Class: Honors American Lit

Date Due:

Academic Challenge: Finding a Universal Truth

Guiding Principles:

A ConVal student’s education . . .

  • balances traditional knowledge and skills with innovative, real-world applications;
  • fosters critical thinking and problem solving, both individual and collaborative;
  • inspires the development of strong, internal standards of quality.

Student Expectations:
  • Students will actively engage themselves in the learning process.
  • Students will personally challenge themselves.
  • Students will develop skills to become lifelong learners in order to prepare themselves for a world of rapid change and unforeseeable demands.
  • Students will write and speak in a clear, organized manner.
  • Students will access, process and apply information effectively.
  • Students will solve problems by utilizing and analyzing information from a variety of sources.
  • Students will demonstrate critical and creative thinking.
  • Students will work effectively with others.
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NHEIAP Standard:
  • Students will write effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.
  • Students will listen and view attentively and critically.
  • Students will use reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing to gather and organize information, to communicate effectively; and to succeed in educational, occupational, civic, social, and everyday settings.
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The Question:

How can we discover self-evident universal truths?

The Challenge:

Emerson said that every natural fact was symbolic of a universal truth. In order to understand this concept, find a fact arising from your observation of nature and study it for its universal message.

Check the portions of your nature observation I marked for a universal truth. Go back to your notes and detail the observation you chose. The more details you have, the deeper the universal truth will be. You may need to made another, specific observation to get the details needed, or you might want to research the observations details in the library or on the internet.

Once you have thoroughly detailed your observation and its natural facts, explain the universal truth it contains. Try to explain as many corresponding details as you can between the nature observation and the universal truth.

Be sure to fully describe the observation, the truth you extract from it, and how the truth is “self-evident,” as Emerson claimed all universal truths must be. In order to emulate Emerson’s genius, write a poem of iambic pentameter about your universal truth to precede the paper. Have the poem end with a rhymed couplet.

Minimum
Product Standards:

•The nature observation is detailed.
• The universal truth is well described.
• The universal truth is self-evident.
• The paper exhibits logic and clarity.
• The truth is serious and appropriate.
• An original iambic pentameter poem precedes the paper.