Unit Planning Grid

Week 1: The American Dream (Jim)

Monday Introduction to the course Community building activity Informal discussion of visual images of the American Dream Pre-writing: KWL+

Wednesday Read “The American Dream: A Biography” Introduce annotation Discuss the text Free-write on your own experiences with/observations of the American Dream; discus

Friday Read “What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession?” Discuss the text Literacy Narrative due

Week 2: Inequality and the American Dream (Jordana)

Monday Read chapter from Noah’s The Great Divergence: “Going Up” (on the lack of social mobility in America and why incomes have remained stagnant in the last few decades) Discuss paragraph structure and topic sentences Pre-writing for Ehrenreich: KWL+ and questioning strategies

Wednesday Read Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed chapter 1, “Serving in Florida” (11-49); annotate Discuss annotations and practice writing paragraphs on Ehrenreich. Connect Ehrenreich’s experiences to your own experience.

Friday Read Ehrenreich chapter 3, “Selling in Minnesota” (121-191); annotate Discuss annotations and connect Ehrenreich’s experiences to your own experience. After reading: how did the questions you came up with in the pre-writing stage (on Monday) get answered through your reading?

Week 3: Inequality and Democracy  (Jim and Jordana)

Monday Pre-reading activity for Capitalism: A Love Story; write about your views of/experiences with corporate capitalism Watch a clip from Michael Moore’s film Capitalism: A Love Story. Connect points from Capitalism to Ehrenreich’s chapters.

Wednesday Read two contrasting perspectives on the relationship between inequality and democracy: “Inequality Undermines Democracy” (NY Times) and “Defending the Dream: Why Income Inequality Doesn’t Threaten Opportunity” (Heritage Foundation) In-class debate on the relationship between inequality and democracy: take a position and support it with evidence Learn about MLA Style for citing sources and practice using MLA Style

Friday Watch PBS film:Park Avenue: Money, Power, & the American Dream. Connect points from Park Avenue to Ehrenreich’s chapters.  Fill out Text/Self/World graphic organizer to find connections between personal experience, the texts, and the world.

Week 4 (Essay 1 due)          Unit Two: Twenty-somethings and Educational Opportunity (Katie and Susan)

Monday Bring an outline and thesis for workshops on Essay 1 Bring a rough draft of Essay 1 for peer review workshop Discuss transitions and one sentence-level strategy, such as noun phrase appositives or verbal phrases

Wednesday Essay 1 due Write a reflective memo on the reading and writing processes Final unit activity: assess how this unit changed your views of the American Dream and/or inequality in America

Friday