“Down the River with Henry Thoreau” Field-Assignment

Background:

Like Edward Abbey, you have now read some Thoreau, and learned a bit about his life. Hopefully, like Abbey, you also have some activities and places that make you feel particularly “alert” to life’s subtle beauties (for Abbey, it was exploring wild desert landscapes, by boat, and on foot).

Task/Process:

Before Monday, get out and do something “deliberately,” mindfully, respectfully. Certainly it could be a long walk in the woods --- I highly recommend it --- but it could also be something else that better feeds your particular “genius.” It should be something outside of your typical routines, done for the express purpose of paying close attention to your own “higher laws.” Select one quote from Walden which guides you toward your particular choice of activity. Maybe you get out to watch a sunrise, or to spend an hour closely observing water, wind, trees, etc. from some place of quiet. Maybe you go to the zoo, or an art museum, or spend some time creating your own art. Whatever your choice of activities, treat it “like morning,” as an opportunity “stand on your tiptoes,” to elevate your quality of life. Spend an hour or more. Take 5 photographs to document your experience. Then, sit down and write for about 15 minutes. As you do so, imagine that Thoreau was “with” you during this experience. Describe some highlights of your experience, but also weave in some specific language from Walden, as Abbey does, to put your contemporary experience in dialogue with Thoreau. Did he teach you anything? Could you teach him anything?

Objectives:

  • Mindfully experiment with being alert to a new Thoreauvianexperience
  • Capture that experience with impromptu reflective narrative writing
  • Establish a personalized voice that expresses your own attitudes about Thoreau and conveys the value of this new experience for you
  • Effectively weave well-chosen specific quotes from Walden into your piece

Requirements:

  • Your activity must be “school-appropriate”
  • Write well, but only for a max of 15 minutes
  • 5 photos documenting your activity (could be in your phone, or available on some digital drive online – no need to print them)

You are the “Influencers” of Today – “What will your verse be?”

Background:

You have now seen Apple, in a 90 second spot, appropriating transcendentalist ideals, through the voice of Mr. Keating, to convince an audience that buying and using an I-Pad Air will make their lives richer, more exciting, more meaningful. You have also just completed your own experiment with living deliberately, and brought back some visual images, and some text to describe it.

Task:

Create a multi-media spot to promote your own ideas about how to “live deliberately,” as expressed in images of your own experiences, and in HDT’s words.

Collaborate with your team of FIVE to expand your own influence, and create a 60 second spot including images, music, and text from HDT. Each team member is responsible for a 12 second segment, and your segments should fit together to make some sort of progressive sense. Your final product should be post-able, and persuade an audience of young adults that your group’s experimentation with Thoreauvian ideals is trend-worthy.

Objectives:

  • Collaborate effectively
  • Show a personalized interpretation of Thoreau’s ideas
  • Use rhetorical skills to sway an audience of young adults that such ideals are attention-worthy and cool
  • Explain your interpretations and your rhetorical moves in your individual write-up about the project

Process:

  • Meet and share with your group. Each person should explain what they chose to do, and give highlights from his/her response, and pictures.
  • As a group, review what you have, and come up with a concept for your spot that accommodates all of your team’s perspectives, and that will make for an effective ad.
  • Work on creating your spot using Google slides, Animoto, Power-Point, or some other platform that works for your group.
  • Write an individual explication of your presentation which breaks down your segment, and also explains your key contributions to the creation of the whole project.
  • Present your spot to the class.