reason to believe: The Miracle Project

I love when everything comes together in a teaching unit--the lessons, the engagement, the by-in, the transfer of knowledge. Although my intention is for every unit to be perfect, sometimes my confidence at the beginning isn't that strong.

When I decided to add the writings of the Transcendentalists to a World Literature unit, I was thrilled. I hadn't touched Transcendentalism since I left Nebraska 22 years ago, not because I didn't want to but because it simply wasn't on any district curriculum I was presented. As I scanned the planning guide for 12th grade English for 2nd quarter, a window of opportunity presented itself, allowing me to introduce some of the writings of these great writers to my soon-to-be high school graduates.

I must admit I was a bit skeptical. As I said, It had been almost a quarter of a century since I last taught Emerson or Thoreau. But the spark had been ignited, and I began to plan and gather ideas. I started with baby steps, and then one reading/discussion just led to more ideas and ultimately the entire unit just came together and everything fell into place. Kind of like

A MIRACLE

And speaking of miracles, I am still glowing over the final project for my Transcendental unit, which I call The Miracle Project. The entire time I was working on it, I couldn't help think of my fabulous friend Kari, who shares so beautifully her own miracles in her blog. (read it HERE!) And so I decided to "gift" her this project.

Here is the letter I wrote to her to introduce the project. It's my way of sharing it with you, too!