Transcendentalism

A. Historical Background

• The American Revolution inspired artists to create an American identity separate from England.
• To a large degree it was the creation against the Enlightenment or Age of Reason, especially its emphasis on the power of human reasoning, formal decorum and the suppression of the imagination or “fancy”.
• Radical changes in political life.
• Industrialization was booming, cities were expanding
• The Gold Rush and westward expansion
• Technological advances.

B. Transcendentalist Beliefs

Nature:

• Nature was an escape from the evils and materialism of society
• Nature is a manifestation of the divine
• One can reach a higher level of spirituality and truth in nature
• Nature should remain pure and untamed
• Oversoul: man, universe, and nature are intertwined

Optimism:

• Fundamentally optimistic, convinced of the essential goodness of life
• This optimism would later be shunned by the Dark Romantics, sometimes called the Anti- Transcendentalists
• Belief that people are naturally good

Individualism

• Rejection of standard societal beliefs
• Belief in being true to one’s self and following one’s intuition
• Belief in nonconformity
• Self-reliance

Other Main Elements

• Suggests that every individual is able to connect to a higher truth through intuition
• Civil disobedience
• Reject material excess
• Support of abolition and women’s rights
• Remains very hard to define- a philosophical, literary and social movement.

 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

• Lived the ideas that Emerson espoused.
• Spent two years living at Walden Pond in order to “live deliberately” a simple life in nature.
• Wrote “Resistance to Civil Government” and “Walden.”
• Thoreau refused to pay taxes because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery, and he spent a night in jail because of this refusal.
• A branch of Romanticism, along with Dark Romantics and Fireside Poets, which we will cover later.
• Began in Germany
• Immanuel Kant, philosopher
• 1700’s
• Developed in United States in 1836
• Transcendental Club in Boston established
• Boston
• 1836
• led by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Belief in a higher level of truth that can be attained through human reasoning
• In determining the ultimate reality of God, the universe, the self, and other important matters, one must transcend, or go beyond, everyday human experience in the physical world

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)-The Father of Transcendentalism

• Ordained a Unitarian minister in 1829, resigned after three years due to theological conflicts.
• Settled in Concord, Massachusetts in 1836 and founded the Transcendental Club with his colleagues.
• Banned from Harvard for 30 years following the Divinity School address.
• Expressed Transcendentalist views in his essay, “Nature.”
• Wrote “Self-Reliance.”

Thoreau Introduction

The validity of Henry David Thoreau and transcendentalism in the 21st century: the 19th century man still speaks to us today.

Goals: Students will be able to relate to the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau and be able to apply such wisdom to their lives. Students will be able to think and hopefully live a little more deliberately after exploring and applying Thoreau’s philosophy. Students will find value in the place where they live.

Homework: Students will read Thoreau’s “from On Resistance to Civil Government” and complete a double entry journal with at least 5 quotes.
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Day 2

Objectives:

• SWBAT identify the elements of Transcendentalism in Thoreau’s “Walden”
• SWBAT identify imagery in Walden
• SWBAT draw a creative sketch of Thoreau’s Walden to depict understanding
• Students will be able to transfer Thoreau’s love and respect for nature and his place in the world to their own natural surroundings and place in their world. Students will sharpen their observation skills.

CCS

• Reflect and respond expressively to texts so that the audience will:
  investigate connections between life and literature.
• explore how the student’s life experiences influence his or her response to the selection.
• recognize how the responses of others may be different.
• articulate insightful connections between life and literature.
• consider cultural or historical significance

Aim: How does the natural world described in Walden revel Thoreau’s transcendental ideas?

Agenda

Do Now: Share double entry journal based on Emerson’s “Nature”.

Mini Lesson

1. Walden was the most significant place for Thoreau and a source of inspiration. Thoreau teaches us that that one does not need to travel far to find curious and inspiring things. In fact, he spend most of his life in and around Concord, MA. He believes that the special places are the ones we know well. To him this place was Walden.
2. Emerson is considered the “Father of Transcendentalism” and Thoreau is his student. Thoreau lived in an isolated log cabin at Walden Pond for two years in isolation. He stresses the importance of simplicity and escape from the industrialized, material-obsessed culture.
3. play this video clip of nature images with relaxing music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdHxITplBWY&feature=related.
4. Students will be asked to complete a journal that asks them to respond to the following questions:
   a. How are you affected by nature? Do you find comfort in it? Do you reflect the moods of nature?

b. What is the role of nature in your life?
c. What is meant by an individual’s spiritual side?
d. Is there a connection between the individual spirit and nature?
e. Define individualism(what it means to you)
f. If you have answered these questions, spend the rest of the time reflecting on nature in any way you choose.

Independent Discussion:

1. In groups of two, students read excerpts from “Walden” by Thoreau. Students will sketch out their interpretation of Thoreau’s cabin and Walden Pond. They must use 5 quotations from the text to explain their depictions to show how Thoreau uses imagery.
2. Now, watch a clip from the film Koyaanisquatsi , which shows images of nature contrasted with often negative portrayals of civilization. (polluted, busy, hostile.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBijDU8PpE
   a.  how are those images contrasted from the images of Walden?
3. Become familiar with the following statistics:
   • In 1958, only 4 percent of American homes had dishwashers. Now more than half do.
   • Less than 1 percent had color televisions. Now 97 percent do. In addition, in the ’50s there were no microwave ovens, VCRs, or personal computers.
   • Today, many new homes have three-car garages and are nearly 900 square feet (the same as an entire house in the 1950s).
   • Americans fly 25 times as many passenger miles as they did in the 1950s.
   • Although Americans had fewer material goods, the number of Americans who say they are very happy peaked back in 1957.
   • Seventy percent of Americans visit malls each week, more than attend churches or synagogues.
   • On average, Americans shop six hours a week and spend only 40 minutes playing with their children.
   9. respond to the following questions:
   a. Are Americans too materialistic?
   b. Does money equal happiness?
   c. Why might people be so obsessed with buying mere “things?”
   d. What might Thoreau think about society today?
   e. What are ways to combat this obsession with money and materialism?

Assessment: How does the imagery in “Nature” reveal Thoreau’s transcendental ideas?

Homework:

Each group will read 5-6 assigned pages from The Civil Disobedience and prepare for a 6-minute group presentation, in which you will-

1. Summarize passage ( context)
2. State the main idea of the passage
3. Provide five quotations from the passage  to support or illustrate the main idea
4. For each quotation, you will need to paraphrase and make a commentary that focuses on why the quotation relate to your main idea
5. Provide a vocabulary sheet for the rest of the class
6. prepare a quiz that contains 4-5 multiple-choice questions based on the passage( will be handed in on Tuesday so copies can be made for Wed’s class).
7. On Tuesday, a handout will be provided for you to prepare for a Socratic seminar on ” Civil Obedience” .

Day 3-4

Objectives: Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of Thoreau’s work ” Civil Disobedience” by presenting a PPP with the class.

Aim: How does Thoreau argues against submission to government policies that individuals deem immoral?

Resources:

• key vocabulary in ” Civil Disobedience”
• Discussion Questions and historical background
• Study Questions

Mini Lesson:

1. the use of rhetorical questions in the essay
2. Thoreau’s plain rhetoric
3. how do these two sections, one an attempt at alienation, and one an attempt at alliance, reconcile each other?
4. Word play
5. argument against the existence of a government
6. a populist style

Small Group Presentation ( Day 3)

Each group will read 5-6 assigned pages from The Civil Disobedience and present for a 6-minute your reading of “Civil Disobedience” , in which you will-

1. Summarize passage ( context)
2. State the main idea of the passage
3. Provide five quotations from the passage  to support or illustrate the main idea
4. For each quotation, you will need to paraphrase and make a commentary that focuses on why the quotation relate to your main idea
5. Provide a vocabulary sheet for the rest of the class
6. prepare a quiz that contains 4-5 multiple-choice questions based on the passage( will be handed in on Tuesday so copies can be made for Wed’s class).
7. On Tuesday, a handout will be provided for you to prepare for a Socratic seminar on ” Civil Obedience” .

Small Group Discussion (day 4)-

1. Thoreau believes that people should not participate in injustice but that they do not have to actively promote a more just world. What is the difference between these two concepts, and why does Thoreau make this moral distinction?
2. Is Thoreau’s conception of civil disobedience compatible with democratic government? Why or why not?
3. What is Thoreau’s opinion on wealth and consumption? Why does he say that the rich are less likely to practice civil disobedience?
4. What might Thoreau think about the role of government in today’s society? (In particular, think about the modern welfare state and the military complex.)
5. How does Thoreau justify the moral need for civil disobedience? What principles does he rely on in his justification?
6. In what ways is Thoreau’s essay based on the concepts of individualism and self- reliance?
7. Thoreau combines his arguments about why people should practice civil disobedience with personal anecdotes and discussions specific to his own time and place. Is this a rhetorically useful approach? Why or why not?
8. Would you describe Thoreau as optimistic or pessimistic about people’s ability to improve the world? Explain.

Homework for Day 4 lesson: Prepare for the Socratic Seminar.

SEMINAR( Day 4)

1. Arrange your desks in a large square or circle so every student can make eye contact with one another.
2. Distribute the Outer Circle Activity and explain the directions and expectations. Review with the inner circle the rules for seminar behavior.
3. Present the opening seminar question.

Seminar questions for “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau

OPENING  (choose one of the following to begin the discussion of the document)

1. Do you like Thoreau and his ideas? Why or why not?
2. What word, phrase or line do we need to understand to realize the importance of Thoreau’s work?
3. What does Thoreau want use to believe?

CORE: (use these as a guide for your discussion. Choose one question. Discuss your answers and develop the ideas of the text. Move from question to question as you deem necessary. Do not feel tied to the list of questions. Let the discussion flow as long as you use the text and examples to support the ideas.)

• Who is ultimately more important the individual, the citizens as a whole, or the government?

a. What role should we (as a citizen) play in society? What are the limits of government should follow in intruding in our daily lives?
b. Can the government restrict your beliefs?  Are there beliefs or actions that the government should try to alter?
c. Should we be forced to pay taxes for other people’s needs?

•  Can we reach the government that Thoreau’s advocates?
  a. Are we a democracy in Thoreau’s eyes?  In your eyes?  In the textbook definition of democracy?
  b. What areas of our government today would Thoreau attack?  Defend.
  c. Are there leaders today that Thoreau would admire?  Detest?
• In discussing the role of the individual, which quote best outlines your philosophy?

Thoreau:

“if the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go… perchance it will wear smooth – certainly the machine will wear out…. If it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then , I say, break the law.  Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.

Socrates:

“an individual must do what his city or country demands of him or he must change their view of what is just.”

Kennedy:

“ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

a. What problems or limitations do you see with the other views?
b. What should be the role between the individual and the government?

• Under what circumstances should conscience outweigh the law?

a. What should the consequences be for someone who breaks the law?
b. Is there ever a valid reason to break a law?
c. Can you see yourself breaking a law for a greater cause?  Explain

CLOSING: (choose one)

1. What are some situations today where we have examples of people who are working for changes in the name of justice and fairness?

a. To what extent should they go to accomplish their goal?
b. Do you applaud or criticize citizens who work for change?
c. What advice would Thoreau give them?

2. What are the circumstances that would force you to be like Thoreau?
3. If Thoreau were alive today how would he judge America?

Homework:

• Summarize the major points of the seminar and reflect on the key points you have gained from the discussion.
• Read the article on ” How to become an non-conformist” and you can write a satire or an essay on the same topic.
• Write a PBFF on the following passage-

Toni Morrison memorably wrote in Beloved, “definitions belong to the definers, not the defined,” that a full life is about “allowing the various petals of our identity to fully unfold,” and that adhering to any prescriptive mode of living, even if it’s one that rejects the herd of mainstream culture, only flattens us into caricatures of our complete selves and transforms us into a herd of a different kind, one the cultural critic Harold Rosenberg famously called “the herd of independent minds.” (https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/09/30/how-to-be-a-nonconformist-elissa-jane-karg/)

Day 4-5: Transcendentalism ” Self Reliance” by Emerson

Objectives: SWBAT identify Thoreau’s main points in “Self-Reliance” and argue for or against them from the perspective of a modern reader.

Aim: In his essay “Self-Reliance,” how does Ralph Waldo Emerson define individualism, and how, in his view, can it affect society?

Text: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, 1841.

Material: copies of ” Self-Reliance”; copies of close reading questions

Resources:

• Student guide-http://americainclass.org/individualism-in-ralph-waldo-emersons-self-reliance/#teachers
• About Ralph Emerson
• Vocabulary from”Self -Reliance” 

Do Now: As citizens of a bold, young nation, Americans have always taken tremendous pride in their personal liberty. Emerson nourished this individualistic creed with his essay “Self Reliance”. What associations do you make with the world self-reliance? How does self-reliance differ from selfishness and self-centeredness?

Knowledge/Skill Acquisition:

1. Understanding: In “Self-Reliance” Emerson defines individualism as a profound and unshakeable trust in one’s own intuitions. Embracing this view of individualism, he asserts, can revolutionize society, not through a sweeping mass movement, but through the transformation of one life at a time and through the creation of leaders capable of greatness.

2. Background Questions

   1. What kind of text are we dealing with?
   2. For what audience was it intended?
   3. For what purpose was it written?
   4. When was it written?
   5. What was going on at the time of its writing that might have influenced its composition?

Part A. Background

Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882, but he is still very much with us. When you hear people assert their individualism, perhaps in rejecting help from the government or anyone else, you hear the voice of Emerson. When you hear a self-help guru on TV tell people that if they change their way of thinking, they will change reality, you hear the voice of Emerson. He is America’s apostle of individualism, our champion of mind over matter, and he set forth the core of his thinking in his essay “Self-Reliance” (1841).

While they influence us today, Emerson’s ideas grew out of a specific time and place, which spawned a philosophical movement called Transcendentalism. “Self-Reliance” asserts a central belief in that philosophy: truth lies in our spontaneous, involuntary intuitions. We do not have the space here to explain Transcendentalism fully, but we can sketch some out its fundamental convictions, a bit of its historical context, and the way “Self-Reliance” relates to it.

By the 1830s many in New England, especially the young, felt that the religion they had inherited from their Puritan ancestors had become cold and impersonal. In their view it lacked emotion and failed to foster that sense of connectedness to the divine which they sought in religion. To them it seemed that the church had taken its eyes off heaven and fixed them on the material world, which under the probings, measurements, and observations of science seemed less and less to offer assurance of divine presence in the world.

Taking direction from ancient Greek philosophy and European thinking, a small group of New England intellectuals embraced the idea that men and women did not need churches to connect with divinity and that nature, far from being without spiritual meaning, was, in fact, a realm of symbols that pointed to divine truths. According to these preachers and writers, we could connect with divinity and understand those symbols — that is to say,transcend or rise above the material world — simply by accepting our own intuitions about God, nature, and experience. These insights, they argued, needed no external verification; the mere fact that they flashed across the mind proved they were true.

To hold these beliefs required enormous self-confidence, of course, and this is where Emerson and “Self-Reliance” come into the picture. He contends that there is within each of us an “aboriginal Self,” a first or ground-floor self beyond which there is no other. In “Self-Reliance” he defines it in mystical terms as the “deep force” through which we “share the life by which things exist.” It is “the fountain of action and thought,” the source of our spontaneous intuitions. This self defines not a particular, individual identity but a universal, human identity. When our insights derive from it, they are valid not only for us but for all humankind. Thus we can be assured that what is true in our private hearts is, as Emerson asserts, “true for all men.”*

But how can we tell if our intuitions come from the “aboriginal Self” and are, therefore, true? We cannot. Emerson says we must have the self-trust to believe that they do and follow them as if they do. If, indeed, they are true, eventually everyone will accept them, and they will be “rendered back to us” as “the universal sense.”

Until the rest of the world accepts our beliefs, however, we will be out of step; we will be nonconformists. Emerson tells us not to worry. The essence of self-reliance is resistance to conformity. Indeed, nonconformity is a sign of strength: “Whoso would be a man,” he writes, “must be a nonconformist.” In a sense “Self-Reliance” can be seen as a pep talk designed to strengthen our resolve to stand up to society’s efforts to make us conform. “Nothing,” Emerson thunders, “is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” This is individualism in the extreme.

While “Self-Reliance” deals extensively with theological matters, we cannot overlook its political significance. It appeared in 1841, just four years after President Andrew Jackson left office. In the election of 1828 Jackson forged an alliance among the woodsmen and farmers of the western frontier and the laborers of eastern cities. (See the America in Class® lesson“The Expansion of Democracy during the Jacksonian Era.”) Emerson opposed the Jacksonians over specific policies, chiefly their defense of slavery and their support for the expulsion of Indians from their territories. But he objected to them on broader grounds as well. Many people like Emerson, who despite his noncomformist thought still held many of the political views of the old New England elite from which he sprang, feared that the rise of the Jacksonian electorate would turn American democracy into mob rule. In fact, at one point in “Self-Reliance” he proclaims “now we are a mob.” When you see the word “mob” here, do not picture a large, threatening crowd. Instead, think of what we today would call mass society, a society whose culture and politics are shaped not by the tastes and opinions of a small, narrow elite but rather by those of a broad, diverse population.

Emerson opposed mass-party politics because it was based on nothing more than numbers and majority rule, and he was hostile to mass culture because it was based on manufactured entertainments. Both, he believed, distracted people from the real questions of spiritual health and social justice. Like some critics today, he believed that mass society breeds intellectual mediocrity and conformity. He argued that it produces soft, weak men and women, more prone to whine and whimper than to embrace great challenges. Emerson took as his mission the task of lifting people out of the mass and turning them into robust, sturdy individuals who could face life with confidence. While he held out the possibility of such transcendence to all Americans, he knew that not all would respond. He assured those who did that they would achieve greatness and become “guides, redeemers, and benefactors” whose personal transformations and leadership would rescue democracy. Thus if “Self-Reliance” is a pep talk in support for nonconformists, it is also a manual on how to live for those who seek to be individuals in a mass society.

Describing “Self-Reliance” as a pep talk and a manual re-enforces the way most people have read the essay, as a work of affirmation and uplift, and there is much that is affirmative and uplifting in it. Yet a careful reading also reveals a darker side to Emerson’s self-reliance. His uncompromising embrace of nonconformity and intellectual integrity can breed a chilly arrogance, a lack of compassion, and a lonely isolation. That is why one critic has called Emerson’s work “deeply unconsoling.”¹ In this lesson we explore this side of Emerson along with his bracing optimism.

A word about our presentation. Because readers can take “Self-Reliance” as an advice manual for living and because Emerson was above all a teacher, we found it engaging to cast him not as Ralph Waldo Emerson, a nineteenth-century philosopher, but as Dr. Ralph, a twenty-first-century self-help guru. In the end we ask if you would embrace his approach to life and sign up for his tweets.( pp. 65-67 in Lawrence Buell’s Emerson).

 Small Group Discussion:

• Do Now: Activity 1: In pairs, share one idea by Emerson based on pages 1-11 that you strongly agree and one that you disagree. Find Emerson’s reasons for his arguments and then make connections with today’s world and use evidence from current events to argue against his view point.
• Guided Practice-Activity 2: Share in small groups the “Text Analysis” notes based on the 1st paragraph. Share out in class.
• Independent practice-Activity 3: Discuss notes from pages 12-15. In each small group, raise 2-3 questions ( based on the excerpt) you would like to discuss in the class.

1. What is important about the verses written by the painter in sentence 1
2. From evidence in this paragraph, what do you think Emerson means by “original”?
3. In sentences 2 and 3 how does Emerson suggest we should read an “original” work?
4. In telling us how to read an original work, what do you think Emerson is telling us about reading his work?
5. How does Emerson define genius?
6. Considering this definition of genius, what does Emerson mean when he says that “the inmost in due time becomes the outmost”?
7. Why, according to Emerson, do we value Moses, Plato, and Milton?
8. Thus far Emerson has said that we should seek truth by looking into our own hearts and that we, like such great thinkers as Moses, Plato, and Milton, should ignore what we find in books and in the learning of the past. What implications does his advice hold for education?
9. Why then should we bother to study “great works of art” or even “Self-Reliance” for that matter?
10. Based on your reading of paragraph 1, how does Emerson define individualism? Support your answer with reference to specific sentences.

End of the lesson assessment: Pose questions on a poster paper based on pages 12-15 of ” Self Reliance”.

Homework: Read and annotate pages 16-20. Ask 2-3 questions and bring them to the class for discussion. Analyze paragraph 34 ( handout) by responding to the specific questions.

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Part C

Objectives: Students will be able to evaluate each other’s responses to the student-generated questions.

Do now: Post questions based on pages 11-15, 16-21 on a poster paper. Add your initial to each question.

Mini Lesson with Guided Practice

• Share in pairs your responses based on paragraphs 1 & 34.
• Whole class discussion to check understanding.

Independent Practice:

Select 5 from the posted questions and discuss in small groups. Be sure not to use your own questions.

Share out with the whole class your responses. Question ” owners” comment on and give a grade( evaluate) to the group responses.

Questions based on Paragraph 34 and pages 15-20

1. What, according to Emerson, is wrong with the “social state” of America in 1841?
2. Given the political context in which he wrote “Self-Reliance,” why might Emerson think that American society was no longer capable of producing “great and perfect persons”?
3. What is Emerson’s solution for America’s problem, and how does that solution illuminate what he is trying to do in “Self-Reliance”?

Homework: Respond to questions based on para. 35 & 36; In a well organized essay explain what society would be like if everyone embraced Emerson’s idea of self-reliance. Your analysis should focus on Emerson’s attitudes toward law, the family, and education. Be sure to use specific examples from the text to support your argument.

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Part D

1. Paragraph 35 (excerpt): What does Emerson mean by “miscarry”? What context clues help us discover that meaning?
2. What is the relationship between the young men who miscarry and the young merchants who fail in paragraph 35 and the “timorous, desponding whimperers” of paragraph 34?
3. According to Emerson, how does an “un-self-reliant” person respond to failure?
4. Emerson structures this paragraph as a comparison between a “city doll” and a “sturdy lad.” With reference to paragraph 34 what does the “sturdy lad” represent?
5. What are the connotations of “city doll”?
6. Compare a “city doll” with a “sturdy lad.”
7. What point does Emerson make with this comparison?
8. What do you notice about the progression of the jobs Emerson assigns to his “sturdy lad”?
9. We have seen that Emerson hopes to raise above the mob people who will themselves be “great and perfect persons” and restore America’s ability to produce such people. What does the progression of jobs he assigns to the “sturdy lad” suggest about the roles these people will play in American society?
10. Why does Emerson think that “a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men”?

Transfer:  What would be a society like if everyone embraced Emerson’s idea of self-reliance?

Homework:  In a well organized essay explain what society would be like if everyone embraced Emerson’s idea of self-reliance. Your analysis should focus on Emerson’s attitudes toward law, the family, and education. Be sure to use specific examples from the text to support your argument.

Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” Review

Objectives: Students will be able to argue whether Emerson’s ideal of self reliance has been adhered to in the American society.

Aim: What would the society be like if everyone embraced Emerson’s idea of self-reliance?

Do Now: Share responses in pairs your responses to questions based on para. 35 & 36.

Share in class to check understanding.

Mini Lesson with Guided Practice

Discuss the following guidelines in pairs. Peer review outlines.

The essay structure-

Introduction: Introduce the topic and define it. Briefly contextualize the topic and introduce the thesis.

Body Paragraph:

A. How does Emerson  discuss the idea of self-reliance in education? ( quotation, interpretation and making connection to current situations in education-description of the situations and why it has failed or succeeded and how the results support or go against Emerson’s ideas about education).

B. How does Emerson  discuss the idea of self-reliance relating to law? ( quotation, interpretation and making connection to current situations in law-description of the situations and why it has failed or succeeded and how the results support or go against Emerson’s ideas about education).

C. How does Emerson  discuss the idea of self-reliance relating to the family? ( quotation, interpretation and making connection to current situations in relation to the family-description of the situations and why it has failed or succeeded and how the results support or go against Emerson’s ideas about education).

Conclusion

Independent Practice

Use the new ideas generated from our discussion and complete the essay.

Homework: Read chapter 1 “Economy” in Warden by Thoreau.

Essay Rubric

Criteria/Grades	A (90-100)	B (80-89)	C (70-79)	D ( 65-69)	F (64-)
Content: demonstrate understanding of Emerson’s ideas of self-reliance and the application of it in law, education and family	Thorough and insightful	Thorough and clear	Some and inconsistent	implicit and confused	minimum
Analysis: Select & interpret the appropriate quotations that reflect Emerson’s ideas	Appropriate, precise and insightful	Relevant and clear	Some relevancy but inconsistent	Some but confusing	minimum
Thesis: state the writer’s positionality of Emerson’s ideas on today’s society	Clear, logical and  insightful	Clear and logical	suggestive	vague	none
Evidence: use references from the current events to argue for or against a claim	Relevant,  precise and analytical	Appropriate and relevant with some analysis	Connections are implicit	Some evidence but with minimum analysis	none
Opposing Views: acknowledge the alternative views and supporting reasons	Clear and reasonable	Clear  and with some explanations	implicit	vague	none
Refutation: use evidence from Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” or other credible sources to support your rebuttal	Strong, logical and insightful	Logical and reasonable	Implicit without development	vague	none
Language: Follow conventions	Precise and well-thought of	Well-thought of	Some errors	Many errors	Errors that hinder understanding
Structure: use logical and coherent argument; make your thesis evolve	Coherent and logical that demonstrates development	Coherent  and shows  thesis development	Some coherence	inconsistent	confusing