author: Janice Barrett-Chow

unit's subject: English as Second Language (ESL) (intermediate)

school: Lowell High School, Lowell MA

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Lowell Field Trips to Create a Sense of Place

The goal of the unit is to use the textbook as a base to connect field trips to class activities, while enhancing a sense of place for students not from the United States. By participating in formal school staff interviews, observing Lowell’s monuments and learning what is important to the people of Lowell, creating their own personal monument, and allowing them to create a quilt about themselves will help students become more familiar with the school environment and the city in which they live, while also encouraging personal expression of who they are.

author: Lisa Rioles Collins

unit's subject: Science/Biology

school: formerly Hingham Public Schools

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Observing Nature Throughout the Seasons

Thoreau went out everyday observing nature and discovering changes that occurred in local flora and fauna throughout the seasons. The goal of this curriculum unit is to get students outdoors to observe the same tract of wildlands close to their school throughout the year. It is a comprehensive biology curriculum including a major field component, and it engages students in observation skills, journal writing, mathematics, research, and technology.

author: Katie Elsener

unit's subject: English

school: Pius X High School, Lincoln NE

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Thoreau and Transcendentalism

The validity of Henry David Thoreau and Transcendentalism in the 21st century:

 the 19th century man still speaks to us today

Through an overview of Henry David Thoreau’s life, writings, and philosophies, students will engage in writing activities and field trips that will encourage them to relate to the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau and be able to apply such wisdom to their lives. Students will be able to think and hopefully live a little more deliberately after exploring and applying Thoreau’s philosophy. Students will find value in the place where they live.

author: Nancy Flasher

unit's subject: The Academy of Art, Science and Technology (Interdisciplinary)

school: Provincetown High School, Provincetown MA

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The Academy and Henry David Thoreau: Lifelong Learning Personified

This unit is designed to cultivate student interest in the life of Henry David Thoreau not only as a local resource to draw upon, but especially as an excellent and timeless model of a spirited self-directed and lifelong learner. It is composed of three core lesson plans: the first focuses on some of the initial activities that will assist students in creating a "toolbox" of lifelong learning skills, knowledge and habits; the second focuses on teaching and guiding students to keep a lifelong learning project journal, a thorough, reflective and relevant documentation of their individualized study; the final plan focuses on using the journal to review, isolate, choose and further develop key information and inquiries imbedded in project journals (editing, revision, and exploring a variety of means for presenting info).

author: David Kujawski

unit's subject: Environmental Science

school: Boston Collegiate Charter School, Dorchester MA

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Boston  - Where the Wild Things Are

As Thoreau states in Walden, “Things do not change; we change.” This simple, yet poignant statement speaks of how humans, as individuals as well as a community, grow and change greatly during our lifetime. The people we know and the places we experience seem to change over time largely because of the personal and cultural transformation of our perceptions (for better or for worse!). This unit uses journaling and mapping as a way to build an appreciation and understanding between students and their natural surroundings and local history, as seen through the students own set of personal and cultural lenses. Students will develop a greater understanding of map interpretation and the mental associations they may conjure, as well the ability to read and interpret maps. The transcendentalists will be used throughout the unit to reinforce the purpose of the exercises and serve as models. Through encouraging students to discover and see their surroundings in a new light, they will eventually make a detailed map of their home towns.

author: Robert  Largess

unit's subject: English

school: Boston Latin Academy, Boston MA

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A Series of Classes on Images from Nature in Romantic Literature

This course will prepare the students college, and will provide a lasting experience that might last them through life. The class will provide students with a good general overview of the American literature and authors of the Romantic period, will give students a basic understanding of Transcendentalism, will tackle the question of nature and its role in people’s lives, and will culminate in the star-gazing fieldtrip.

(Click here to read the full unit (PDF) by Robert Largess)

author: Mark  Linehan

unit's subject: Environet (Environmental Biology course)

school: Reading Memorial High School, Reading MA

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Using Journals to Connect Students to the Curriculum

Environet is an environmental biology course which places emphasis on student-driven Internet research about basic ecological principles and current environmental issues. The ultimate goal of this unit is for students to develop a journal and PowerPoint presentation which highlights both the journal making process, and the journal itself. The journal will be a tool for students to develop a personal connection to the topics they are studying in class. While Internet-based research is an excellent way to bring world issues to students doorsteps, it does not necessarily convey the specific importance to their own lives and community. Journaling gives the students an opportunity to observe (and improve their observation skills) the complexity of nature all around them. The PowerPoint presentation acts as a means of reflection and self assessment for the students. This culminating activity forces students to think about the process of journaling and hopefully give them a journal they can admire, and the skills they would need to do it all over again.

author: Janet Platt

unit's subject: Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry)

school: Boston Day and Evening Academy, Boston MA

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The Mathematics of Space and Place

This mathematics unit will try in a very concrete way to examine the role of PLACE in community, and trying to quantify a place. Students will use pace as a measuring tool to draw the school yard and city blocks to scale, and to analyze the use of property and other space in a block or two of the city. Property use will be categorized, converted to percent, and presented in a pie graph. The data gleaned from these activities will be used to describe the types of businesses and activities that occur in that place. Ultimately, all of this information will be used to try and answer the “essential question” - What does community mean?

author: Erica  Schwartz

unit's subject: Interdisciplinary – English/Humanities/Dance

school: English High School (Boston Public Schools), Jamaica Plain MA

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Finding Comfort in an Unfamiliar Landscape: Urban Youth Explore Nature

This unit explores several “essential questions” about how urban youth can connect to an unfamiliar place using an all-inclusive set of mental, emotional, and physical sensations: through reading Thoreau’s work and writing about nature; becoming intimate with an urban nature sanctuary through observation and art; and creating a site specific dance study on nature, inspired by the words of Thoreau, performed on the grounds of the nature sanctuary.

author: Emily Steinberg

unit's subject: Biology

school: Lowell High School, Lowell MA

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The Relationship between Nature and Man’s Place

This unit is designed to help urban high school students define, and ultimately make connections to, the nature that surrounds them. Students will be guided in their definition of nature by a set of fundamental unit questions and will be asked to reflect without any previous exposure to this topic. Subsequently, the students will address these questions through provocative readings as well as journaling. In addition to defining nature, students will learn the relevance of scale in dealing with ecology. They will understand the importance of observation and how scale and subjectivity can alter what is perceived. They will also calculate their own impact on nature and, in doing so, they will be able to evaluate their own as well as man’s place in (or outside) of it.

author: Ann Taylor

unit's subject: English Language Learners (ELL)

school: Lowell High School, Lowell MA

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Making Lowell Our Place:

An ELL Writing Unit about Developing a Sense of Place in a New City

This unit explores the theme of place-based community education for students new to the United States. Students will have an opportunity to learn about the public resources or public areas of the city they live in (in this unit, specifically Lowell, MA) and how they can use these resources. By learning about the public areas and an introduction to the history of Lowell, it is hoped that these ELL students can start to make Lowell their place. This is a field-based course that also incorporates observation, listening, and writing in many forms.

author: Alison Van Vort

unit's subject: Interdisciplinary and English

school: Odyssey High School, South Boston MA

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Place in the World

Designed for a high school English class, this unit devotes a great deal of energy to the writing process, including reflective journaling, formal prose, and editing (as well as additional language arts components). The main goals of the unit are to heighten students’ awareness of their social, cultural, ecological, and political surroundings, and to get them to think about their own place within these matrices. It is composed of three general sections: learning about where you live through observation, reflection, and first-hand experience; learning about where you live through research and investigation; and learning about your responsibility and power as individuals and writers.

author: Richard "Wally" Wallace

unit's subject: Interdisciplinary

school: Souhegan High School, Amherst NH

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Walking with Thoreau

This course will allow students to learn about Thoreau’s ideas through visual, auditory and authentic learning experiences. Students will be reading, writing, walking, researching, discussing, cooking and sauntering; thoroughly immersed in activities Thoreau engaged in. Students will be “living life” through this course, not just reading about it. Students will be asked to make connections in their own lives to the ideas Thoreau espoused. Some of the questions addressed will be: “What have you learned about yourself in Thoreau’s readings and about values then and today?" Students will learn about Thoreau’s fusion of the arts and sciences, which paved the way for authors like Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, Mary Oliver and Barry Lopez. There will be one field trip to Walden Pond in Concord, MA, and numerous local “field trips”. Students will keep an extensive journal and complete a culminating project.