Curriculum / ELA / 11th Grade / Unit 1: Living Deliberately: Transcendentalism Then and Now / Lesson 12

Living Deliberately: Transcendentalism Then and Now

Lesson 12

ELA

Unit 1

11th Grade

Lesson 12 of 20

Lesson Overview

Objective

Review the expectations of a personal essay assignment, gather related quotations from Emerson and Thoreau, and brainstorm a chosen personal subject.

Readings and Materials

Excerpt: “Excerpts from "Self-Reliance"” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lesson Notes

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Excerpt: “Excerpts from Walden” by Henry David Thoreau

Lesson Notes

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Lesson Map

Lesson

Build background knowledge on Transcendentalism and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Materials

Four Corners Questionnaire (G11, U1, L1)
“Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Beauty of the Everyday”

Standards

RI.11-12.2RL.11-12.2SL.11-12.1SL.11-12.6

Lesson

Identify Emerson's central ideas and how he develops those ideas in excerpts from "Self-Reliance."

Materials

“Excerpts from "Self-Reliance"”

Standards

L.11-12.5RI.11-12.2RI.11-12.4

Lesson

Analyze Emerson's use of literary devices and rhetoric to convey his argument about the relationship between man and nature.

Materials

“Chapter 1 from Nature”

Standards

L.11-12.5RI.11-12.4RI.11-12.6RL.11-12.9

Lesson

Build background knowledge on Thoreau, and identify his purpose and audience for Walden.

Materials

“Excerpts from Walden” — Paragraphs 1–4
“Walden (the Walden Woods Project)”
Walden Film Viewing Guide (G11, U1, L4)

Standards

L.11-12.5RI.11-12.4RI.11-12.6RL.11-12.9

Lesson

Analyze Thoreau's use of figurative language and rhetorical devices to convey his central ideas in Walden.

Materials

“Excerpts from Walden” — Paragraphs 6–10

Standards

L.11-12.5RI.11-12.4RI.11-12.6RL.11-12.9

Lesson

Analyze how Thoreau uses imagery and figurative language to develop his central ideas.

Materials

“Excerpts from Walden” — Paragraphs 11–16

Standards

L.11-12.5RI.11-12.2RL.11-12.4

Lesson

Assessment

Socratic Seminar

Engage in a Socratic seminar about poetry, making connections to ideas from Emerson and Thoreau and supporting arguments with strong textual evidence.

Materials

“Transcendentalism Socratic Seminar Poems”

Standards

L.11-12.5RL.11-12.2RL.11-12.4SL.11-12.1.aSL.11-12.1.bSL.11-12.1.cSL.11-12.1.d

Lesson

Analyze Sherry Turkle's purpose and how she persuades her audience using rhetorical appeals.

Materials

“Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?”

Standards

RI.11-12.2RI.11-12.6SL.11-12.3

Lesson

Analyze Thoreau's central ideas and rhetorical strategies in his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience."

Materials

“Excerpts from "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience"”

Standards

RI.11-12.2RI.11-12.6

Lesson

Engage in small group discussions of Emily Dickinson poems, as well as a Gallery Walk, analyzing Dickinson's central ideas and how she communicates those through diction, imagery, and other literary devices.

Materials