A Sample Lesson

Time: 45-60 minute classroom time

Topic: "Hearing that Different Drummer"

Assignment before arriving: Students read the "Conclusion" chapter of Thoreau's Walden, which includes the lines:

"Why should a man be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours ... If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

Goals for this lesson:

• Students will be introduced to people from a variety of times, places, backgrounds, and interests who have stood up for their principles, and have accepted the consequences of acting on their convictions.
• Thoreau's writing will provoke students to examine the way they lead their own lives, and how to follow their own drummers and dreams.

Lesson Plan:

Students will have read the "Conclusion" chapter of Walden before the class meets.

The class will view the "Hearing that Different Drummer" section of the Life with Principle DVD-ROM. The teacher will present several framing questions to think about during the film, including:

What does it mean to hear a "different drummer?" What does it take for a person to do that? What happens then?

What people throughout the world and throughout time have exemplified the kind of individualism that Thoreau advocated?

If it's easier to get along if you go along, why bother to have ideas that don't follow conventional wisdom?

This segment is 10 minutes long. Through background information and multiple interviews with a variety of people, the film explores what it means to be an individual in today's society. Featured speakers include Daniel Ellsberg, Howard Zinn, Wangari Maathai, a minister, an attorney, an activist, a fire fighter, and several high school students. Each offers an opinion about the power of the individual, taking action at a local level, and what it means to be a dissenting voice among conformists.

After watching the film, the teacher will initiate discussion with the students. Discussion questions will first go back to the framing questions, then lead to others, including:

What are the ramifications of living according to your conscience? what will you need to consider if you intend to stand up for your principles? What question will you need to ask yourself?

• How different can one person be?
• What happens to non-conformists in your group? In your school? In your town?
• Are there times when it's admirable to be a conformist?
• Is Thoreau’s advice still relevant today?

After the discussion -- which is sure to be lively, if everyone gets a chance to state an opinion, and the discussion may even extend into another class period -- the teacher will offer several follow-up writing assignments. Students can choose to write 500-1000 words from the following prompts:

• Write a personal essay about your own "different drummer." Where does the drumbeat lead you?
• Write a personal essay about a time in your life when, in your own estimation, you showed courage that made you proud of yourself. When, how, and why did it happen?
• Do a short research piece on a well-known person who exemplified the kind of moral courage that Thoreau celebrated. Several were shown or mentioned in the film; many more can be found on your own. What obstacles did this person have to overcome? How did this person overcome them?
• Find three magazine ads, and analyze whether each ad encourages individualism or the herd instinct. Decide whether the product comes form a response to an inner need or whether the ad is trying to create a need where it might not have existed before.