Walden Woods Project
19th Century Lessons for 21st Century Lives
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...
Curated OER
Thoreau
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. ...
Curated OER
Abolitionists in U.S. History
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...
Curated OER
INDUSTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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...
Curated OER
American Transcendentalism and Buddhism:
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...
Curated OER
Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution
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...
Other
Blupete: Thoughts on Thoreau and "Walden"
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.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Henry David Thoreau, Excerpts From "Economy," Ch. 1 of Walden, 1854
A chapter from Walden that critiques and challenges the new market economy of the nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Reading Guide: Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"
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.
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: The Literature of Upheaval [Pdf]
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...