Huckleberry Finn Culminating Project

DUE DATE: ____________ Do you plan to work as a part of a group or an individual? (Circle one).

POINT VALUE: __________ PROJECT SELECTION: ________________________________

DIRECTIONS & GRADING

Choose one or more of these culminating activities to wrap up the unit. Upon completion, you will also be expected to share your project with the class. You will be graded on the following:

q Neatness counts and each of the following presentation formats is expected to be organized and presented in a very clear manner.

q Essays must be typed and double-spaced. Length should be a minimum of three pages.

q Professionalism. Alone or as a part of a group, you will be expected to conduct yourself in a respectful and proficient and practiced manner both as a presenter and an audience member.

q Organization. All aspects need to be clearly and concisely chosen. You need to be able to explain why you included this piece, or this idea, or dialogue and still relate it to relate to the text.

PROJECT TOPICS

1. ESSAY: SLAVERY’S INFLUENCE UPON RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA – individual. Some people feel that race relations in America, today, are still influenced by the legacy of slavery. What is that legacy? How does it relate to reading Huck Finn? Collect newspaper and magazine articles, music lyrics, poems, excerpts from books, artwork, and so forth, that you believe in some way expresses how America is still affected by slavery. Create a "book" or a multimedia presentation where these findings are collected and annotated. Share your findings with the class.

2. RACE RELATIONS MOCK TRIAL – group. What is racism? Is or isn't Huck Finn racist? Does reading Huck Finn help or harm race relations? Stage a mock trial with the book or Mark Twain as the defendant. Present the evidence in the form of a trial or in talk show format Huck, Jim, Twain, and anyone else – real or imagined, living or dead – you believe might add to the conversation.

3. BETTER ENDING LETTER & ALTERNATIVE – individual. Writer David Bradley notes that many have criticized the ending of Huck Finn but "none of them has been able to suggest -- much less write -- a better ending. . . . They failed for the same reason that Twain wrote the ending as he did: America has never been able to write a better ending. America has never been able to write any ending at all." What do you think he means? Imagine you were Mark Twain's editor. Write him a one-page letter explaining why and how he should change the ending. Then, rewrite your own ending, comparing it later to the original (the length of this section should be a minimum of two pages).

4. MODERN TIMES ESSAY – Individual or group. Write a scene or a "treatment" for a new movie or novel, set in contemporary times, in which Huck and Jim meet and become friends. Who would they be today? What would their issues be? Where would their journey take place? Length: three pages; add one additional page per group member, for example, if you have two group members, your scene or “treatment” would need to be four pages in length.

5. DIARY ENTRY OF HUCK’S VISIT TO AHS – individual. Pretend you are Huck writing a diary entry from the perspective if Huck were to visit Albany High School in the present day. What would he think of what he sees?

6. SCHOOL BOARD PRESENTATION – group. Review the case of Kathy Monteiro and her complaint to the Tempe, Arizona, school board, as shown in the PBS Culture Shock documentary, Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn film. Do you agree or disagree with her? Prepare a presentation to a Board of Education in which you argue either for or against teaching the novel in the school curriculum. Remember to anticipate the objections that might come from different members of the community, including parents, teachers, religious leaders, students, and administrators.