Into+the+Wild+Unit

//Into the Wild// Unit **Unit Title:** A Journey Into the Wild

**Grade Level(s):** 11th

**Content/Topic Areas:** Non-fiction, personal journey, self-discovery, reflective writing

**Skills:** Reading non-fiction

**Concepts:** Reflective work, introspection

**Time Frame:** 9 Weeks

**Rationale:**

As students begin to reach a point in their lives where they are considering what is beyond the four walls of their classrooms and bedrooms, it’s important to begin to foster a desire to look at what paths these youths are preparing to, or have already begun to, tread. With this in mind, I would like to allow students to examine and gain a better understanding of their own paths in life and where their paths are taking them. Students should learn to question what their plans for themselves and/or what others plan for them are. It is an important skill to have as an adult because it allows you to check in on yourself periodically and see if you are, in fact, going in a direction you want to be going. We will also explore this idea more broadly as students will explore what society expects of people as a whole and how some choose to deviate from the “norm” and choose a path different from the one assumed they would take. This offers students an opportunity to evaluate how people choose to take certain courses of action that affect their entire lives and see how these kinds of choices do or do not fit into their own lives. Within that we will also be looking at reading non-fiction. Much of the reading done in high school English classrooms is either fiction, in the form of novels, short stories, and poetry, or in the form of more academic non-fiction, like textbooks. Students can get very little exposure to less academic non-fiction, like the kind you might find and read in a newspaper, magazine, or on the internet. It requires a different skill set when approaching non-fiction writing and with the little exposure students are receiving in school to the more commonly read versions of non-fiction in the “real” world, they are at a disadvantage. So, by focusing an entire unit on mostly non-fiction, non-textbook texts (there is only one piece of fiction, and those are lyrics from a song), I am giving students an opportunity to be exposed to this sort of non-fiction and develop skills in how to work with it.

**Essential Questions:**


 * Do you have a path in life or specific expectations to fulfill? What have others (parents, friends, teachers, society in general) planned for you?
 * Are there specific expectations for people in our society?
 * Why do people forgo those expectations?
 * What can we learn from real-life, unexpected journeys people have taken in their lives?

**Goals:**


 * Students will discuss society’s expectations of people and explore what breaking away from those expectations can look like.
 * Students will begin to understand their own paths/expectations and who/what is putting them on those paths/placing those expectations on them.
 * Students will consider why people may forgo certain paths and the positive/negative effects it may have.
 * Students will work closely with non-fiction texts and learn how to pick out important information in order to establish precedents for why people choose to leave the path they had been expected to tread.

**Objectives:**

· Students will understand the differences in reading skill needed between fiction and non-fiction writing via exploring texts such as //Into the Wild//, “Walking”, “Doughnut Hole Country” and “A Long Strange Trip to the Taliban.” //It is important that students learn how to work with non-fiction texts, because they will be encountering them frequently as they get older. The texts they will be looking at through the unit are fairly varied—a novel-esque book, two news magazine articles, and an essay. All offer students a chance to try their hand at working with non-fiction, looking for facts, and forming an opinion based on the information at hand.// · Students will, both as individuals and as a class, create a definition of journey and what a “journey” figuratively and literally means to them. //Before students can begin to appreciate what their journey is, or the journeys of others, they must come up with a definition of what a journey is. We will work together towards a definition of journey, both for ourselves, and as a class. We will work on individual definitions because everyone is different and it is helpful to see the wide range of ideas present in a classroom.// · Students will complete a text-to-self assignment with the lyrics from the song “Society” by Eddie Vedder //Students will begin to consider what society is and what it demands from it members. Students will make connections about themselves and the world around them to the song lyrics as a beginning towards an answer to that question.// · Students will identify which role they have or will take on in the context of the Newsweek article, “Doughnut Hole Nation.” //Before students can tackle the world and mind of Chris McCandless and begin to really think about why he so strayed from his assumed path, they must think about their own path. From a more practical standpoint, it is important for students who are late in their high school career to begin considering where it is they are going in life and why. The way “Doughnut Hole Nation” describes the roles usually taken by high school graduates in rural towns offers an opportunity for students to quickly relate and talk about their plans for the future.// · Students will write two six-word-memoirs. //Six-word-memoirs will be allow students to work closely with vocabulary and think carefully about how and why they choose certain words to describe themselves and then Chris McCandless. It also makes students think very carefully about the book they have been reading, because they will only have six words to work with in order to accurately describe the main character in the book.// · Students will work with Thoreau’s essay, “Walking.” //Students will explore the overall message in “Walking”// //in order to gain a broader understanding of// Into the Wild//’s main figure Chris McCandless and also// //to look at a broader literary context and have the chance to look at older, more canonical writing that holds a strong connection to what we will be discussing.//

**Major Texts:**

**__To be read/viewed:__**

· //Into the Wild//, by Jon Krakeaur o Book written about Chris McCandless, a young man who goes on a journey of self-discovery and dies in the wilds of Alaska · “A Long Strange Trip to the Taliban”, by Evan Thomas o The story of who John Walker Lindh is and why he chose to leave a quiet, comfortable life in the affluent suburbs in America to join the Taliban in Afghanistan. · “Walking”, by Henry David Thoreau o Thoreau’s writings discuss the power, beauty, and importance of nature and what man can gain from communing with it. The segments the class will be reviewing of this essay lay much of the groundwork for Chris McCandless’s personal philosophy. · “Doughnut Hole Country”, by Christina Gillham o Gillham discusses the book //Hollowing Out the Middle// with its authors. The article discusses the books contents and concepts of “stayers”, “returners”, “achievers”, and “seekers”, roles that high school graduates in rural communities take on. · “Society”, lyrics and performed by Eddie Vedder o A song, written specifically for the film version of //Into the Wild//. It is one interpretation of society. · The movie, Into the Wild o Students will be viewing the movie in order to offer a visual version of what they will have been reading. · Clips from the Oprah Winfrey Show segment, “Keeping the Faith” o The clips show young women who have chosen to become nuns and their lives within their convent.

**__To be written/created:__**

· Final/Summative Assessment: Travel Scrapbook and Log · Summary of “Walking” · Definition of Journey · Two six word memoirs · Reflection on “Doughnut Hole Country”

Assessment __Pre-Assessment__

Students will not be directly pre-assessed (i.e. there won’t be a pre-test or even an activity specific to judging their knowledge of the subjects we will be covering), because much of what will be discussed is very subjective—there is no right answer. The activities we do at the beginning of this unit are set up to help students begin to more formally conceptualize the abstract ideas that surround things like society or personal journey. If anything is being assessed, it’s students’ abilities to work with specific vocabulary. The activities that do this are in lessons one and four, where students look specifically at defining what a journey is or can be and the concept of society. As students work towards these definitions, I will be able to observe with how much ease or difficulty students grasp these concepts and work with them, and will be able to adjust my teaching to their needs, either by offering more guidance and/or clarification. __Formative Assessment__

Here are three examples of formative assessment from this unit:

**1.** **Personal Six Word Memoir**: Students will be writing a six word memoir about themselves. The unit’s first lesson will have looked at journey and what it means to be on a journey as an individual. The second lesson looks at the future and where students plan to go once they are done with school. This activity, which is in the third lesson, allows students to look at their past and present and sum it up succinctly and meaningfully. It is very difficult, as we’ll see in //Into the Wild//, to understand someone’s future and their motivations to do things without looking at where they are coming from. It also gives students an chance to experience how powerful just a few words can be and that they can convey a great deal of meaning in small amount of space, allowing students to really work with their vocabulary, or even expand it. It also gives them work in infrencing and understanding and creating subtlety, a skill one has to possess in order to be a good reader and writer. Plus, as a teacher, it gives me an opportunity to see how much students have held on to from previous class activities, plus evaluate their abilities to manipulate vocabulary and grammar in order to create powerful and succinct statements about their lives. I will introduce the concept of six word memoirs by having the class watch the Smith Magazine promo video for a book they put out anthologizing hundreds of six word memoirs. This will be followed up by a discussion about the memoirs, why they work (or may not work?) and how one can pack an awful lot into a short space. I will then introduce the idea the students writing their own six word memoirs. Students will work independently on their six word memoirs. I will present a couple of different approaches students can take if they’re stuck on how to get started. One: List words they think reflect their life or themselves and narrow down to the six from there. Two: Write a short paragraph describing their lives or a few short sentences describing major events in their lives and pare the memoir down from there. Three: Just dive right in, but explain that some tweaking may be involved. Students will peer edit their memoirs and receive feedback from me. They will have the opportunity to edit their six word memoir at the end of the unit during their final project. Students will also do a six word memoir for Chris McCandless, the central figure in //Into the Wild//. While the purpose will be similar here, there is one major difference in purpose: as students write the memoir for McCandless, they will show me how much they got out of the book and what they deemed most important to focus on in Chris McCandless’s life and journey into the wilds of Alaska.

2. **Reflections on “Doughnut Hole Country”**

Students will be reading “Doughnut Hole Country” and discussing where they see themselves post-graduation. In our culture, high school graduation is a big “stop” in people’s journeys (an enduring theme is this unit) and it is also important for students, especially those coming to the end of their high school careers, to start thinking about where they are going after they graduate from high school and how that affects the communities they live in. Before we begin to read the article, students will be asked to briefly consider what they had planned to do after they graduated from high school. They can either think of it or write it down. After a few moments of reflection, we’ll read the article together, then discuss the different categories of high school graduates discussed in the article. While we are reading the article, I will be doing a think aloud, walking the students through our class’s first non-fiction article of the unit. After the discussion students will write a brief reflection on what category they feel they fit and why. They are welcome to elaborate more on their plans for the future, or if they aren’t sure of what their plans are, they may write about why. This affords students an opportunity to consider where they fit in rural society (this is all assuming I’m teaching in Maine or in an area that is similar to Maine) and how their plans for the future could potentially affect what happens in their home town. As a teacher, it allows me to gauge how much students are thinking about their paths in life and how it does or doesn’t relate to society. This will inform my teaching a great deal, because it gives me a chance to know better what aspects of the unit to emphasize in order to capture the attention of students and invite them to participate in discussions. Plus, I’m also given another chance to look at student writing and look for things to focus on in future classes/units.

3. **Text-to-Self Connections**

Students will be using the song “Society” as a vehicle to refine their thinking about what society is and how they relate to it as well as look at one particular person’s relationship with society and how //that// relates to them. It is important for students to think about this, because one cannot consider his path without how it affects or is viewed by society. “Society” speaks directly to that. We will begin the self-to-text connections by listening to the song “Society” and look at lyrics (maybe view the clip from the movie when the song is played?) As a class, we’ll have a discussion as to what we think the song is about, how it portrays society, and how the speaker in the song feels he/she fits into society. We will also try to create a class definition of society. We’ll create virtual index cards via Google documents and have students anonymously submit their personal definitions of society. We’ll then take a look at the definitions and either pick one we think fits best OR try to combine a few to make a definition we’re all comfortable with. Then, as individuals, we’ll make self-to-text connections (I’ll give a couple examples) and then share in small groups, then allow a few who want to share with the whole class do that. The purpose of the self-to-text connections and coming up with a definition for society serves to help me asses where students are in their thinking about society. It lets me fill in gaps if any need filling and gives me a firm philosophical base to move on from with the rest of the students. Effectively, it puts us all on the same page.

__Summative Assessment__

Students will have two summative assessments, as described below:

For the first summative assessment, students will be looking at the multiple things they have done or created over the course of the unit and elaborate on them to display their understanding of journey, society, and how one’s personal journey can effect or be viewed by society. Students will be creating a travel scrapbook that documents their impending journey outside of high school. The travel scrapbook will allow students to artistically and personally sum up everything they have learned about taking a personal journey over the course of the unit. There will be several required products (listed below) as well as accompanying reflections (some of the products may be abstract and those who aren’t “in the know” may need extra information).

**__Required Products__**

**Statement about journey:** Students will take their personal definitions of journey, created at the beginning of the unit and apply it to one of several places—some sort of ticket (train, plane, bus), a bumper sticker, on the cover of their travel scrapbook, as some sort of artwork to be placed either in the scrapbook or a picture of the artwork the student creates if it’s too big, or use it to create a song or poem. Students will then have to write a short reflection as to why they chose that particular medium and how it reflects their personal journey.

**Map:** Students will take their reflections from “Doughnut Hole Country” and create a map of their future plans. It can be something very abstract, like a drawing with pictures of high school graduation, a wedding, and then a baby, or it can be very concrete, like pinpointing places on an actual map, like New York, where one might plan on attending college, and then Oregon, where one anticipates getting a job after college. Regardless of what students choose to do, they will be expected to write a brief explanation about each “stop” on their map and its significance. They will also write about how they feel their decisions could be viewed by society and those in their community (keeping Chris McCandless in mind).

**Postcards Home:** Students will take the two six word memoirs they wrote and either create two postcards with their own artwork, or use postcards I provide, transpose their memoirs, and then write brief reflections/explanations about the memoirs, clarifying what they are about and why the students chose to write about the things they did.

**Road Trip Soundtrack:** Students will look back at the self-to-text connections they made with the song “Society” as well as have the opportunity to listen to the rest of the film version of //Into the Wild//’s soundtrack. Students will then pick 5 to 10 songs they feel make a statement about their personal journeys (much like Vedder did for Chris McCandless). For each song, students will be asked to write a brief explanation for why they picked each song (1-2 sentences). Students may compile all the songs on to an actual CD to share with the class, or they can just have a simple “playlist” written out.

**__Aesthetics__**

Students will be asked to place their mementos in either a scrapbook or a box of some kind. It should be decorated or adorned in some fashion. Students may use materials from home or materials they purchase, but otherwise I will provide them, to the best of my ability, with what they need.

**__Presentations__**

Over the course of two class periods, students will be asked to make a 3-5 minute presentation over their travel scrapbook. They will be required to share their statement about journey and their map, and may choose to either share their soundtrack or their six word memoirs. When they share these items, they should give a brief synopsis of what they wrote for their reflections, just to clarify thoughts/feelings for classmates.

The second summative assessment is a journal students will be keeping over the course of our reading //Into the Wild//. The plan is to read a bulk of the book in the first portion of class and then spend the remaining portion doing some activity based on the book. Students will record activities (either the activity directly, a summary of an activity, or a reflection on the activity) in their journals. There will be a variety of activities students will participate in over the course of the book. Below is a list of the activities and brief descriptions of each activity and how students will be expected to record information about the activity.

**__Into the Wild Activities__**

**Say Something:** Students get into pairs or small groups and read together a passage from //Into the Wild//. Periodically, they will stop and each student will say “something” (i.e. make a prediction, as a question, make a comment, clarify, make a connection). I would most likely have students do this after they have read a portion of the book outside of class, then assign different groups different sections from the reading the night before. That way, students will be able to practice looking really closely at one particular section. It also helps in the sticky situations when you have a few students who haven’t read—at least they get to say something (ha ha). In their journals, students will be asked to record two each group member said in the discussion, and the context.

**Most Important Word:** Here, students have to go back into a text and pick out the most important word (or passage, or chapter) and explain why. I would allow students to do this individually or in small groups (3-4 people). In their journals, students would be asked to give an example quote of where the most important word appears and give their explanation as to its importance.

**Sketch to Stretch:** Students will work either independently or with a partner to create an image of “their interpretation of the text” (Beers, 172). They then give a brief explanation with the sketch. Students would either directly draw within their journals, or put the picture in their journals and then write explanations.

**It Says—I Say—And So:** Students look at inferred questions (given to them by me, the teacher), find where the book “says” the answer**,** and then students discuss the answer and come to a conclusion. Students would record all three of these statements their journals.

**Double Entry:** Students will take a section (or two, or three) from the text and on one side of the journal page, write out the section of the text, and on the other side of the journal, make comments, observations, and/or questions.

**Summary:** Students will write a summary of the recently read part of the text in their journals.

**Opinion:** Students will record their opinion on recent events in the text in their journals.


 * Pick a Character:** Students will pick a character (other than the main) and either write a letter/journal entry or write about what the student thinks this particular person must be feeling at a that particular point in the book in their journal.

To keep things interesting, students will, on some days, have a choice in which activity they do (I will hand out a sheet explaining each activity, though, hopefully students will be at least familiar with each one, either from a previous unit with me, or from previous journal entries in the unit).

Other Assignments __Anticipation Guides__

Students will be asked to fill out a couple of anticipation guides over the course of the unit. One will be for //Into the Wild//, the other for “A Long Strange Trip to the Taliban.” The anticipation guides will provide the students with a few questions to answer (give a yes/no or agree/disagree response, plus why they gave that response) and then use their answers as fodder for class discussion before we read the article. There will only be a few questions per guide, but those questions should require a bit of thought and then debate—the answers shouldn’t seem black or white, hence why there are only a few questions.

The reasons why I chose to do anticipation guides for these two particular texts are these: One, the events discussed in the texts are controversial. It’s important for students to have already discussed the topics in questions before they encounter them in the text. Why? Because it is better to make judgments about a character if one has some background knowledge or has dealt with the topic before. It will help students think more clearly and easily about topics put forth by the texts and hopefully allow for more free flowing discussion about the texts later. Two, students are being asked to give an opinion about something and to defend that opinion, both to themselves and to their classmates. The anticipation guides are asking students to consider topics that are difficult, not in the academic sense, but in the sense of life. For example, one of the questions for the Into the Wild anticipation guide is, “Are material objects really important?” A lot of these students are coming from homes and all are living in a world where material objects are highly valued. Many probably couldn’t (and honestly, neither can) imagine a world where they don’t have cell phones or name brand clothes.

__Reflection for “Doughnut Hole Country”__

I will ask students to consider their plans post-graduation. What do they see themselves doing? Afterwards, students will read “Doughnut Hole Country” as a class. Then we will have a class-wide discussion about the article, focusing mainly on the four categories of high school graduates: “Achievers” or those who leave, “Stayers” or those who remain, “Returners” or those who leave and then come back, and “Seekers” or those who leave to travel or join the military. After the discussion, students will be asked to consider where they stand. Students will choose which category they feel they will fit after graduation. They will write a reflection discussing why they feel they fit this category and how those post-graduation plans may affect themselves and then their community (I will be sure we discuss the idea of “rural brain drain” as it is put in the article and how that affects rural places like Maine).

Anticipation Guide: //Into the Wild//, by Jon Krakauer Directions: Please read the statements closely (ask for clarification if you need it) and answer the questions (yes, no; agree, disagree) and give a brief explanation of why you gave that answer. 1. Are material objects (computers, cell phones, nice clothes/accessories, nice cars, etc.) really necessary?

2. Should people be able do whatever they want with their lives as long as it doesn’t //directly// hurt anyone else?

3. Is what is expected of you in life (how you choose to live) determined by your social status (i.e. wealthy people vs. poor people)?

4. To who are you obligated: you or your family and community?

5. To survive in the wild you have to be well prepared: true or false?

**LESSON PLAN FORMAT**

**__Teacher’s Name__****:** Kirsten Petroska **__Date of Lesson__:** 4/4/2012 **__Grade Level__****:** 11th **__Topic__:** Journey

**__Objectives__** Students will, both as individuals and as a class, create a definition of journey and what a “journey” figuratively and literally means to them.

**Rationale:** Before students can begin to appreciate what their journey is, or the journeys of others, they must come up with a definition of what a journey is. We will work together work towards a definition of journey, both for ourselves, and as a class. We will work on individual definitions because everyone is different and it is helpful to see the wide range of ideas present in a classroom.

**__Assessment__** I will use student definitions as a way to evaluate their understanding of specific vocabulary that the class chooses to look at and how they will choose to use it.

**__Materials, Resources and Technology__** Quotations websites Wordle Dictionaries, Thesauruses

**__Source for Lesson Plan and Research__** Self

**__Teaching and Learning Sequence__****:** Students will be looking at how they define what a journey is. They will consider questions such as: is a journey just traveling from one physical location to the next, or can a journey be something more abstract, like your academic and social journey through high school, or maybe the emotional journey you take after the loss of a friend or loved one. It is important to consider the definition of a journey, because, as human beings, we are constantly embarking on them, and if the idea of what a journey is becomes well-formed in our minds, we’re better equipped to go. Students will enter the classroom and find these three sentences written on the board: “Not all who wander are lost.” –J.R. R. Tolkien; What does this quote have to do with the word “journey”? What are some synonyms for journey? The class will have a discussion regarding the quote and the questions on the board. The goal will be to develop a sort of theoretical definition of journey (what do we think it //could// mean) as well as some synonyms for the word journey. Then students will be asked to search online for quotes that discuss journey and the other synonyms we came up with and choose two quotes they like and feel fit their personal feelings about what the word(s) mean. While students collect quotes, they will be working in small groups. Discussion about what were chosen, where to look, etc., will be encouraged. Once students pick their quotes, they will e-mail them to me, I will copy and paste the quotes into one document, then use that in Wordle. As a class, we’ll look at the wordle and pick out some words that stand out to us and that start to define journey. After we create a list of words students will create their own personal definition of the word or write about what it means to take a journey using at least four of the words off the list we created.

**LESSON PLAN FORMAT**

**__Teacher’s Name__****:** Kirsten Petroska **__Date of Lesson__:** 4/3/2012 **__Grade Level__****:** 11th **__Topic__:** Society

**__Objectives__** Students will complete a text-to-self assignment with the lyrics from the song “Society” by Eddie Vedder

**Rationale:** Students will begin to think about what society is and how they relate to it and look at one particular person’s relationship with society and how //that// relates to them. It is important to think about this, because one cannot consider their path without how it affects or is viewed by society. The song we’ll be looking at speaks directly to that.

**__Assessment__** This lesson will help me view the extent of student understanding of society, particularly in the context of the unit’s main text.

**__Materials, Resources and Technology__** Copies of the song lyrics The song track Clip from the movie, Into the Wild, when the song is being used (?)

**__Source for Lesson Plan and Research__** Self Eddie Vedder

**__Teaching and Learning Sequence__****:** Students will listen to the song “Society” and look at lyrics (maybe view the clip from the movie when the song is played?). Then, as a class, we’ll have a discussion as to what we think the song is about, how it portrays society, and how the speaker in the song feels he/she fits into society. We will also create a class definition of society. We’ll create virtual index cards via Google documents and have students anonymously submit their personal definitions of society. We’ll then take a look at the definitions and either pick one we think fits best OR try to combine a few to make a definition we’re all comfortable with. Then, as individuals, students will make self-to-text connections (you find ways things your life correlate with things being discussed in the text—in this case a song) and then share in small groups, and later allow a few who want to share with the whole class do that.

**LESSON PLAN FORMAT**

**__Teacher’s Name__****:** Kirsten Petroska **__Date of Lesson__: 4/15/2012** **__Grade Level__****:** 11th **__Topic__:** Thoreau’s “Walking”

**__Objectives__** Students will work with Thoreau’s essay, “Walking.”

**Rationale:** Students will explore the overall message in “Walking” in order to gain a broader understanding of Into the Wild’s main figure Chris McCandless and also to look at a broader literary context and have the chance to look at older, more canonical writing that holds a strong connection to what we will be discussing.

**__Assessment__** Students will be assessed based on their summary of the text. I will be able to see student understanding of the topics and themes within the text and base my next instructional moved based on the evidence presented by the student summaries.

**__Materials, Resources and Technology__** Copies of the excerpts of “Walking” being used

**__Source for Lesson Plan and Research__** Self Hattie Deraps Clarissa Thompson

**__Teaching and Learning Sequence__****:** Students will be reading excerpts from the essay by Henry David Thoreau, “Walking.” His philosophy influenced Chris McCandless heavily, and it is important for students to see that there is a reasoning behind what McCandless did. It is also helpful for students to see there is a broader literary context that this book is connected to, as well as giving them exposure to more canonical writers. The lesson will begin with me doing a think aloud with the students over the text. I will focus on the parts that high light the shared thinking between Thoreau and McCandless, trying to draw connections between the two men. The purpose here is to get students to make the connection between the modern text and the older one, to hopefully catch the reasoning of McCandless in another, highly regarded thinker. While I am reading, students will pick out specific words that they think are important or stand out to them, around 10. Then students will pair up, compare words, narrow the words down to between 6 and 10, split the words into two even pools, each partner getting a pool, and then writing a summary of the excerpts from “Walking” using these words. The summaries will be turned to in to me for assessment and comments.

Into the Wild: Looking at Life Outside of High School __ Introduction __

Do you ever wondering what your time after high school will look like? Are you excited to embark on this new adventure, or are you a bit more timid, unsure of what the future may hold?

No matter where you stand on the matter, over the next few weeks we will be looking closely at the concept of journey and how it works with our society.

__ Essential Questions __

These are the questions we’ll be tackling in this unit: · Do you have a path in life or specific expectations to fulfill? What have others (parents, friends, teachers, society in general) planned for you? · Are there expectations for people in our society? · Why do people forgo those expectations?

__ Texts __

These are the books, articles, and videos we’ll be tackling:

· // Into the Wild //, by Jon Krakauer; A non-fiction novel about the journey of self-discovery by a young man into the wilds of Alaska · “Doughnut Hole Country”, by Christina Gillham; A short article about the changing demographics of rural towns in the U.S.   · “A Long Strange Trip to the Taliban”, by Evan Thomas; An article about the motivations of American Taliban, John Walker Lindh · “Walking”, by Henry David Thoreau; an essay on the philosophy and benefits of being in nature · “Society”, lyrics and performed by Eddie Vedder; a song from the film version of //Into the Wild// · Clips from the Oprah Winfrey Show; the clips focus on the days and life of young women who have joined a convent · Into the Wild, the film

__ Major Assignments __

** Two Six Word Memoirs ** ; **Due April 22**

** A Travel Scrapbook ** (There will be a handout on this at a later date); **Due: May 31**

** A blog on your reading adventures with //Into the Wild// ** (There will be a handout on this as well); **Final Draft Due: May 25**