Response to Authentic Prompts

Slagle raises a good point: it is difficult to come up with authentic prompts and she offers some good suggestions. I have included a similar one in my syllabus this year when I teach Huck Finn. I am going to ask the students to write a paper on whether that novel should remain in the curriculum or not. I recently read how a group of African American symbolically buried the N-word. Knowing that, I wonder if the novel should still be taught in high school. I know African American kids often feel pretty uncomfortable when we read it, so I am thinking of no longer teaching as of next year. Anyway--good article with good ideas.