Map

I found a lot of maps--none of which were perfect, but here's one.

They are floating down river--at one point Huck points out that a slave wouldn't run South. They're going from somewhere in northern Missouri--down the black/green line and trying to get to the southern tip of Illinois.

Then the plan is to go up the Ohio River--the green line.

You could go to boondocks maps
to see some more resources.

Your First Blog

For today take one last look at what people wrote in the forum.

Then you should decide a scene to write about. Think of this as a 1-2 page paper on Huck Finn.

Some things to think about when writing about literature:
-Identify your audience--teacher? peers? general audience? (probably this class)

-Talk about the text, its effect and its purpose. Consider What Twain is doing, saying and/or trying to get us to think about.

-Raise a key question about the scene--is your question easy to answer? Do you need to defend it?

-What you think counts--do you relate your thinking on the piece? Do you back your assertions with quotations form the text?

-Reason logically, in a clear fashion--do you make logical arguments that could persuade most people? Does your essay reflect clear thinking?


I want you to link to the text. You might go to:
Huck Finn on-line
A Reader's Guide for Huck Finn

Forums and Your first Blogger Post

You should have and email from me, but you can also start here.

Our First Huck Forum

You might want to register in order to start commenting--but make sure it's clear that it's you who's commenting. Add your thoughts and see what others have to say. Comment and ask questions.


After we "talk" a little in the forum, you can start to create your own first post on Blogger. Go to your Blogger account and explain what you like and wonder about in terms of Huck Finn.

For your post, you should find the passage(s) on-line and explain what drew you to this particular point--quoting them and linking to them would be a bonus. What about it/them made you think? Ask us questions. Your post should engage us and make us want to comment.

You might go to:
Huck Finn on-line
A Reader's Guide for Huck Finn

Tell me if this story is good...

We're going to do an activity that allows us to sample Twain's writing, but for now, I want to hear your opinions on one of Twain's most famous stories. You could open any American Lit Anthology and seven out of ten times you'd find "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County".

The above link will take you there. Read it and tell me what you think. What's so d-d wonderful about this story? Why would it be the one that so many people choose to teach?

The First Day

What is this, you ask? Good question. This site will serve as a homebase for us. It will allow us to work together and link to the work we all do. We use it to keep track of daily work, assignments, web sites, group projects and whatever else I can dream up.

I won't use it for everything. Somedays I'll want to give you the agenda and will simply send an email to you all--which leads me to the first thing I need you to do:

Send me and email at andrew.pfouts@bvsd.org
All you need to write is "this is (your name)"

After that, I want you to check out the following writings--read these first three:

• Punch, Brothers, Punch
  
• Aurelia's Unfortunate Young Man
  
• Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale

The next four links should give you a little sampling of Twain's range. Check 'em out. But you can sorta skim them.

• The first 30 seconds of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (audio)
• Chapter one of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• "What is Man?"
• "Extracts from Adam's Diary"
  

After you've checked out my suggestions, post a comment on below by clicking "Comments" or the pencil icon below. Comment on your inital impressions of Twain. Explain what you thought of any of the pieces.

Syllabus

Twain
1st period, 2nd Quarter 2006-7
.5 Lang. Arts/Applied Tech.
Andrew Pfouts

Through this class, I intend to introduce students to the writings and ideas of Mark Twain, who wrote too much for one class to read together, but hopefully each student will leave the class with a general idea of Twain's writings and a desire to pursue his writings further.

I have a few goals for this course: to keep you interested in reading or get you back into it; to help you improve as students of English, specifically in the areas of reading, critical thinking, speaking and writing; to introduce you to Mark Twain; to help you improve in applied technology. For this class, we will read the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, look into some short stories, speeaches and essay.

The class will also integrate enough technology for this class to count for Applied Tech credit. We will use Twain related web resources and explore web writing software.

I intend to provide:

• students with an introductory or increased sense of Mark Twain
• opportunities to work through ideas (those of Twain and our own)
• support in understanding texts.
• to increase student proficiency in reading, speaking, writing and thinking.
• to increase your proficiency with technology
• to reveal the wonder contained in just one author
• a class that will to keep students reading

Work Requirements:

• frequent, informal, in-class writings
• online discussions/email assignments
• in class discussions, activities and seminars
• a reading project
• two formal papers
• applied tech projects and individual presentations
• a group designed lesson

We expect each student to:

• keep up with and complete the reading
• complete daily assignments
• express her/his own opinions while listening to others
• write honestly and intelligently
• add to the class discussions and work well with classmates
• attend class consistently and arrive on time

Grading:

A--consistently exceptional work; all assignments turned in on time; exemplary attendance and participation.

B--consistent quality work coupled with flashes of brilliance; thoughtful participation in nearly all classroom activities

C--student did not use his/her abilities to pursue the objectives of the class, but did some work.

IP—other students were surprised to hear s/he was in the class.