In this media gallery, students will interact with clips from the Ken Burns' film Mark Twain. Through these clips and the associated discussion questions, students will evaluate the impact people and events had on him, and the legacy he created. In the support materials, you will find videos from Mark Twain scholar, Jocelyn Chadwick, where she provides educators guidance on teaching the film, discussing theme and style. We also provide transcripts of the videos, as well as activities to complete with your students that will extend their learning. 

About the Authors: 

Jocelyn A. Chadwick is a life-long English teacher and international scholar. She was a full-time professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education and is now lecturing occasionally and conducting seminars there. In addition to teaching and writing, Chadwick also works online and in classrooms with 4-12 students and teachers around the country, focusing on literature, writing, and curriculum development. She has worked and continues to work with PBS, WNET, WGBH, BBC Radio and was invited to the White House as panel member for the series, Celebrating America’s Authors for Ken Burns’s Mark Twain. In addition to teaching and writing, Chadwick also consults and works with teachers, elementary, middle and high school students around the country: literature, writing, modern and classical rhetoric. Chadwick also is an expert consultant for NBC News Learn and is now Past-President of National Council of Teachers of English.

John Grassie has an extensive background in television news and documentary production, along with his current experience as an author, lecturer, and developer of digital educational materials for classroom teachers. As a producer, he created programs, multiple series, and documentaries for Public Television, NBC News, and Discovery. For his work, Grassie was awarded the DuPont-Columbia University Award, the CINE Golden Eagle, the New York International Film and Television Festival Award for Outstanding Programming while also being nominated for multiple Emmys and International Documentary Association awards. His focus on education has included lecturing on digital media at Harvard and Boston University, co-authoring two books with Jocelyn A. Chadwick, developing the Teaching Challenging Texts project for Savvas Learning, and serving as a contributor and developer for NBC News Education and PBS LearningMedia.