Before the lesson is taught, the teacher should be up-front about the use of racial slurs in the book. Most students will know, but it needs to be reinforced that these are not acceptable words to use today. Students should be told the differences in dialect between generations, and that the only appropriate words available for them to use today are "African-American" and "black."
The thought questions in this lesson plan provide material and ideas that students can use to write short original essays and to develop their powers of analysis.
The questions provided for the final paper are most suitable for student essays. For the sake of improving their written expression, of expression,...