Thoreau on the
Go:
A Curriculum Project for Middle
School Students
By John Chamberlain, Jr.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Quotations
One through Four
Five through Eight
Nine through Twelve
Thirteen through Sixteen
These index cards contain quotations by Henry David Thoreau and quotations by his contemporaries, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, regarding him. Many of these quotations were compiled from Thoreau's works by Jane Sciacca, in her work for the Minuteman National Historical Park. Thanks go to her and to other Thoreau scholars who have labored in this vineyard. Thanks to Helen Bowdoin for her inspiring workshop, too.
I arranged the framework for the quotations, defined words that are challenging or that help illuminate the significance of the quotation. I also posed questions that can be considered on a hike around Walden Pond, around any place in nature on a field trip, or in the classroom. These cards are laminated to be durable, and are meant to be classroom and field trip-ready.
The basic premises in using such "quotation cards" are 1.) that Thoreau's pithy, rich and philosophical thoughts are best appreciated by young audiences in small doses, and 2.) that students need to be involved and need to feel a sense of ownership. Having students read cards with brief quotations they are familiar with contributes to their engagement and involvement in the field, and helps create a thoughtful, contemplative mood among the student group.
One suggestion is to distribute the cards to students beforehand, to individuals, either for group work or as individual homework overnight. Have them read them carefully, try to answer the questions posed, and then discuss their thoughts in class or wait until the field experience. The teacher, having given some time and thought to the quotations and the terrain or views on the hike, would decide on the order and location of reading the cards. She or he would then prompt the students to read and facilitate the discussion.
To make the other cards like this, construct a "table" in a word
processing program. Specify the lengths and widths of each row, column,
and cell, make them "fixed" distances, and write the written material
into the cells. Print them out, and have them Xeroxed onto thicker card
stock. I purchased laminating film at Staples and enclosed them in a
protective cover. Most schools have laminators if you want to use them,
though they might not be as effective with card stock. Good luck and have
fun! -- JC
NOTE: The following are selected
examples from a more voluminous collection.
So, it would seem, few
and fewer thoughts visit each growing man from
year to year, for the
grove in our minds is laid waste, -- sold to feed
unnecessary fires of
ambition, or sent to mill, and there is scarcely a twig
left for them to perch
on.
grove -- a small wood or stand of trees lacking dense
undergrowth
laid waste -- not cultivated, or made empty
mill -- a building or factory equipped with machinery for processing materials,
such as wood
* To what creatures does T. compare our
thoughts? Is this effective?
* How do people feed thoughts to the
"unnecessary fires of ambition"?
* What does T. think of the typical uses of our
thoughts?
* What does T. think the "groves of our
minds" should be left for?
We hug the earth, --
how rarely we mount! Methinks we might elevate
ourselves a little
more. We climb a tree, at least. I found my account in
climbing a tree
once. It was a tall white-pine, on the top of a hill; and
though I got well
pitched, I was well paid for it, for I discovered new
mountains in the horizon
which I had never seen before...
to mount -- to climb or ascend
my account -- in this case, my profit or advantage
pitched -- covered in pitch, a sticky substance secreted by pines
* What value or experience does T. suggest we
could enjoy, were we to "elevate ourselves a little more"?
* T. climbed several large mountains in his
lifetime. Why do you think he described his climb up a sticky white pine
tree here?
The sun sets on some
retired meadow, where no house is visible, with all
the glory and splendor
that it lavishes on cities, and perchance as it has
never set before, --
where there is but a solitary marsh-hawk to have his
wings gilded by it, or
only a mussquash looks out from his cabin, and there
is some little
black-veined brook in the midst of the marsh, just beginning to
meander, winding slowly
round a decaying stump.
retired -- withdrawn or secluded
to lavish -- to give extravagantly or pour forth profusely
mussquash -- (mus-kwosh) Algonquin (Natick) for muskrat
to meander -- to follow a wandering and aimless course
* What common saying does this journal entry
remind you of?
* How do you know T. prefers the sunset here
rather than in the city?
What are the natural
features which make a township handsome? A
river, with its
waterfalls and meadows, a lake, a hill, a cliff or individual
rocks, a forest, and
ancient trees standing singly. Such things are
beautiful; they have a
high use which dollars and cents never represent.
If the inhabitants of a
town were wise, they would seek to preserve these
things, though at a
considerable expense.
feature -- the make-up, shape, proportions, form, or outward
appearance
handsome -- pleasing and dignified in form or appearance
* What programs do T's words anticipate or
prophesy?
* Why do these places have a high use that money
can't represent?
* What conflicts (strong differences in opinion
or motivation) does he realize could come up, if people seek to preserve these
things?
The earth is not a mere
fragment of dead history, stratum upon stratum
like the leaves of a
book, to be studied by geologist and antiquaries chiefly,
but living poetry like
the leaves of a tree, which precede flowers and fruit --
not a fossil earth, but
a living earth; compared with whose great central life
all animal and vegetable
life is merely parasitic.... You may melt your metals
and cast them into the
most beautiful moulds you can; they will never excite
me like the forms which
this molten earth flows out into.
stratum -- layer antiquaries --
people who study ancient times to
precede -- to come before
parasite -- an organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered by
another, while contributing nothing to the survival of its host
* T. compares manmade things with natural
things. Why does he?
Let me say to you and to
myself in one breath; Cultivate the tree which
you have found to bear
fruit in your soil. Regard not your past failures
nor successes. All
the past is equally a failure and a success; it is a success
in as much as it offers
you the present opportunity.
cultivate -- to nourish or foster
regard -- to look at attentively; observe closely
* To grow trees that actually bear fruit in the
soil in which we plant them seems sensible enough. But how does this also apply
to our future plans?
* How is T. telling us to learn from our pasts,
successful or not?
* What advice does he give to us if we have
something fail in our past?
You must love the crust
of the earth on which you dwell more than the
sweet crust of any bread
or cake. You must be able to abstract nutriment
out of a sandheap.
You must have so good an appetite as this, else you
live in vain.
to abstract -- to draw out the vitality or essence of something
nutriment -- food; something that nourishes
in vain -- to no use or purpose
* Do you like crusts? When and when
not? Explain.
* Why do you think T. chose a sandheap
rather than a lake or field?
* Why do you think T. says we need and appetite
for the earth's crust?
* Do you think we will have lived in vain if we
don't love the earth?
Though living in
civilization, Henry was the keenest observer of external
nature I have ever
seen. He had the trained sense of the Indian, eyes that
saw in the night, his
own way of threading the woods and fields, so that he
felt his path through
them in the densest night, without delay or interruption.
He would hear a
partridge fly into a bush in the dark of dawn, and guide you
to the spot after day
unerringly. The tread and trail of wild creatures were
apparent to him by
sight, hearing, and, I believe, smell.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
keenest -- very sharp observer
-- someone who watches attentively
to thread -- to pass cautiously through obstacles or along a
slender path
unerringly -- without error tread
-- footprints
* How do you think T. became such a keen
observer of nature?
After having read
various books on various subjects for some months, I take
up a report on Farms,
and read of the number of acres of bog that some
farmer has redeemed, and
the number of rods of stone wall that he has built
and the number of tons
of hay he now cuts, or of bushels of corn or
potatoes he raises
there, and I feel as if I had got my foot down on the solid
and sunny earth, the
basis of all philosophy, and poetry, and religion even.
I have faith that the
man who redeemed some acres of land the past summer
redeemed also parts of
his character.
rods -- a linear measure, 16.5
feet to redeem -- to set free or rescue
* Why do you think T. preferred these farming
reports to the other books?
* What does T. say is "the basis of all
philosophy and poetry"?
* How could redeeming land also redeem parts of
one's character?
Minott is, perhaps, the
most poetical farmer -- who most realizes to me
the poetry of the
farmer's life -- that I know. He does nothing with haste
and drudgery, but as if
he loved it. He makes the most of his labor, and
takes infinite
satisfaction in every part of it. He is not looking forward to
the sale of his crops or
any pecuniary profit, but he is paid by the constant
satisfaction with his
labor yields him.
haste -- urgency; necessary speed drudgery
-- tedious, or unpleasant work
pecuniary -- monetary; involving payment of money
* Why does Thoreau admire Minott as a farmer?
* How is Minott a "poetical farmer"?
* Why does T. feel it's better to have a small
farm and few workers?
The weapons with
which we have gained our most important victories,
which should be handed
down as heirlooms from father to son, are not
the sword and the lance,
but the bushwhack, the turf-cutter, the spade,
and the boghoe, rusted
with the blood of many a meadow, and begrimed
with the dust of many a
hard-fought field.
heirlooms -- a valued possession handed down to children in a
family
bushwhack -- a tool which cuts away bushes and branches in thick woods
boghoe -- a gardening tool for soft, swampy ground
begrimed -- smeared or soiled with dirt or grime
* Why do you think T. sees tools used for
farming as weapons used in important victories?
* How does T. make these weapons seem heroic?
Two or three hours'
walking will carry me to as strange a country as I
expect ever to
see....Nature is a personality so vast and universal that
we have never seen one
of her features. The walker in the familiar fields
which stretch around my
native town sometimes finds himself in another
land...
vast -- enormous; immense; very great in size
universal -- something that extends to the entire world or
universe; cosmic
feature -- the outward look, form, shape or appearance of
something
* Which town is his "native town"?
* What kinds of walks does Thoreau take?
* What happens on some of Thoreau's walks?
It would be some
advantage to live in a primitive and frontier life, though
in the midst of an outward
civilization, if only to learn what are the
necessaries of life and
what methods have been taken to obtain them...
For the improvements of
ages have had but little influence on the essential
laws of man's existence:
as our skeletons, probably, are not to be
distinguished from those
of our ancestors.
to obtain -- to get influence -- power
or effect essential -- basic, vital
to distinguish -- to tell apart, separate
* What are the essential laws compared to?
* What are T's feelings about technology or the
"improvements of ages" on humans?
* Why do you think he uses skeletons to
make a comparison, rather than something like skin or hair?
I am struck by the fact
that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder
they are at the core,
and I think that the same is true of human beings. We
do not wish to see
children precocious, making great strides in their early
years like sprouts,
producing a soft and perishable timber, but better if they
expand slowly at first,
as if contending with difficulties, and so are solidified
and perfected.
Trees continue to expand with nearly equal rapidity to an
extreme old age.
struck -- amazed sounder -- more
solid; in good condition core -- center
precocious -- prematurely mature; "ripening before its
time" contending -- striving or
struggling, as in battle
* Is it better to be an early or late bloomer?
* Explain T's point of view. Do you agree
or disagree?
* Give an example from your own experience.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called
resignation
is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the
desperate
country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and
muskrats.
A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under
what
are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in
them,
for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do
desperate
things.
desperate -- feeling reckless and crazy because all hope or choice
is gone
to console -- to comfort in sorrow stereotyped
-- typical, not individual
* Why is "quiet desperation" different
than "spoken desperation"?
* What feeling does T. say is concealed under
mankind's games?
When we consider
what, to use the words of catechism, is the chief end
of man, and what are the
true necessaries and means of life, it appears as
if men had deliberately
chosen the common mode of living because they
preferred it to any
other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left.
But alert and healthy
natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never
too late to give up our
prejudices.
catechism -- religious
teachings, presented in questions and answers mode -- way or style
alert -- very watchful and
ready prejudices
-- a negative opinion formed before examining the facts
* What is T. trying to remind us that we can always do?
* What does he mean by saying that "the sun rose clear"?