ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

LANGUAGE ARTS :: SECONDARY RESOURCES :: RIGHT DIRECTION :: DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Description

In this unit, students explore personal, historical, and literary perspectives on the American Dream. This unit has always been very successful for me because of its student-centered nature and flexibility. Also, it fits well with either a thematic or chronological approach to the course. Additionally, it lends itself to interdisciplinary instruction. Finally, it has a little something for everyone because it integrates a variety of print and non-print texts.

The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman are the core texts of the unit. However, works such as Black Boy, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Grapes of Wrath, House on Mango Street, or Of Mice and Men could be used in their place. The poetry, film and music suggested in the unit plan are also adaptable. I designed this unit to be used in a heterogeneous 11th grade class on a traditional schedule (55 minute class periods), so as you adapt it, you may want to evaluate the reading level and complexity of the suggested texts. However, don't abandon the group or open-ended activities because I have found that with appropriate direction all levels of students can handle every activity I've described.

Most of the activities in the unit are student-centered. For example, to read The Great Gatsby students participate in Literature Circles. This student designed and led discussion works best with 5 - 6 students per group. At the beginning of the unit, I set up the activity by assigning students to groups, providing them with dates for four in-class discussions and a list that describes various participant roles. Each group has a discussion director, summarizer, illustrator, connector and reporter. Students then meet to plan their reading schedule and to assign participant duties. When working in literature circles, they are evaluated on their preparation and participation.

The "Cut-Out" poem mentioned in the unit plan is an idea from NCTE Notes that asks students to select an idea and after searching through a magazine for appropriate words and phrases, create a poem. The concept behind a "Cut Out" poem is very similar to what Magnetic Poetry packs encourage.

The assessment in the unit varies from the traditional objective or essay test. I would again encourage you to gauge your assessment requirements based on student need. I find that it is more equitable to give my students a variety of oral, written, and visual ways to respond to a unit. It gives everyone at least one opportunity to play to a strength.

Yvonne M. Anderson, Wake County Public Schools

Activity Description	Approx. Time	Strands	Exp	Info	Arg	Crit	Lit	G/L
Introductory
Students read poems about success. Suggested titles: "Success is Counted Sweetest by Emily Dickinson and "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson. To prepare for a short discussion on the poems, students can list the images of success presented in an idea web or other appropriate graphic organizer.	1 day	W	1.02			4.03	5.02
Students listen to music, such as Neil Diamond's "America", Simon and Garfunkel's "The American Tune", and Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" and "Born in the USA". Using a Venn diagram, small groups of students identify and compare and contrast the images of the American dream presented in the music.	1 day	O W	1.02	2.03		4.03	5.01
During
Introduce The Great Gatsby Literature Circle assignment. Create a handout that delineates due dates, responsibilities, and assessment procedures. Allow students to meet and organize their Literature Circle assignments.	20 min.	O		2.03
Before the first The Great Gatsby literature circle discussion, have students view Death of a Salesman and use a journal to record the ideas about business, success, dreams, family, and marriage presented in the play.	4 days	O	1.02			4.02
Following the film students make connections (in writing or discussion) between the play and introductory thematic activities.		W M-T
Students use Literature Circles to read and discuss The Great Gatsby. To present a record of their discussions and share group views with the class, students post summaries of their Literature Circle discussions on an online message board.	Select dates over 2 - 3 week period	O W	1.02	2.03	3.01	4.01 4.02	5.01 5.02
To create a social context for the novels and the role of history in the American dream, students use charts to outline social, economic and historic references in the texts, Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby. Partners create visuals that demonstrate their understanding of the similarities between the 20's and 50's.	4 - 5 days	W		2.01			5.01
Have students discuss popular or contemporary ideals of the American dream in a Paideia seminar. Films, such as Down and Out in America (1986 Academy Award winning film on poverty, recession and the downfall of the American dream) Rudy, or clips from Pleasantville can be the subject of the seminar. Texts that could be discussed are Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth" or excerpts from Hardrive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire.	3- 5 days	O W M-T	1.02	2.03	3.01 3.02 3.03	4.01 4 .02
As a seminar post-write, students review the main ideas of the seminar by writing free verse, lyric, or "cut-out" poems. Poems are collected in a student anthology that can be published in print or online.	1- 2 days	W	1.02	2.02				6.01 6.02
Culminating
Critical extension Introduce comparison/contrast writing. Model comparison contrast writing with an appropriate piece of non-fiction such as "Lee and Grant: a Study in Contrast" by Bruce Caton or "Fat vs. Skinny People" by Suzanne Britt. Discuss compositional and conventional features of writing. Have students draft an individual plan - based on a review of earlier writing assignments- for improving grammar, usage, and mechanics in this essay. Assign an individual or collaborative comparison/contrast essay that requires students to synthesize information in the unit to describe and evaluate the American dream. Possible topics could include a comparison/contrast of Gatsby vs. Willy Lowman, two student selected films, Andrew Carnegie vs. Bill Gates.	1 week	W M/T			3.01	4.02	5.01 5.02	6.01 6 .02
Creative extension Students create a soundtrack for their vision of the American Dream. They will collect three songs on tape or CD and accompany the songs with a short narrative essay were they discuss their dream and the music selected. Final soundtracks can be shared with the class.	1 week	W M/T	1.01 1.02	2.02		4.01 4.02		6.01 6.02

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