This Unit at a Glance:

Grade Band:

Grades 9-12
 

Integrated Subjects:
(click to view more lessons in these areas)

 

Targeted Standards:

The National Standards For Arts Education:

Theater (9-12)
Standard 1: Script writing through improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history

Theater (9-12)
Standard 3: Designing and producing by conceptualizing and realizing artistic interpretations for informal or formal productions

Theater (9-12)
Standard 5: Researching by evaluating and synthesizing cultural and historical information to support artistic choices

 

Other National Standards:

Economics IV (9-12) Standard 2: Understands characteristics of different economic systems, economic institutions, and economic incentives

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 2: Knows the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 4: Understands the physical and human characteristics of place

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 5: Understands the concept of regions

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 6: Understands that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 12: Understands the patterns of human settlement and their causes

Geography IV (9-12) Standard 17: Understands how geography is used to interpret the past

Historical Understanding IV (9-12) Standard 1: Understands and knows how to analyze chronological relationships and patterns

Historical Understanding IV (9-12) Standard 2: Understands the historical perspective

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 1: Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 2: Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 3: Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 5: Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 6: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 7: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 8: Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes

Language Arts IV (9-12) Standard 9: Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media

United States History IV (9-12) Standard 12: Understands the sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period

United States History IV (9-12) Standard 16: Understands how the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed American society

 

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Mark Twain, the Lincoln of Our Literature

 
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Unit Overview:

This unit focuses on the unique genius of autobiographer, satirist, humorist, and novelist Mark Twain. Students will explore the American "voices" through which Twain translates, assails, contours, and celebrates aspects of American life and the American character. The lessons in this unit can be taught as stand-alone lessons, or may be taught as part of the entire unit.

The first lesson, Icon and Iconoclast, aims at building a context in which to embed the study of these voices, focusing particularly on Twain as chronicler of the dichotomous profile of 19th century American culture. Lesson 2, Steamboat's a-Comin', examines the influence of the Mississippi River on American culture, and Twain's writing in particular. Lesson 3, An American Humorist, explores Twain, the humorist—one who regales the world with tall tales, hyperbolic anecdotes, one-liners, and satirical jibes. Finally, Lesson 4 explores Twain’s mythic, young "American Adam," Tom Sawyer, and Tom's various encounters during his many episodic adventures.

 

Lesson Overviews:

Twain: Icon and Iconoclast

Students examine Twain's work in the context of pre- and post-Civil War America.

 

Twain: Steamboat's a-Comin'

This lesson examines the mystique of rivers as inspiration for creative expression. It also provides students with a glimpse of the powerful influence the Mississippi River and its environs had on Mark Twain’s writings.

 

Twain: An American Humorist

This lesson examines the diversity and intricacy of Mark Twain’s humor.

 

Twain: Tom Sawyer—Mythic Adventurer

This lesson focuses on the content and style of development in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

 
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