Eleventh graders examine their natural surroundings as a way to begin thinking about an abstract idea. They analyze and compare or contrast the rhetorical stategies of two essayists. Students interpret and evaluate images culled from...

If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...

The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...

Students participate in a panel discussion on materialism, assuming the identities of Henry David Thoreau and other experts on materialism.  In this Walden instructional activity, students create a panel discussion of prominent...

Students explore readings from Emerson, Thoreau and Melville. In preparation for writing, students sit in a quiet, tranquil location and observe their surroundings. Later, they recreate the experience by putting it into words. ...

Twelfth graders brainstorm where they think wild things exist. Then using the same strategy they discuss natural surroundings from using prior life experience. This part of the lesson can also be done with using a nature hike. Students...

Eleventh graders answer the question Why Westborough? Why did their town develop as it did, what types of industry were here and why. They are introduced to journal writing. Students free write about ideas that stand out from class. ...

Pupils are responsible for producing works for, coordinating (with the teacher?s assistance) and mounting an exhibition to be presented at a parent-teacher open house. They examine literature by Henry David Thoreau and other writers....

Eighth graders appreciate and better understand nature by reflecting on Henry David Thoreau's quotes, making observations of the outside world, and using nature in their writings of stories and/or poems.

Learners engage in a literature study unit. They use various exercises to build reading comprehension using a wide variety of literature texts. While reading the books, students are encouraged to think reflectively in order to appreciate...

Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...

Students read and discuss excerpts from the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass and Sarah Parker Redmond. They compare and contrast the views of the three abolitionists concentrating on the experiences and reasons for...

Eleventh graders have a basic comprehension of transcendentalism and a familiarity with the principal propenents of the philosophy. They recognize of the unique role played by Concord, MA in the dispersion of transcendentalism. ...

Seventh graders create a final project called Industry X (which was previously researched in the unit) has plans to build in town. There is a special town meeting scheduled to discuss this matter and allow everyone to express their...

Students study American transcendentalism through readings of Emerson and Thoreau. They make cognitive connections to the similarities to Buddhism in these writings. The connection of the literary movement is explained in the art of the...

Tenth graders discover how various writers approach the themes of : alienation and solitude, living life "deliberately" and "phonies." Through reading, journaling, class discussion, and writing assignments they realize the power of the...

Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and  "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the...

Students criticially read an unfinished creative writing piece, answer factual questions concerning the piece, and then finish the story or create their own story about their own neigborhood and possible environmental issues.

Students red and discuss an example of a biographical essay. They read The Last of the Falling Tide by Car Hiassen, answer factual questions concerning the work, and create their own story about a natural place they are familiar with ,...

Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.