Walden: October 1, 2019

Focus: What's essential to living a fulfilling life? What does it mean to live deliberately?

1. Warming up by taking inventory of your material possessions

Turn to a fresh page in the "Passage Study" part of your notebook and jot down the following:

• Make a list of the material possessions you use on a daily basis. 

• Which ones are essential to you? Put these in bold or a different font color.

• How did you define "essential" as you were doing this exercise?

2. Meeting the Man Who Quit Money

• What is essential to Suelo?

• What is deliberate about his lifestyle?

3. Reading the excerpt from Walden and discussing in small groups:

• How does Henry David Thoreau define "essential"? In other words, what do humans need to live a fulfilling life?

• What must humans transcend in order to live a fulfilling life, and how do we do this?

                                                                           Walden Pond
4. Applying this to your own life:

• In the "Passage Study" part of your notebook, cut out the lines from Walden that capture or reflect your truth. 

• Paste them into your notebook and compose short reflections on each of them:
• How would you put each line into your own words?
• What does this line have to do with your daily life? With your ambitions? With your beliefs?

HW:
1. For WEDNESDAY: 

• Assigned book club reading (you'll be doing an initial thought log that day, so make sure you're at least 30 pages into the reading). 

• Bring your book to class.

2. For THURSDAY: Assigned book club reading and syllabus-making. First book club meeting!

3. For FRIDAY: 

• Deliver your one-minute speech on your independent reading book. Please note that if you are absent on Friday, you will need to deliver your one-minute speech to the whole class on Monday

• You will also submit your notebook on Friday for Notebook Check #2.  I will be looking largely at what you've done with "Self-Reliance" and with "Walden."