Debbie Bassett, Burlington High School -- English

Acrobat (*.pdf)     Web-published (*.html)

Transcendental Years in the Concord Community:

Fact and Fiction in Little Women

Intended for juniors-level American literature classes.  Students will study the facts of Louisa May Alcott's life in order to learn where she fashioned fiction and perhaps understand her motives in doing so.

Don Bockler, Arlington High School -- Biology, Environmental Science

Acrobat (*.pdf)     Web-published (*.html)

Approaching Walden: From Emerson to Thoreau

Units for AP Environmental Science, ecology, and honors biology classes.

Janet Burne, Reading High School -- English

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Living Thoreau as a Means of Approaching Walden

Intended for grade 10 honors American Literature.  This series of assignments is intended to be accomplished over the course of several months, being presented on alternating Mondays and due at the end of two weeks (thus, every other Friday, students will submit a completed journal and on the following Monday, a new assignment will be started).

Michelle Cassidy,  Masconomet Regional High School -- English

Acrobat (*.pdf)     Web-published (*.html)

Curriculum Unit for Approaching Walden

American Literature, Grade 11 Honors.  What can my students really “get” out of reading Thoreau and Emerson?  They are eleventh grade honors students, so they often have an initial desire for ‘the facts.’  My hope is to inspire much more than that with this unit. 

Ernie Descheneaux, Lowell High School -- English

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A rough outline of a curriculum unit focusing on the use of journals as a way to crystallize ideas and encourage creativity.  This yearlong unit includes a range of American literature.

David Donavel, Masconomet Regional High School -- English

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“To attend chiefly to the desk or school-house while we neglect the scenery in which it is placed is absurd.”  H.D. Thoreau

Of all that is striking about the work of Thoreau, perhaps the most remarkable is the quality in it that prompts Brad Dean to ask in his “Introduction to Wild Fruits, “how might a transcendentalist write scripture?”  Students will read Thoreau, Emerson, and Melville, focusing on how they write or rewrite sacred texts.  Students will then work on their own personal "sermons."

Elizabeth Griffin, Framingham High School -- English

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Unit on Henry David Thoreau

These plans are designed for an average college-prep American Literature class which must cover examples of literature from 1600-2000 in two semesters.  7 classes  --- 5 classes in a row and then 2 classes after about a week for student presentations of independent reading.

Judy Johnson-English/Special Education
Nancy O'Brien- History 
Merrideth Wickman- English

Old Rochester Regional High School

On Being an American: Concord, 1850-1860

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        This one semester interdisciplinary unit of study will examine Concord, Massachusetts during the period from 1850 to 1860.  It will focus on the following themes:  man and his environment, man and society, man as a citizen, the literary renaissance, and contemporary connections.  This course will be offered as an elective to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have an enthusiasm for both American history and literature.

(Judith Johnson, Nancy O’Brien, and Merrideth Wickman, all teachers at Old Rochester Regional High, have worked together for a number of years.  They used the Approaching Walden institute to create a collaborative, interdisciplinary American Studies program.)

Leah Marquis, Shawsheen Technical High School, Billerica -- English

  Web-published (*.html)

Henry David Thoreau and Journal Writing

This web site is geared to high school students studying American literature.  It introduces students to the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau and also provides suggestions as to how teachers can incorporate journal writing in their classrooms.

Judy Mela, Shrewsbury High School -- English

Acrobat (*.pdf)     Web-published (*.html)

The Legacy of Emerson and Thoreau

This unit is designed for a standard 11^th grade American Studies class that is taught in conjunction with a history teacher.  The unit is intended to introduce students to Transcendentalism through the writing of Emerson and Thoreau.  Twelve lessons.

Jamie Pietruska, Dover-Sherborn High School -- English

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"In wildness is the preservation of the world." -- Henry David Thoreau

In wildness is the DISCOVERY of the SELF

This unit was designed for use in 11^th grade AP Language as part of a thematic term on language and place, but it will work in an American Lit, American Studies, or a writing course. 10 days minimum.

Gwynne Sawtelle, Westborough High School -- English

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Paths to Constructing Meaning: Preparing for the MCAS

Intended Students:  9^th, 10^th, and 11^th graders in MCAS preparation courses.  Fourteen lessons long.

Sandy Sheppard, Burlington High School -- English

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American Literature Curriculum

This course description covers a full year of American Literature, Level 3 college course.  Fourteen topics to be covered, including individualism, the relationship of man to nature, and moral struggle.

Adrienne Stang-Osborne, Newton South High School  -- History

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Lesson Plans on Abolition for United States History Classes

This approach is geared to standard 11^th grade college-preparatory United States History classes, although it can be modified for students of all ability levels. 

Nicole Vallee, Westborough High School -- US History

Acrobat (*.pdf)

Why Westborough?

Unit plan for grade 11 United States History, non-college-bound juniors.  Actually this is a rough idea for a one unit, an actual unit on Thoreau for an advanced placement class and two lesson plans for advanced level classes. 

John Warchol, Smith Academy, Hatfield (public) -- English

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Thoreau and Emerson-- Developing Self: Who am I?

In this 5-7 day introductory lesson, students will discuss and compare Thoreau’s act of civil disobedience in the 1840’s with an act of civil disobedience from tax resisters in the 1990’s in the Connecticut River Valley.

Alane Zuppa, Billerica High School -- World literature, British literature

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The Individual and His Role in Society

Grade 10 literature.  This unit will allow students to discover how various writers approach the themes of: alienation and solitude, living life “deliberately” and “phoniness”.  Through reading, journaling, class discussion, and writing assignments students will realize the power of the first person narrator in literature.