Drawing of Thoreau's cabin by his sister Sophia
Home
Lesson 1: The life and times
of Thoreau
Lesson 2: Thoreau's
philosophy of government
Lesson 3: Thoreau's writing
style
Lesson 4: Imprisonment and
individuality
Resources
| | Lesson 4: How
can we debate Thoreau’s ideas on imprisonment and individuality?
Instructional
Objectives: Students will be able to criticize Thoreau’s philosophy, and
they will be able to express the reasons why that same philosophy is appealing
and is still relevant today. They
will be able to use a digital "instant message" chat feature to
discuss Thoreau’s beliefs with another student.
Time:
One forty minute class
Motivation:
Students do a quick read of Reading
#4 and write the answer to the following question:
What happens according to Thoreau when an acorn and a chestnut fall side
by side?
Vocabulary:
Avail – to be of use or
advantage
Perchance – by chance
Development:
- Reading
#4 is read again, aloud by the teacher who poses a couple of
comprehension question before proceeding.
- The
teacher presents the following scenarios to students who have been
partnered. They are to use an instant message program, such as MSN
Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or another free download which allows the user
to save the dialogue and print it.
Note: I have chosen
an IM platform for this dialogue because students are very comfortable
with this form of communication at home, yet it is rarely used in an
academic environment. I thought it would provide a "fun"
alternative to the traditional assignment. If your school has an
Internet policy against using chat functions, then the assignment could be
altered. For recent research on the disconnect between home and
school use of the Internet, including IM, see this article. |
The anti-Thoreau student should start first.
Let the students know how much time they have so they’ll both get a
chance to write at least five times.
Scenario
1 – Anti-Thoreau
Scenario
2 – Pro-Thoreau
Summary:
Have the students print out
their dialogues and share them with another pair; or, if you recognized any that
were particularly interesting as you facilitated the exercise, you may have them
read aloud to the class. As
they are listening, have students develop a t-chart in their notebooks with
anti-Thoreau statements on one side and pro-Thoreau on the other. This
will assist them in their homework assignment.
Homework:
Develop your side of the dialogue into a well-written paragraph using
appropriate transition
words.
Extension:
Thoreau’s writings, like those of many of his contemporaries, are
filled with aphorisms. The reading
material offers an opportunity to review what an aphorism is and read some
examples. See
this Aphorisms
handout
Evaluation:
The students' performance in this
lesson will be assessed by the successful completion of these performance
indicators: students
scanned the reading and wrote the answer to the motivation question; they
successfully engaged in a "digital
dialogue" with a fellow student as a defender or detractor of Thoreau; and
their homework assignment was well-crafted in terms of ideas, use of transition
words, and grammatical/spelling accuracy. |