1. A Romantic Moment in American Literature
Ms. Ehringhaus

2. ACT Warm Up
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence.
The school of fish were swimming away from the shark.
The school of fish was swimming away from the shark
The school of fish swimming away from the shark.
No change
The school of fish are swimming away from the shark.
Although fish in this case is plural, the actual subject of the sentence is the singular noun school, so the main verb of the sentence must also be singular.

3. The Art of the Essay
Two masters of the American essay in the 19th century were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They used the essay form to express their philosophies and personal views on a variety of topics, from the ideal lifestyle to the beauty of nature.
Using notes he recorded in his journals, Emerson created essays that gave his ideas structure and refined his concepts. In turn they became the cornerstone of transcendentalism, a literary and philosophical movement that emphasized individualism and intuition as a means to understanding reality.

4. Essay: Persuasive, Expository, Descriptive, Narrative
Persuasive: A persuasive essay is one in which you attempt to get the reader to agree with your point of view. You are trying to present arguments, research, and ideas in order to sway the reader one way or the other.
Expository: The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner.

5. Essay: Persuasive, Expository, Descriptive, Narrative
Descriptive: A descriptive essay is a paper that describes a thing, event, process or person. It creates an evocative portrait of its topic in the reader's mind. Writing in this style gives the author ample creative autonomy with regard to content and format.
Narrative: Narrative essays use story telling elements to make their points. They look like short stories. Narrative essays don't have to be fiction; often, they depict real life events. Authors of narrative essays often use them to explore and find the meanings of important events in their own lives.

6. Find and record a definition for each, as well as an example of each type of essay. Read through the essay and record in your notes 3 separate places in the essay that make it a Expository, Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Argumentative, Critical Review, Analytical, Literary
*Use quotes, do an MLA citation for each essay!  told you this would help you with your paper!

7. Elements of an Essay
Organization is the arrangement of the main ideas and supporting details. Some essays may be narratives that read like a story, while others may follow a strict pattern of organization, such as cause and effect or compare and contrast.
Supporting details include facts, opinions, reasons, sensory details, anecdotes, and examples that support the main idea.
Diction is the way a writer uses and arranges language.
Tone is the expression of a writer’s attitude toward a subject and may be described as various tonal words.

8. From Self Reliance and Nature
Emerson’s motto was “Trust Thyself.” This principle lies at the heart of transcendentalism, the intellectual movement that emphasized the dignity of the individual and advocated a simple, mindful life. Key tenets of the movement include
A theory that transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience; every individual is capable of discovery this truth on their own, through intuition
A conviction that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs
A believe that humankind, nature, and God are all interconnected

9. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818)
Caspar David Friedrich
What elements of transcendentalism are reflected in the painting?

10. Ralph Waldo Emerson Pre Reading page 368
Read the Meet the Author
Record 3 interesting facts about Emerson
Read Text Analysis: Transcendentalism
Record a definition for Transcendentalism
Write the 3 “tenants” of the Transcendentalism movement
Vocabulary in Context
List and define the following terms: aversion, exhilaration, nonconformist, decorum, importune, occult
Do the Vocabulary in Context activity

11. Analyze Figures of Speech
Emerson uses figures of speech to create vivid images and express complex ideas. For example, in line 7 he uses a metaphor when he describes the woods as “plantations of God.” With a partner, analyze the figures of speech in Nature and Self-Reliance. Pay close attention to implied metaphors—those that suggest a comparison without directly stating it.
Be ready to share!

12. Thursday, December 8th
Agenda:
Warm Up—Act
Read Emerson’s Nature
During Reading Questions
Self Reliance and Nature After Reading Questions
Vocabulary In Context

13. ACT Warm Up
You and Veronica should find separate places in the group and you should pay attention to him and me.
Find separate places in the group, and you should
Find separate places in the group. And you should
Find separate places in the group; and you should
Our visitors, who were often kings and queens, were served heaping helpings of food.
Our visitors who were often…
No change
Our visitors, who, were often kings and queens
Answer: 1—because the two clauses joined by the correlative or coordinating conjunction “and” are independent clauses, there must be a comma before the conjunction. Because both clauses have a subject and an object and could function independently as sentences, a comma is necessary before a coordinating conjunction.

14. Nature As you read: Targeted Passage lines 20-27
According to Emerson, what is the greatest delight that nature provides?
What does Emerson mean when he says that the fields and woods nod to him?
After Reading Questions: Page 375 #’s 1-4, 7

15. In the gradebook:
What is Your Motto? Activity
American Romanticism/Transcendentalism Notes
Emerson Pre Reading (page 368)
Self Reliance and Nature During/After Reading (Page 375)
Self Reliance Vocabulary in Context (Page 376 *All three green activities)
Self Reliance Personal (Warm Up from last class—trust)

16. What is Your Motto? Emerson’s motto was “trust thyself”
Create your own personal motto. To get started, consider the traits or resources that helped you solve a difficult problem, or the best advice you have ever received.
When have you used this motto in your life? How did it help you get through something?

17. Personal Self-Reliance
How much do you trust in yourself and how much do you rely on others in good times and bad times?
Include 2 examples from your own life.

18. As you read: Targeted Passage lines 20-27
According to Emerson, what is the greatest delight that nature provides?
What does Emerson mean when he says that the fields and woods nod to him?
After Reading Questions: Page 375 #’s 1-4, 7
FROM NATURE

19. Do you chart your own course?
In his day, Thoreau’s living habits were probably considered unusual and even eccentric. In what place and in what manner might a nonconformist today live? In what way are you your own version of a nonconformist? How do you live your life as a nonconformist?

20. *How can you live your life more deliberately?
From Walden
A Essay
B Evaluate Ideas
C Essay
D Essay
E Evaluate Ideas
*How can you live your life more deliberately?
*Thoreau expresses frustration about reading terrible news in the papers. He says of the stories, “one is enough.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

21. From Solitude, The Pond in Winter, Spring, Conclusion
WALDEN
Thoreau: page 380
From Solitude, The Pond in Winter, Spring, Conclusion
F Evaluate Ideas
G Transcendentalism
H Essay
I Essay
J Transcendentalism
K Evaluate Ideas

22. What time of year does Thoreau arrive?
How does Thoreau describe his house?
What natural features surround Thoreau in his new home?

23. ACT Warm Up: Copy this down!
A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses. For example: It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.
How do you fix a comma splice?
Comma splices can be fixed three different ways:
Add a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) after the comma.
Change the comma to semicolon.
Change the comma to a period.
FIX THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE in three ways:
“I was going to the store, she was going to the park.”

24. Quiz Aversion decorum exhilaration occult importune nonconformist
Emerson was a _________, he lived his own life just the way he wanted to.
I got frustrated when the student would importune me about something I already said 3 times _______.
I have enjoyed a perfect _______ in the woods. I was in high spirits and was joyful.
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an_____ relation between man and the vegetable.
She showed excellent _____ when she was polite and helpful.
I have a strong ______ to bananas- I don’t like them!
Transcendentalism is a movement that values ______.
Aversion decorum exhilaration occult importune nonconformist

25. Mic Check
Transcendentalism is an intellectual and literary movement that involved___________. *Tell me something about transcendentalism, the definition, things they wrote about, anything at all!
“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide…” What ideas of transcendentalism is Emerson introducing here?
What is a nonconformist? How are nonconformists transcendental?
“The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word,” What, according to Emerson, stands in the way of us growing, changing, developing?
What does Emerson mean when he says, “They [the fields and grass] nod to me, and I to them,”?

26. Civil Disobedience Lines 6-16 Targeted Passage
To what does Thoreau compare a government? Why?
What problems can government face?
How does Thoreau believe most people feel about the war?

27. My boss, John Jacobs, was early that morning, I got in trouble for being late.
This is a comma splice. From your last warm up you know the three ways to fix a comma splice.
Fix the above sentence three different ways.

28. What do they have in common? Where are they different.?
Lines 38-62
Civil Disobedience
Use a Venn Diagram to compare Thoreau’s interpretation of the soldiers’ internal views and the government’s view of them.
What do they have in common? Where are they different.?

29. Do You Chart Your Own Course?
In lines , in what way is Thoreau’s nonconformity made more difficult because it must involve his neighbor, the tax-gatherer?
Lines
For how long was Thoreau in jail? How long did he not pay his poll tax?
During that imprisonment, whom did he think was more free: himself or the townspeople?
How did he feel about being confined?

30. Civil Disobedience HW After Reading 397
1-4, 7-8, Do You Chart Your Own Course?

31. Do you chart your own course? Cont.
In lines , how does Thoreau’s reference to “John or Jonathan” suggest that he recognizes his own nonconformity? What is Thoreau recognizing about himself? *What part of your personality have you accepted as part of yourself that may be difficult for others to understand? How has this impacted your own understanding of yourself?

32. Civil Disobedience
Argument: Citizens must follow their conscience and fight government injustice in a peaceful manner.
Your assignment: Research an act of civil disobedience in The United States. In no less than 2 pages, explain how this act is aligned with Thoreau’s own act of civil disobedience, and how this moment is linked to the Transcendentalist movement.
Requirements: typed, 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt font, TNR, MLA Format, cite one scholarly source in your works cited

33. 1. When do you think protesting is ineffective?
Is It Patriotic to Protest?
1. When do you think protesting is ineffective?
2. When do you think protesting is effective?

34. In the Gradebook…
The Declaration of Independence notes, homework, activities
Emerson What Is Your Motto Activity
Romantic/Transcendental Notes
Self Reliance Vocabulary In Context
Self Reliance and Nature during/after reading questions
Self Reliance Personal

35. ACT Warm Up
The Channel Tunnel is a feat of engineering. After decades of discussion, planning, and construction, a project that was first conceived in 1802 has finally become a reality.
A ton
Tens of years
Decades and many years
A number of decades

36. ACT Warm Up
This time, construction on the tunnel was prevented in England by economic continued recession.
No change
An economic recession– in England– prevented continued construction on the tunnel
Continued construction in England on the tunnel prevented by an economic recession
Continued construction on the tunnel was prevented, by an economic recession, in England
An economic recession in England prevented continued construction on the tunnel

37. Citing Civil Disobedience
Thoreau’s Argument: Citizens must follow their conscience and fight government injustice in a peaceful manner.
Your assignment: Research an act of civil disobedience. In no less than 2 pages, explain how this act is aligned with Thoreau’s own act of civil disobedience, and how this moment is linked to the Transcendentalist movement.
*Requirements: typed, 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt font, TNR, MLA Format, cite one scholarly source and one quotation from Civil Disobedience in your works cited
*In reading your mini essay, I will see that you understand Civil Disobedience (the essay and the act of it), Thoreau’s act of CD, Transcendentalism, and your own act of CD’s moment in history

38. I Don’t Know Why I Remember
Memories. We often times highlight the big moments- the ones of the most significance. But what of the little, seemingly insignificant memories that we cannot forget? I want to hear about those.
What to do:
1. Scan your memory. Go back over your life and think of things that have stuck in your mind, but for no obvious reason. No births, deaths, or other important milestones.
2. Write them precisely on the page using concrete details, beginning each one with the phrase, “I don’t know why I remember…”
3. Do not try to explain why they stuck with you, or interpret the meaning of them. Just put your reader there.

39. What Does Society Expect of Us?
What do you think society expects of you?
What do you think your parents expect of you?
What do you think your teachers expect of you?
*For each, what evidence do you have to support your theory?
From where do you feel the most pressure to act, dress, speak, be a certain way?

40. Targeted Passage: Lines 9-14
*This passage shows that Miranda’s father educated her and valued her mind
How did Miranda’s father treat his daughter?
What qualities did he expect from her?
How did Miranda’s father help her learn about the world?

41. Targeted Passage: Lines 79-98
*This passage explains her dislike of _______ as a synonym for _______.
Which word in Jonson’s poem does Miranda dislike?
How does the speaker interpret Jonson’s use of the word in his poem?
How does Miranda think Jonson’s poem should be worded?

42. After Reading Questions
Comprehension: 1-2 Text Analysis: 4, 5

43. ACT Warm Up
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the passage.
My boss John Jacobs was early that morning, so I got in trouble for being late.
No change
My boss john Jacobs, was early that morning
My boss, John Jacobs, was early that morning,
My boss, John Jacobs was early that morning,
*Look up the definition of an appositive. What is the appositive “John Jacobs” renaming or restating?

44. My boss, John Jacobs, was early that morning, I got in trouble for being late.
This is a comma splice. From your last warm up you know the three ways to fix a comma splice.
Fix the above sentence three different ways.

45. Understanding Women in the Nineteenth Century
In order to fully grasp the concepts outlined in WITNC we are going to modernize the piece in several ways.
Construct your own “Miranda.” Write an introduction, much like lines 1-35ish of WITNC, in which you introduce your Miranda to us.
Who is this well brought-up, educated person in today’s world? What is her life like?
What do the people around your Miranda think of her ? How do they interact with her?

46. Writing to Analyze Emerson page 368 Self Reliance page 370
Nature page 373
Thoreau page 378
Walden page 380
Civil Disobedience page 390
Margaret Fuller page 402
Women in the Nineteenth Century page 404

47. Looking at your PSAT scores, what are the test scores you need to work on improving? What about the subscores?

48. Understanding WITNC
Reread the interaction between Miranda and Margaret that starts at line 64 and goes to the end of the piece.
Write this interaction in a modern setting (the two speakers are at an office holiday party discussing a conversation Miranda had with a male coworker, he uses “Madam Secretary,” the TV show, as a reference for what kind of a woman your Miranda is—surprisingly, Miranda does not like this… how does this interaction go?)