Literature for the North Woods Project
Literature for the North Woods Project
The texts we are readings this semester are written by women and men who have an intimate relationship with nature and their natural environment. The works they have written capture and preserve this relationship for modern readers. These texts also give us a greater appreciation of our own environment, awakening us to the wonders of the natural world in which we live. As works of art, they do more than imitate or represent nature; they change how we perceive the world.
Like Isabella Bird and Henry David Thoreau, Bill McKibben and Terry Tempest Williams, many members of the Skidmore and Saratoga Springs communities--especially students--retreat to the woods, our own North Woods surrounding the campus. The purpose of the Literature for the North Woods project is to connect our readying and study of Nature Writing and Environmental Literature to our natural surroundings and to find creative ways in which the literature we are reading in EN 229 can enhance our experience of going into the woods. In other words, the project asks you to bring to bear concepts, themes, values, and images from literature on the North Woods. The challenge of the project is to translate or transpose literary ideas to new media and for our contemporary audience and situation.
Whether done individually or collaborative, your Literature for the North Woods project is to be a creative project, drawing upon course readings and resources and your own imagination to heighten our appreciation and understanding of the North Woods. The projects may take many forms, such as
photographic journal with captions from excerpts of the course readings
The Literature for the North Woods project is a semester long project, with the completed project due at the end of the semester. To give you the time and the space to create your project, you will make plenary Snapshots throughout the semester using the KEEP Toolkit program to play with ideas and connections, develop plans, and execute your vision. You will share these Project Snapshots and provide comments and suggestions to each other. I will introduce you to the KEEP Toolkit Program in class; individual Snapshot due dates are noted on the syllabus along with full descriptions at the links at the end of this page.
Here are a some sample projects from Fall 2006:
Regardless of the subject, medium, or format of your project, you will also prepare detailed reflective essay analyzing and assessing your experience, process, and learning. You may present your reflective essay as a traditional paper or as a KEEP Toolkit Snapshot (addressing the same material) of your own design.
To learn more about the North Woods, we will be reading chapters from Treasures in the North Woods throughout the semester. You may also want to visit the web sources listed below.
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"Whose woods these were." A short history of the North Woods. Kathryn Gallien. Scope Winter 2001. |
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"Whose woods these are." Kathryn Gallien. Scope Spring 2001. |
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Environmental Studies at Skidmore College: The North Woods |
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Skidmore North Woods |
Literature for the North Woods Project: Snapshot 1
Literature for the North Woods Project: Snapshot 2
Literature
for the North Woods Project: Snapshot 3
Literature
for the North Woods Presentation Schedule