Going to Walden

Last week OS28 finished the Connections unit, the four-week course during which the students read Walden. As part of this unit, students keep a field journal--for taking notes in class, completing homework assignments, and as a platform for exploring big ideas. Flipping through a student's journal is like peeking into his or her brain--it's a real privilege, and at times, quite funny (caricatures of Thoreau occupy many a journal page). I've extracted some choice doodles from a few journals, so you too can get a peek. Enjoy.      - Lenora
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Going to Walden

by Mary Oliver

It isn’t very far as highways lie.

I might be back by nightfall, having seen

The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.

Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.

They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:

How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!

Many have gone, and think me half a fool

To miss a day away in the cool country.

Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,

Going to Walden is not so easy a thing

As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult

Trick of living, and finding it where you are.