Unit Plan
Walden Woods Project

19th Century Lessons for 21st Century Lives

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thoreau

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders answer the question Why Westborough? Why did their town develop as it did, what types of industry were here and why. They are introduced to journal writing. Students free write about ideas that stand out from class. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abolitionists in U.S. History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read and discuss excerpts from the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass and Sarah Parker Redmond. They compare and contrast the views of the three abolitionists concentrating on the experiences and reasons for...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

INDUSTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders create a final project called Industry X (which was previously researched in the unit) has plans to build in town. There is a special town meeting scheduled to discuss this matter and allow everyone to express their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Transcendentalism and Buddhism:

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars study American transcendentalism through readings of Emerson and Thoreau. They make cognitive connections to the similarities to Buddhism in these writings. The connection of the literary movement is explained in the art...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and  "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the...
Website
Other

Blupete: Thoughts on Thoreau and "Walden"

For Students 9th - 10th
This site presents a summary of each chapter of Thoreau's book "Walden" along with some quotes from each chapter of the book and commentary by Peter Landry.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Henry David Thoreau, Excerpts From "Economy," Ch. 1 of Walden, 1854

For Students 9th - 10th
A chapter from Walden that critiques and challenges the new market economy of the nineteenth century.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Reading Guide: Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Thoreau offers in this excerpt from Walden the Transcendentalist observation that each human must search for religious meaning within himself and not as a quest to glorify God.
Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

Huntington Library: The Literature of Upheaval [Pdf]

For Teachers 8th
In this instructional activity, 8th graders read excerpts from Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and discuss the impact their ideas about society and slavery had when their books were published. They then...