Pap Finn, Huck fakes his own death, runs away from his home, and travels through the woods in search of a new life. Along the way, he meets Jim, who has run away from his slave owner Miss Watson. While both Huck and Jim are initially searching for freedom, they end up gaining much more. Through each other, they find friendship, family, courage, strength, and happiness. At the end of the book, Pap Finn’s body is found. Due to the fact that he is rarely mentioned throughout the story, the reader is left to interpret and imagine both the life and death of Pap’s character on his/her own. Nearly one-hundred twenty-three years after Mark Twain’s novel made its debut, Jon Clinch’s //Finn// made its own appearance. //Finn// is a dark, twisted, modern spinoff of Twain’s classic. However, rather than focusing on Huck and Jim, the book takes a “behind the scenes” look at Pap Finn’s character. Throughout the story, Clinch portrays Pap’s character as a sort of monstrous, psychopathic murderer. He takes his readers into the mind of Pap and fills in the missing pieces of Twain’s original piece. Across the boards, the English Language Arts’ programs have always made the point to include classic writers into the curricula but have rarely ever made the effort to expose students to the great writers of today. This leaves most students constantly asking the same question: “Why do we have to read literature from hundreds of years ago?” Quite arguably, issues from the “ancient” texts can still be analogous to students. However, cannot the issues presented in more modern texts be even more relative to them? In my opinion, not only can the modern texts be more relative, but also more appealing. So, why is this important? The more familiar and relative the literature is to students, the more interested they will be in reading it. The more interested students are in the material they are reading, the more they will learn, gain, and grow in the classroom. Although //Finn// draws parallels to Twain’s classic, the text itself is the antithesis of //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//. Therefore, teaching tidbits of //Huckleberry Finn// along with the entirety of //Finn// will allow for the perfect mix between classic vs. modern, life vs. death, friends vs. foes, gaining vs. losing, rewards vs. consequences, understanding vs. lack thereof, love vs. hate, happiness vs. madness, and good vs. evil. Comparing these two pieces of literature together, while focusing primarily on //Finn//, will give students the opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of both Huck and Pap. It will enable them to draw their own conclusions based off the characters, see the importance of comparing two texts, and take note of the possibilities of interpreting one piece of literature. //Finn// narrows in on some extremely important matters of both the past and the present. For example, the book observes the positive and negative impacts family members and their personal actions can have on others. In addition, the book hits on the issues of discrimination, labeling, and racism. It clearly recognizes through Pap’s character, as well as Jim’s character to a degree, the emotional, social, and psychological effects these issues can have on individuals. For example, labeling in //Finn// goes beyond race. Pap is labeled as an illiterate alcoholic to the people in his town. Readers are able to see how the judgments of others can influence a person’s success or failure. Perhaps what is most valuable of all in teaching this text to students, however, is the opportunity provided for students to place themselves in the shoes of someone else. Due to the fact that the book takes the readers into Pap’s mind, the readers are able to feel his emotions, sense his lack of confidence, and get an idea of who Pap truly is. Is he capable of love, or is he truly a monster? What is a monster? How is a monster created? Jon Clinch’s //Finn// is just one interpretation of Pap. Students will be encouraged and feel enabled to make their own conclusions about his character throughout the unit as parallels are made to Twain’s classic.
 * Unit Rationale:**
 * What are books//, REALLY?//**
 * Background of //Finn//**
 * Why is it important?**
 * Why //Finn//?**

While there is some content that is considerably mature, the material in //Finn// is no more controversial than the material in Mark Twain’s novel. I believe that exposure to these matters benefits the students, as it broadens their views of thinking and creates new openness and willingness to learn. Parents should not be concerned, because the focus of the lessons will not be on the more mature material content of the book, such as sex, murder, etc. This unit is entirely devoted to showing students the importance of comparing two texts, one classic and one modern, the value in placing oneself into the shoes of another individual, and the opportunity interpretation provides in literature. While some aspects of the mature content may be minutely discussed, none of it will serve as the focal point of any one lesson in the unit.  Throughout the unit, students will be expected to keep a daily journal. In these journals, students will answer questions provided in class, such as “How did you feel when Pap…” or “What would you have done different if…” etc. These questions are to be answered in the first five minutes of class, and they are to be discussed in the last five minutes of class. All journal entries will each be worth three points and will be handed in to me at the end of every class. Sometimes the questions will be opinion-based, while other times they will measure what students have taken away from an assigned reading. At the end of the unit, students will be required to make a portfolio. Ten journal entries that best represent what students have taken away and learned from the unit are to be included in their portfolios. Throughout the unit, students will be required to complete supplementary readings in addition to //Finn//. Supplementary readings will include parts of //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//, parts of Mary Shelley’s //Frankenstein//, as well as short stories/chapters selected by me. All supplementary readings will be provided in class and are only to be used as an aid in understanding the overall meaning of //Finn//. The unit will continue for a length of eight weeks. In those eight weeks, students will be assigned nightly readings. The unit has been broken down so students are required to read between ten and fifteen pages per night. During these readings, students will be encouraged to highlight parts significant to them, as well as post sticky notes in their books with questions, comments, and concerns they would like to be discussed in class. Students will be randomly picked each day to share their sticky notes with the class. In addition, students will be required to complete an interpretive group project. Students will be asked to make a collage, paint, draw, or piece together their own interpretation of what Pap Finn would look like. They will include a portrait of him, his childhood home, his hobbies and interests as a child, as well as his childhood aspirations. Students are to interpret Pap’s character as a child and determine within their groups how his childhood could be a reflection or an opposition to his adulthood. In //Finn//, Jon Clinch chose to portray Pap as a monstrous individual. It is up to the students and their groups to create an interpret Pap’s character in the same way as a child. Also, students will be assigned a creative writing assignment. They will look at Pap’s character and create their own versions of his character’s ending. In this assignment, they can either argue against Jon Clinch’s interpretation of Pap’s character or for it. Their writing will serve as a parallel to Mark Twain’s //Huckleberry Finn//. 
 * Parental concerns?**
 * What should be expected?**

To meet this standard, I am having students develop their own portfolios. Ten of their journal entries will be included in this portfolio. Not only will the portfolio serve as a summary of the text, but also as a summary of what they have taken away from the unit itself. The portfolio itself will have to follow two themes: one from //Huckleberry Finn// and one from //Finn//. Both themes will be an opposition to the other. Example: Good vs. Evil. In their portfolios, students will explain how these themes effect Pap’s character and how they are relative to the students’ own lives. **CC.1.3.11-12.C: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama.** To meet these standards, I am having students complete their daily journal entries. These journal entries will measure what they have learned, what they have read, and will also give room for them to interpret //Finn// on their own. **CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.** To meet this standard, I am using the interpretive group project, as well as the creative writing assignment. Due to the fact that students are comparing //Finn// to //Huckleberry Finn//, students are able to see how Jon Clinch developed Pap’s character through the events and characters in Twain’s classic. However, students are also able to develop Pap’s character through their own interpretations with these projects. They are able to decide if his character was misrepresented by Clinch, how a representation of his childhood could have negatively or positively impacted his character, and how his choices and his background influenced his actions in his adulthood. Not only are they determining how another writer developed his character, but they are also developing and interpreting Pap’s character on their own. This is the question I want students to be thinking about throughout the unit. I want students to think about how their choices today will affect them tomorrow and in their futures, just as Pap’s choices affected him throughout Clinch’s novel. Due to the fact that students are being asked to place themselves in Pap’s shoes in this unit, I want them to think about their own experiences, as well. I also want them to think about these other questions: How do their personal experiences compare to Pap’s? How do the judgments of others impact their own lives? How does having friends and support help to shape individuals? If Pap had more support as a child, would Clinch have made him a different character? Frankenstein starts out as a friendly being looking for love. Is Pap comparable to Frankenstein? Are Pap and Frankenstein monsters? How would Pap’s life turned out if he had a father figure like Jim in his life?
 * Expectation alignment to standards:**
 * CC.1.3.11-12.A: Determine and analyze the relationship between two or more themes or central ideas of a text, including the development and interaction of the themes; provide an objective summary of the text. **
 * Big Question:**
 * How do the choices we make (past, present, future) effect who we are as individuals?**

Using //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// as an aid, students will be able to create their own interpretations of Pap Finn’s character through a creative writing assignment and interpretive group assignment. While reading //Finn//, students will be able to answer questions about Pap Finn’s character that are also relative to their own lives and others they know. After reading //Finn// and parts of //Huckleberry Finn//, students will be able to create a portfolio that best represents what they have taken away and learned from the overall unit while connecting two opposing themes (one from each story).
 * <range type="comment" id="451853450_9">Goals/Objectives:</range id="451853450_9">**

**Works Cited** Clinch, Jon. //Finn//. Thorndike, Me.: Cemter Point Pub., 2007. Print.

Hameed, Junaid B. "This Is a Good Book." //Charles William Eliot Profile//. N.p., 2013. Web. 09 Sept. 2013.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan J. Wolfson, and Ronald Levao. //The Annotated Frankenstein//. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2012. Print.

Twain, Mark. //Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//. New York: Random House, 1996. Print.