Writing and Sustainability
Teaching Writing and Literature through Issues of Sustainability: Local and Global Perspectives
“Teaching Writing Through Thoreau.” Handout for the American Literature Association: 19th Annual Conference on American Literature
On pilgrimage to Concord and Cambridge.
This curriculum explores the essays of Hogan the Thoreau, through a series of “student-centered” conceptual workshops that: outline the elements of implicit and explicit arguments; discuss the stylistic elements of the personal reflective essay and the thesis-driven essay; identify and interpret the use of symbolism, rhetorical devices such as irony, and other literary techniques; and engage students in discussions about social and environmental justice within a rich historic and cultural context. Then students engage in a rich understanding of their own sense of identity and place, though a series of experiential workshops that explore an ongoing sense of narrative as the foundation for thought. experience, and sense of place. They develop an understanding, both of the narrative relationship between inner and outer stories in text, as well the shifting “inner and outer” awareness of their own “voice,” through developing a personal practice of “writing and walking.” Finally, students are guided through a series of writing activities that evolve into a personal essay about place.
Workshop 1: “Walking” with Linda Hogan
Workshop 2: “Walking” with Henry David Thoreau
Workshop 3: Writing & Walking, Pilgrimage & Process–Exploring Inner & Outer Narratives
Syllabus for ENG 102/ College Writing II: St. Martins University–Special Themes in Argumentation Research, & Writing: Sustainability and the Common Good-Local and Global Perspectives. (Note: Syllabi for English 101: Beginning Composition, and English 306: Advanced Composition, are also
available.)
Project 1: Writing from a Sense of Place
Mid-term essay questions for English 101 and 102, on Hogan and Thoreau, (available on request.)
Washington Center’s “Curriculum for the Bioregion,” The Evergreen State College
< http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/bioregion > or search for “curriculum for the bioregion”
Director, Jean MacGregor (macGJean@evergreen.edu)
Resources suggested at the Curriculum for the Bioregion Retreat for Teachers of Writing
Annotated Bibliography of Books on Sustainability in Higher Ed