portrait of Henrietta Lacks with lines building on her image to a grid of connected dots

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Teaching Guide

by Tessie Barbosa

  • Released October 09, 2019
  • Language Arts and Literature subjects
  • 11 pages
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Grade Levels

Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12

Grade 9

Excerpt

So you’re going to teach The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. While it has challenging content—racism and dense scientific material—teaching Rebecca Skloot’s book to your class will be rewarding for you and your students. Studying The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks will give them unique insight into scientific ethics, patients' rights, and important themes surrounding the history of racism, poverty, and medicine in American history. This guide highlights some of the most salient aspects of the text before you begin teaching.

About

Our eNotes Teaching Guides have been designed to help first-time and veteran teachers open up classic works of literature for their students. Each guide provides creative and practical approaches to teaching the text, as well as rich background information, key plot points, and recommended texts.

The main components of each guide include the following:

  • An overview of the text and its key components
  • Teaching approaches and discussion questions
  • A list of complementary texts

These Teaching Guides offer valuable context and promote meaningful discussions about novels, plays, poems, and stories that have captivated English Language Arts students for generations. Each guide is comprehensive and concise, thought-provoking and practical.