Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
Lesson or Unit Plan for “The Story of the Bad Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
“The Story of the Good Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1875)
Created by: Sherry Todd
School: Moberly Area Community College
City, State: Kirksville, MO
Mark Twain Teachers’ Workshop, July 14, 2017
Hannibal, Missouri
Bad Boy
UNIT PLAN for
“The Story of the Bad Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
Concept or Topic: Suggested Grade Level(s)/Course:
Literary Analysis First year at Community College
Subject: Suggested Time Frame:
Literature/Writing 85-minute class periods, 2 times each
week, 3 weeks in unit
Objective(s): The First Year College student will write a Literary Analysis using
correct MLA format and score at least 75 out of 100 on the “Writing Rubric.” (Attached)
Common Core State Standards:
Assessments (at least two): Literary Analysis Essay, 2 quizzes, group grade on MLA
Citation Activity
Vocabulary (Tiers 2 & 3): irony, logos, pathos, ethos, enthymeme
Subject Area Integration: History (Historical Criticism), Sociology
Background Information Required for Lesson: Students have been taught how to
write a clear thesis statement and support the statement logically.
Materials: Class handouts including “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894),
“The Story of The Bad Boy” by Mark Twain
Technology: White board, computers, printer, Audiovisual equipment
Lesson Sequence:
DAY 1
Hook/Intro: Theatrically drag in a suitcase filled with stacks of old books along with a
bag of current best sellers. Set all on the front desk in a struggling manner. Ask the
question” What is Literature and why do we care?” (5 minutes)
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UNIT PLAN for
“The Story of the Bad Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
Teaching of the Concept(s):
1. Lecture on Literature and the importance of story (8 minutes)
2. Introduce Literary Analysis (2 minutes)
3. Review Bloom’s Taxonomy, Analysis (taking apart and looking at the parts) (2
minutes)
4. Review and write on white board the parts of fiction (plot, characters, setting,
narrator, symbols, point of view, theme, tone) (8 minutes)
5. Handout “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin (1894) (1 minute)
7. Read it aloud to class (10 minutes)
Suggested Questions:
Why is close reading important?
What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction?
What can we learn from fiction?
What are the parts of fiction?
What is irony?
Where do you see irony in the story?
Learning Activity:
Analyze “The Story of an Hour” (20 minutes)
Hand out a student essay analyzing “The Story of an Hour” (1 minute)
Read the student essay to the class (4 minutes)
Discuss and define “Irony” (5 minutes)
Group work finding specific places in the text that show irony (15 minutes)
Review/Closure:
Reiterate parts of fiction (5 minutes)
Review importance of close reading (5 minutes)
Remind students of their educational journey and the value of critical thinking (5
minutes)
Homework:
Read handout “The Story of the Bad Boy” to identify literature elements
Assign close reading of the text with the expectation of a reading quiz
Strategies for Exceptional Students:
Preteach vocabulary/concepts
Direct instruction
Modeling/ examples
Suggested Follow-Up Activities:
“The Importance of Storytelling” | Emmanuel Dzotsi | TEDxOhioStateUniversity
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UNIT PLAN for
“The Story of the Bad Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
DAY 2
Hook:
Play YouTube video of “Bad Boys, Bad Boys” by Bob Marley (4 minutes)
What does this make you think of? (3-5 minutes)
Teaching of the Concept:
1. Reading quiz over “The Story of the Bad Boy” (10 minutes)
2. Readers response to the story (10 minutes)
3. Short in-class writing about the story (10 minutes)
4. Discuss story plot, setting, characters, setting, theme, narrator, symbols, point of
view and tone (20 minutes)
Learning Activity:
Group work “Found Poem” Activity to reiterate the story and differing views of story
(20 minutes)
Suggested Questions:
Did you like the story? Why or why not?
What personal connection can you make to the story?
Do you think the time period Twain wrote this story impacted the writing? How?
How might the story be different if it were a contemporary writing?
Review/Closure:
Review the importance of close reading and its value when analyzing literature.
Review the parts of fiction.
Homework:
Assign Literary Analysis Essay:
Prompt:
For this essay you will be analyzing “The Story of the Bad Boy” written by Mark Twain
and published in 1865. You will analyze this story in an argumentative essay.
Ten steps to Writing this Essay
1. Read the story with an eye toward a good topic.
2. Choose a topic—about an aspect of the story’s form or content. Note that a topic is
a general subject—you will need to turn that into a thesis later on in this process. Turn
the topic into a question. For example, if your topic is characterization in “The Bet,”
then turn the topic into a question. “How does Chekhov portray the lawyer?” Once you
have turned the topic into a question, the rest of the steps will become easier.
3. Reread the story with your topic as a filter. In this way, you will be isolating the
passages from the story that relate to your topic. In other words, find the passages
that help you answer the question.
4. Mark passages in the story that relate to your topic (and it would be helpful to,
afterward, type these into a word processing file).
5. Analyze these passages and develop a thesis from them. The thesis would be your
arguable proposition about your topic.
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UNIT PLAN for
“The Story of the Bad Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
6 Organize these passages in order to most effectively support your thesis. Don’t feel
you need to follow the same order that they appear in the story.
7. Properly introduce, present, and interpret each passage.
8. Link your passages with proper transitions. Imagine that each paragraph would be
analyzing only one or two passages.
9. Revise.
10. Be sure to include a correct MLA work cited page.
Also note that this essay is not a plot summary—you do not spend the entire essay
telling what happens in the story—you analyze it.
The first paragraph must include—the author of the story (this means that all your
textual citations will only need a page # in parentheses), the title of the story (in
quotation marks), and a one or two sentence synopsis of the story, and your thesis.
Workshop in one week Due in two weeks
DAY 3
Hook/ Intro: Unveil new portrait of Mark Twain.
Ask students to identify who is portrayed in the painting.
Ask students to write five questions they would like to ask him. (10 minutes)
Teaching of the Concept(s):
1. Show film from Films on Demand entitled Mark Twain: His Amazing Adventures (46
minutes).
2. Discuss the film and how it answered students’ questions.
3. Assist students in making possible connections between Twain’s life and “The Story
of the Bad Little Boy.”
Suggested Questions:
What questions did you have about Mark Twain?
What did you already know about him?
How many of you have visited his home in Hannibal?
What new information did you gain from watching the film?
How do you think Twain’s life and work was impacted by his growing up years in
Missouri?
If you had questions that were not answered by the film, where might you find that
information (besides Google)?
Learning Activity:
Class Discussion
Review/Closure:
As you are writing your Literary Analysis, you might think about Mark Twain as the
writer and how his life may have impacted this story. Be sure to support any claims
you make with solid evidence and cite your sources.
Remember we will be Workshopping your Literary Analysis Essay the next time we
meet in class. Bring three copies of your essay to class and come prepared to review
three of your peer’s essays.
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UNIT PLAN for
“The Story of the Bad Little Boy” by Mark Twain (1865)
Homework:
Complete your essay and bring three typed copies to the next class meeting.
Strategies for Exceptional Students:
Use group work for brainstorming questions about Mark Twain.
Give personal examples of questions an instructor would like to ask Twain.
Suggested Follow-Up Activities:
Field Trip to Hannibal to visit museums, cave, lighthouse and ride riverboat
View Ken Burn’s 2001 film Mark Twain
Use additional questions offered on Films on Demand- Mark Twain: His Amazing
Adventures
DAY 4
Hook/ Intro:
Today we are going to work shop essays
Teaching of the Concept(s):
1. Each student gets three workshop worksheets and three different peer essays.
Each peer review is worth up to 10 points. Be sure to be thoughtful in your responses
and help your peers improve their essays.
Suggested Questions:
Workshop Sheet:
Learning Activity:
Students work shop three peer essays using the attached workshop sheet
Review/Closure:
When you have completed all three of your own essays from your peers, carefully
read their suggestions. This is your essay and you make the final decision of what
should be in it. But remember you want your readers to easily understand your
thoughts, so regard the suggestions seriously.
Homework:
Before next class, go into Purdue’s OWL (Online Writing Lab) and review correct MLA
format as that is what we will be working on next meeting.
Strategies for Exceptional Students:
Model using Workshop Sheet with the students using visual technology to project the
worksheet and the essay on the screen
Suggested Follow-Up Activities:
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OWL information on revising and MLA format
DAY 5
Hook/ Intro:
Come into class wearing casual gardening clothing. Ask class what is strange about
my appearance and why are they surprised. Talk about the importance of appearing
appropriate in order to be seen as credible.
Teaching of the Concept(s):
1. Show Rhetorical Triangle (Ethos/ Pathos/ Logos) (5 minutes)
2. Lecture on rhetorical theory and make connection with using correct format in
academia. (35 minutes)
Suggested Questions:
Why is credibility important?
Can you think of everyday examples of the importance of credibility? (10 minutes)
Learning Activity:
Pass out a mixed selection of books, academic journal articles, and newspapers to
each group of three
Assign group the task of typing a correct MLA Work Cited page for their sources. It is
due at the end of class. (30 minutes)
Review/Closure:
Remember your Literary Analysis is due at the beginning of the next class. It must
include a correct MLA Work Cited page if you want full credit.
Homework:
Complete your essay and bring it with a correct MLA Work Cited page and the three
workshopped copies to the next class meeting.
Strategies for Exceptional Students:
Using classroom camera and screen show them how to write a proper MLA Work
Cited page.
Ask their thoughts on order of entries and have them explain their reasoning.
Suggested Follow-Up Activities:
Look at several examples of MLA Work Cited from Academic journals.
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Literary Analysis Essay Workshop
Name of Essay__________________________________________________
Workshopped by_________________________________________________
1. Does the essay conform to the assignment?
2. Does the first paragraph include the following:
Author of the story
Title of the story
One or two sentence summary of the story
Once sentence thesis statement
3. Underline the thesis statement on the essay.
4. Circle all the quotations.
5. If any of the quotations are not properly documented in the essay, place a large X at
the end of those sentences.
6. Below, give three examples of the writer using a quotation from the literary work to
provide evidence for his or her ideas.
7. Does the writer integrate quotations smoothly into his or her sentences? Suggest any
help you can on the essay.
8. Using the thesis statement as the main idea, briefly outline the essay.
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GRADING RUBRIC CREATIVE NONFICTION ESSAY
Thesis/Development/Unity Vivid Language Tone and Mechanically Correct
(Logos) 20 pts Language(Pathos) (Ethos)
40pts 20 pts 20 pts
A Easily identifiable thesis that is Uses simile, metaphor, Expresses ideas Correct grammar;
original and plausible. Clearly and personification to freshly. Clear writer correct spelling; correct
developed beginning, middle, develop and extend position and punctuation; correct
and end. All the language in the thesis. Uses more personality. Ideas format including
essay support and extends the concrete language than seem feasible and parenthetical remarks
thesis. abstract. Uses more important. and an “Annotated
specific language than Works Cited” page.
general.
B Adequate thesis, but not Uses figurative language Lacks the Infrequent and isolated
particularly original. All language successfully, but not distinctive and errors such as comma
relates to thesis but does not with the same freshness consistent voice of use, spelling, and verb
extend it. Evident beginning, as the “A” essay. the “A” essay. usage. No pattern of
middle, and end. Primarily uses concrete error. Correct format
and specific language. including parenthetical
remarks and an
“Annotated Works
Cited” page.
C Thesis is not fully supported. Some effect at figurative Uneven voice. Relatively few errors,
Significant amount of unrelated language but at times Writer’s position but of a serious nature
language. Parts of structure cliché. More general confused or not such as comma splice,
clear, but parts unclear. than specific. More compelling. run-ons, fragments,
abstract than concrete. and agreement. No
pattern of error.
Largely correct format,
however, there may be
some isolated
formatting errors.
D Weak of unidentifiable thesis. Figurative language Tone voiceless and A significant number of
Little clear development. scarce. General and disembodied. errors of the type listed
Language not related to thesis. abstract. More telling above. Patterns of
than showing. error. Formatting
errors resulting in
unintentional
plagiarism.
F No thesis. No real effort at vivid Tone voiceless and Serious and persistent
language. disembodied. errors of the type listed
above. Unintentional
or intentional
plagiarism.
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