Wouldn’t it be fun to teach the principles of transcendentalism through Disney movies? The reading for this lesson is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance. To make this lesson age-appropriate and easier to understand, Cameryn and I thought that it would be useful to show short clips of Disney films and relate it to the beliefs of transcendentalism. The principles that we would be focusing on are nonconformity, self-reliance, intuition, simplicity, and the importance of nature. Using these clips, students can learn the principles of transcendentalism through something that they have seen before. For this lesson, we will focus on Gardner’s spatial and musical intelligence.

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The goal of this project is to make a lesson plan that is age-appropriate for the reading. For fifth and sixth graders, Self- Reliance can be a difficult text to comprehend. Making connections to Disney movies might make this learning process more manageable. We will be engaging in Gardner’s spatial intelligence when they are viewing the video. We hope that students take the themes from the movies and connect them to the principles of transcendentalism. There is always a song in Disney movies that portrays an important message. The lyrics reflect many tenets of self-reliance in the clip. While listening to music, the students will be engaging in Gardner’s musical intelligence. Students will be asked what they thought of the songs and interpret the lyrics.

We have chosen 10 Disney movies that connect to the principles of transcendentalism. We still have to relate each film to the principles of transcendentalism. After analyzing the video, we have to determine which principle the film associates. We will be doing this within next week and put it into a list. We are working at a good pace and working hard to do a useful project.

We want to make a tool that is fun and easy to use. Connecting transcendentalism to Disney movies allows students to understand Emerson’s Self Reliance, so it is easier to understand. Since most students are moving on to middle school, we think that it is useful to teach them the ideas of transcendentalism, especially self-reliance. We believe that this is the best way to explain the text in a fun and easy way for the students to understand. Hopefully, the students will develop the skills and mindset to be self-sufficient.

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