Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Show two versions of the same short announcement, written for this page, and ask which structure works better and for whom.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Version A: The library will close at 6 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. starting in March. The change saves the budget for new books. Evening study rooms will move to the cafeteria. Version B: Next month you will have more new books, and the cafeteria will stay open until 9 for evening study. To pay for the books, the library will close at 6 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. starting in March." Both contain the same facts. Which is clearer? Which is more convincing to students? Which would you rather read?

   Take a quick vote on each of the three questions. Students often split: Version A is clearer (the news comes first), and Version B is more persuasive (the benefit comes first). Draw out the point of the lesson: a structure can succeed on one criterion and fail on another, so an evaluation must say which criterion, for which audience, and why. That is what RI.11-12.5 asks.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: From analysis to evaluation. Analysis names the structure and shows where it is signaled. Evaluation judges it against the standard's three criteria and a real audience. Give students the table and the evaluation frame: structural choice + quoted signal + criterion (clear, convincing or engaging) + effect on this audience + one cost or alternative.

   Questions for evaluating a structure

   Criterion	Questions to ask	Evidence to cite
   Clear	Can a reader tell what the parts are and where one ends? Is the main point stated where the reader needs it?	Announced divisions, numbering, summaries, transitions, paragraph breaks
   Clear	Do the proportions match the importance the author claims for each part?	Word counts, how long each section runs, what gets the most space
   Convincing	Does support come before the point that needs it? Are objections raised and answered at the right moment?	Concessions, rebuttals, the order of reasons, where the strongest point sits
   Engaging	Does the order create interest and momentum? Is there variety, surprise or a strong ending?	Questions, stories, quotations, a turn, a climax, direct address
   Any	What would be lost or gained if the parts were in another order?	A specific rearrangement and its effect

   Part 2: The whole oration. Explain the occasion: Emerson spoke to a college society of scholars and graduates, and the printed oration runs about 7,700 words, which at a typical speaking pace of 130-150 words a minute would take an estimated 50-60 minutes to deliver. Listeners heard the text once; they could not flip back. Read Passage 3 aloud: it gathers the sentences where Emerson signals his structure, from the announcement of his topic to the final call. Then show Diagram 1 and work through the examples.

   1In this hope, I accept the topic which not only usage, but the nature of our association, seem to prescribe to this day,—the AMERICAN SCHOLAR. Year by year, we come up hither to read one more chapter of his biography. Let us inquire what light new days and events have thrown on his character, and his hopes.

   [...]

   2I. The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. [...]

   [...]

   3II. The next great influence into the spirit of the scholar, is, the mind of the Past,—in whatever form, whether of literature, of art, of institutions, that mind is inscribed. Books are the best type of the influence of the past, and perhaps we shall get at the truth,—learn the amount of this influence more conveniently,—by considering their value alone.

   [...]

   4III. There goes in the world a notion, that the scholar should be a recluse, a valetudinarian,—as unfit for any handiwork or public labor, as a penknife for an axe. [...]

   [...]

   5I have now spoken of the education of the scholar by nature, by books, and by action. It remains to say somewhat of his duties.

   [...]

   6But I have dwelt perhaps tediously upon this abstraction of the Scholar. I ought not to delay longer to add what I have to say, of nearer reference to the time and to this country.

   [...]

   7[...] Mr. President and Gentlemen, this confidence in the unsearched might of man belongs, by all motives, by all prophecy, by all preparation, to the American Scholar. We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe. [...] Not so, brothers and friends,—please God, ours shall not be so. We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds. The study of letters shall be no longer a name for pity, for doubt, and for sensual indulgence. The dread of man and the love of man shall be a wall of defence and a wreath of joy around all. A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.

   • Analyze: an announced, numbered division

     Emerson names his subject ("the AMERICAN SCHOLAR") and then opens three sections with "I. The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature," "II. The next great influence," and "III. There goes in the world a notion."

     Result: The first half is organized as a list of influences, and each part is numbered in the text itself. Evaluation (clear): for listeners who could not reread, the numbers and the repeated word "influence" work as a map. The cost: sections I and II announce their subject in the first sentence, but section III opens with a popular notion before naming action as its subject, so a listener may not know at once where the numbered list has gone.

   • Evaluate proportions: what gets the most space

     Emerson calls nature "the first in time and the first in importance." Diagram 1 shows the nature section is the shortest of the six (551 words), while books get 1,504 and action 1,371.

     Result: This is an interpretation, not a fact about the text: word count is only one measure of importance, but on that measure the proportions seem not to match the ranking he announces. A reader can defend the choice: the section on books is where Emerson argues against the habit his college audience knew best, so the length goes where the resistance is. A reader can also fault it: the part called most important gets the least development, which weakens the claim that nature comes first. Either judgment is valid if it cites the numbers and the audience.

   • Analyze and evaluate a transition: summary plus preview

     "I have now spoken of the education of the scholar by nature, by books, and by action. It remains to say somewhat of his duties."

     Result: In two sentences Emerson closes the first half (a summary that repeats the three influences in order) and opens the second (a preview of one new subject). Evaluation (clear): it tells listeners the structure has two halves, education and duties, and that the list is finished. It is a strong choice for a spoken text, where the audience needs the map restated.

   • Evaluate an ending: a call to action saved for last

     Near the end, Emerson answers his own question with "Not so, brothers and friends" and then promises: "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds."

     Result: The general theory comes first and the direct call comes last, so the ending gathers the argument into a promise. Evaluation (engaging and convincing): the shift to "we" and "brothers and friends" turns listeners from an audience into participants, and the three matched clauses give the close a rhythm people can remember. The risk of this order is that listeners must wait through a long abstract middle before they hear what is asked of them.

   Part 3: Check the map. Ask: from Passage 3 and Diagram 1 alone, what is the plan of the oration? Students should name the opening, the three influences, the duties, and the turn to the present age and to America. Point out the paragraph that begins "But I have dwelt perhaps tediously": it is a signpost too, and students will evaluate it in the quiz.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Passage 1, the five paragraphs that come right after Emerson announces his subject, and complete Activity 1. Their question: does this opening structure make Emerson's central idea clear and engaging before the numbered sections begin? Use Diagram 2 to show the five steps and their lengths.

   1It is one of those fables, which, out of an unknown antiquity, convey an unlooked-for wisdom, that the gods, in the beginning, divided Man into men, that he might be more helpful to himself; just as the hand was divided into fingers, the better to answer its end.

   2The old fable covers a doctrine ever new and sublime; that there is One Man,—present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty; and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man. Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an engineer, but he is all. Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. In the divided or social state, these functions are parcelled out to individuals, each of whom aims to do his stint of the joint work, whilst each other performs his. The fable implies, that the individual, to possess himself, must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers. But, unfortunately, this original unit, this fountain of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered. The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters,—a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man.

   3Man is thus metamorphosed into a thing, into many things. The planter, who is Man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry. He sees his bushel and his cart, and nothing beyond, and sinks into the farmer, instead of Man on the farm. The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars. The priest becomes a form; the attorney, a statute-book; the mechanic, a machine; the sailor, a rope of the ship.

   4In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.

   5In this view of him, as Man Thinking, the theory of his office is contained. Him nature solicits with all her placid, all her monitory pictures; him the past instructs; him the future invites. Is not, indeed, every man a student, and do not all things exist for the student’s behoof? And, finally, is not the true scholar the only true master? But the old oracle said, ‘All things have two handles: beware of the wrong one.’ In life, too often, the scholar errs with mankind and forfeits his privilege. Let us see him in his school, and consider him in reference to the main influences he receives.

   Debrief with two questions. (1) Emerson starts with a fable and does not define the scholar until passage paragraph 4 ("In the right state, he is, Man Thinking"). What does the reader gain from waiting, and what does the reader lose? (Gain: the definition arrives with a picture of what goes wrong, "a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man." Loss: a listener must hold three paragraphs of abstraction before learning why they matter.) (2) The last paragraph ends with "Let us see him in his school, and consider him in reference to the main influences he receives." How does this sentence change the reader's experience of what follows? (It is a preview: the influences become the plan of the next three sections.)

   For Activity 2. Passage 2 is the core of Section II, on books. Groups use it to test an alternative order.

   1The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth. It came to him, short-lived actions; it went out from him, immortal thoughts. It came to him, business; it went from him, poetry. It was dead fact; now, it is quick thought. It can stand, and it can go. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.

   2Or, I might say, it depends on how far the process had gone, of transmuting life into truth. In proportion to the completeness of the distillation, so will the purity and imperishableness of the product be. But none is quite perfect. As no air-pump can by any means make a perfect vacuum, so neither can any artist entirely exclude the conventional, the local, the perishable from his book, or write a book of pure thought, that shall be as efficient, in all respects, to a remote posterity, as to cotemporaries, or rather to the second age. Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this.

   3Yet hence arises a grave mischief. The sacredness which attaches to the act of creation,—the act of thought,—is transferred to the record. The poet chanting, was felt to be a divine man: henceforth the chant is divine also. The writer was a just and wise spirit: henceforward it is settled, the book is perfect; as love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue. Instantly, the book becomes noxious: the guide is a tyrant. The sluggish and perverted mind of the multitude, slow to open to the incursions of Reason, having once so opened, having once received this book, stands upon it, and makes an outcry, if it is disparaged. Colleges are built on it. Books are written on it by thinkers, not by Man Thinking; by men of talent, that is, who start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles. Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.

   4Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm. Hence, the book-learned class, who value books, as such; not as related to nature and the human constitution, but as making a sort of Third Estate with the world and the soul. Hence, the restorers of readings, the emendators, the bibliomaniacs of all degrees.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Passage 4, where Emerson turns from the scholar in general to his own time, and answer quiz questions 1-14 with the passages and Diagram 1 open, then questions 15-20 in writing. Remind them that every evaluation needs a criterion and an audience.

   1Historically, there is thought to be a difference in the ideas which predominate over successive epochs, and there are data for marking the genius of the Classic, of the Romantic, and now of the Reflective or Philosophical age. With the views I have intimated of the oneness or the identity of the mind through all individuals, I do not much dwell on these differences. In fact, I believe each individual passes through all three. The boy is a Greek; the youth, romantic; the adult, reflective. I deny not, however, that a revolution in the leading idea may be distinctly enough traced.

   2Our age is bewailed as the age of Introversion. Must that needs be evil? We, it seems, are critical; we are embarrassed with second thoughts; we cannot enjoy any thing for hankering to know whereof the pleasure consists; we are lined with eyes; we see with our feet; the time is infected with Hamlet’s unhappiness,—

   3“Sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.”

   4It is so bad then? Sight is the last thing to be pitied. Would we be blind? Do we fear lest we should outsee nature and God, and drink truth dry? I look upon the discontent of the literary class, as a mere announcement of the fact, that they find themselves not in the state of mind of their fathers, and regret the coming state as untried; as a boy dreads the water before he has learned that he can swim. If there is any period one would desire to be born in,—is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old, can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

   5I read with some joy of the auspicious signs of the coming days, as they glimmer already through poetry and art, through philosophy and science, through church and state.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one structural choice in The American Scholar that you think works and one that you think does not. For each, name the criterion (clear, convincing or engaging) and quote the words that show it." Sort the tickets by criterion and use them to open the next lesson.

   Teacher note on language and audience. The oration is quoted exactly as printed in 1855. Emerson uses "man" and "men" for people in general and addresses "Mr. President and Gentlemen," because the Phi Beta Kappa audience at Cambridge in 1837 was all male. Point this out and invite students to consider how the structure would work for a wider audience.

   Homework passage. Passage 5 is the first full paragraph of the second half, on the scholar's duties. It is one long paragraph, which is part of what the homework asks students to evaluate.

   1They are such as become Man Thinking. They may all be comprised in self-trust. The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances. He plies the slow, unhonored, and unpaid task of observation. Flamsteed and Herschel, in their glazed observatories, may catalogue the stars with the praise of all men, and, the results being splendid and useful, honor is sure. But he, in his private observatory, cataloguing obscure and nebulous stars of the human mind, which as yet no man has thought of as such,—watching days and months, sometimes, for a few facts; correcting still his old records;—must relinquish display and immediate fame. In the long period of his preparation, he must betray often an ignorance and shiftlessness in popular arts, incurring the disdain of the able who shoulder him aside. Long he must stammer in his speech; often forego the living for the dead. Worse yet, he must accept,—how often! poverty and solitude. For the ease and pleasure of treading the old road, accepting the fashions, the education, the religion of society, he takes the cross of making his own, and, of course, the self-accusation, the faint heart, the frequent uncertainty and loss of time, which are the nettles and tangling vines in the way of the self-relying and self-directed; and the state of virtual hostility in which he seems to stand to society, and especially to educated society. For all this loss and scorn, what offset? He is to find consolation in exercising the highest functions of human nature. He is one, who raises himself from private considerations, and breathes and lives on public and illustrious thoughts. He is the world’s eye. He is the world’s heart. He is to resist the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism, by preserving and communicating heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious verse, and the conclusions of history. Whatsoever oracles the human heart, in all emergencies, in all solemn hours, has uttered as its commentary on the world of actions,—these he shall receive and impart. And whatsoever new verdict Reason from her inviolable seat pronounces on the passing men and events of to-day,—this he shall hear and promulgate.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which description best fits the structure of passage paragraphs 2-4, from "Our age is bewailed" to "if we but know what to do with it"?

   AA story from Emerson's own youth, followed by the lesson about the age that he drew from it BA common complaint, stated in full, then answered with questions and a new name CA list of the causes of the age's unhappiness, followed by a matching list of their effects DA definition of introversion, followed by examples of it drawn from the history of the age

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage paragraph 1 introduces the Classic, Romantic and Reflective ages and then says "I do not much dwell on these differences." How does this choice affect the clarity of the section?

   AIt offers a familiar scheme, then limits it so it does not compete with his idea that all minds are one BIt confuses listeners, because the three ages are dropped at once and never mentioned again in any form later on CIt proves that the present age is worse than the Classic and the Romantic ages that came before it DIt announces that the rest of the oration will be organized around the three ages, one section for each

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "The boy is a Greek; the youth, romantic; the adult, reflective." What does this sentence do for the clarity of passage paragraph 1?

   AIt adds a fourth age of the mind to the three historical ages already named in the paragraph BIt argues that adults are wiser than boys and youths, so the reflective age is the best one CIt maps the three ages onto the stages of one life, making the scheme easy to picture DIt shows that Emerson rejects the whole idea of historical ages as a way to describe the mind

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Emerson states the complaint ("Our age is bewailed as the age of Introversion") and at once asks "Must that needs be evil?" What is the effect of placing the question immediately after the complaint?

   AIt tells listeners at once that the complaint will be challenged, so they hear the symptoms as a view to test BIt shows that Emerson agrees with the complaint and believes that the present age of introversion really is evil CIt delays Emerson's answer to the complaint until the last paragraph of the whole oration DIt changes the subject from the present age to the duties that the scholar owes to society

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In passage paragraph 2, the complaint is built from a series of clauses ("we are critical; we are embarrassed with second thoughts; ... we are lined with eyes; we see with our feet"). Why is stating the complaint this fully a strength of the structure?

   AIt shows that Emerson himself is too introverted and self-conscious to act in the world BIt states the opponents' case in their own terms before answering it, so the answer seems fair CIt proves each of the charges against the age with a historical fact about the present time DIt hides the complaint inside a long list so that the audience will not notice how strong it is

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why might the line from Hamlet ("Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought") be set as its own paragraph?

   AIt marks the beginning of a new section of the oration on Shakespeare and his influence BIt was added to the text by the 1855 editor as a footnote explaining the allusion to Hamlet CIt is Emerson's own answer to the complaint, given in the words of a famous poet DIt gives the complaint a famous voice and marks the end of the complaint before the reply

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which words mark the turn from the complaint to Emerson's reply?

   A"It is so bad then? Sight is the last thing to be pitied." B"Our age is bewailed as the age of Introversion." C"I read with some joy of the auspicious signs of the coming days" D"In fact, I believe each individual passes through all three."

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "I look upon the discontent of the literary class ... as a boy dreads the water before he has learned that he can swim." Which is the best evaluation of how this comparison works in the reply?

   AIt proves with evidence from history that the new age will be better than the old one was BIt makes the reply vivid, but it assumes, rather than shows, that the new state can be mastered CIt weakens the reply because it is about learning to swim rather than about reading and writing DIt is the thesis statement of the whole oration, the claim that every other section supports

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The long question that begins "If there is any period one would desire to be born in" goes on: "is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side ...; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when ...?" How does the structure of this sentence serve the argument?

   AIt lists three past revolutions in the order in which they happened in European history BIt asks a question that Emerson expects his listeners to answer with a firm "no" CThree parallel "when" clauses turn the age's divided mind into a reason to want to live in it DIt admits at last that the age of Introversion is evil, as the complaint had claimed all along

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What is the role of the sentence "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it" at the end of passage paragraph 4?

    AIt closes the reply with a conclusion and a condition that points ahead to the rest of the oration BIt repeats the complaint about the age in a new and more hopeful form, without answering it CIt is a second quotation from Hamlet, set inside the paragraph instead of on its own line DIt announces to the audience that the oration is over and that no further section will follow

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What does passage paragraph 5 ("I read with some joy of the auspicious signs of the coming days") do in the structure of the oration?

    AIt summarizes the three influences on the scholar before the oration turns to his duties BIt ends the oration with a direct call to action addressed to the young scholars present CIt argues that poetry and art matter more to the scholar than philosophy, science, church or state DIt is a transition that previews the next part, a survey of signs of the new age

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement best evaluates how convincing the structure of Passage 4 is for a skeptical listener?

    AIt is fully convincing, because every claim in the reply is backed by statistics about the age BIt is unconvincing, because Emerson never states the complaint that he is supposed to be answering CIt is persuasive in form, stating the complaint fairly and answering it in order, but thin on proof DIt is unconvincing, because the passage is too short to include any reasons for its claims at all

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraph 1 of Passage 3 ends: "Let us inquire what light new days and events have thrown on his character, and his hopes." Which evaluation of this announcement is best supported by Passage 3?

    AA broad promise (character and hopes) that the two halves later fill: education and duties, then the age BIt lists the three influences, nature, books and action, in the exact order in which the sections will treat them CIt states that the oration will end with a call to the American scholar to speak his own mind DIt announces that the oration will be a history of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and its members

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "But I have dwelt perhaps tediously upon this abstraction of the Scholar. I ought not to delay longer to add what I have to say, of nearer reference to the time and to this country." Which is the best evaluation of this signpost?

    AIt weakens the oration, because an author should never mention the audience's patience or boredom BIt is unclear, because it does not tell the audience what the next part of the oration will be about CIt announces to the audience that the oration is ending and that only a closing prayer remains DIt marks the turn from theory to the present, and its admission keeps the audience's goodwill

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evaluate the structure of passage paragraph 1 ("Historically, there is thought to be a difference ..."). Does it make Emerson's point clear? Quote at least two sentences and name one strength and one weakness.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Is the complaint-and-reply structure of passage paragraphs 2-4 convincing for Emerson's audience, a society of college graduates in 1837? Explain with quotations.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evaluate how engaging the structure of Passage 4 is. Consider sentence length, questions and the one-line quotation, and quote at least three places.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Passage 4 opens the part Emerson promised would be "of nearer reference to the time and to this country," yet its first paragraph surveys the Classic, Romantic and Reflective ages. Evaluate whether this is the most effective way to open that part. Propose one alternative opening and weigh it.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    The oration opens with the fable of the gods dividing "Man into men" and ends: "A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men." Evaluate this ending as a structural choice. Quote Passage 1 and Passage 3.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write an evaluation (5-7 sentences) of the overall structure of The American Scholar, using Passage 3 and Diagram 1. Judge it on all three criteria and propose one change that would improve it.

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These standards connect to RI.11-12.5: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.