Emily Dickinson THINKbook

THINKbooks are interactive learning guides for curious students. They are designed as self-paced, high school units.

This THINKbook focuses on Emily Dickinson, who I think is one of the first U.S. writers to channel a unique poetic voice. Her work is weird, and that's what makes it so fun to study. This THINKbook works as a unit study, or you could use it as part of your U.S. literature or poetry curriculum.

This unit starts with a cold read of one of Dickinson's best-known poems, then backtracks to build an understanding of Dickinson's life and work. Next, we'll work through one of Dickinson's poems together, analyzing line by line to practice analyzing the elements of poetry. Then you'll put those skills to work analyzing a poem of your choosing. Activities include a lyric battle between Dickinson and 1970s rock music — it's harder than you think! — and a poetry puzzle that encourages you to think about how language and theme intersect. Your final project asks you to use your understanding of Dickinson's work to create a Dickinson-inspired playlist.

Unit includes:

• 3 in-depth lessons with activities, research, and questions for consideration

• 1 introductory activity

• 1 hands-on poetry activity

• 1 final project

• PLUS: detailed guides for critical reading, reading poetry, and annotating

Because this unit is self-paced, you can work through it at whatever speed makes sense for you. If you spend one week on each lesson/activity, it will take you about 6 weeks to complete. But these lessons are pretty jam-packed, so don't feel obligated to hurry through them.

Placement recommendation: This is a high school level unit, designed for students who are already familiar with the basic elements of literature (plot, character, theme, setting, etc.) and who are comfortable applying those skills to texts. Like most high school level curricula, it includes works that could be rated M for Mature. If mature content is a concern for you with your student, I encourage you to preview texts to asses your personal comfort level. (I read these texts with my own high school student and teach them in high school classes, but comfort levels can be very personal things.) This is a completely secular program.

For secular homeschoolers who want a fun, decolonized, rigorous way to homeschool high school and middle school, home/school/life’s Deep Thought is the progressive high school curriculum that does the academic heavy lifting so that you can enjoy the fun stuff. Unlike other high school curriculum, home/school/life’s Deep Thought curriculum teaches students how to learn, not just what to learn and makes big academics surprisingly fun for the whole family.

All curriculum materials are digital and downloadable. Because of this, all sales are final. If you have questions, please ask before you buy.