At the New York Stock Exchange in 2009. Photo taken by my friend Ryan!
Hello everyone,
Today, we started up with class content for real, as we began thinking about what makes someone "American" and what the "American Dream" is. Here's what happened in class:
Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Soundtrack: "Dream On" by Aerosmith. Selected for today because of our discussion of what the American Dream is and whether or not it exists. Lyrics here.
AGENDA 9/13/19:
News Brief/Blog Recap - Yash
9/11 and 12/7 Speeches
American Dream
Mother to Son
Homework: Read the blog. Create a slogan about the American Dream, ready to share next class. Bring art supplies if you want, as we will be creating posters next class! The next news brief is assigned to: Maiya.
We also checked in about the weekend and if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.
Maiya was selected to do the next news brief.
As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):
BBCNews.com - One-minute World News
I also showed this website and the blog post from last class, so students could see the level of detail with each post.
9/11 and 12/7 Speeches: This was connected to our lesson last class for September 11th, when I wanted students to look at speeches from President George W. Bush on 9/11/2001 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12/8/1941, which led the United States into war after attacks. Here they are again (questions at the bottom):
I really appreciated the text analysis and conversations here - thanks!
American Dream: To really start with content for the course this year, I wanted to begin by defining "American" and the idea of the "American Dream" in class. To go with this, here is the PowerPoint we went through together:
First, we defined "American" by ourselves, then worked in small groups to come up with combined definitions, then talked together as a class about what makes someone American.
I then asked everyone to try and define with the "American Dream" is in a free write. After the free write, I showed this video:
We have a fair amount of first generation American students in our classes, so I was particularly interested in these definitions!
Mother to Son: Next, we read a poem called "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes. Here is the poem and the in class assignment that goes with it (it is also posted in Google Classroom if you missed class):
We discussed in class about the tone and dialect of the poem, as Mr. Puterbaugh noted some of the historical context to me when I shared it with him.
We ended by continuing to investigate the American Dream and thinking of slogans that we will use next class in your first graded assignment. Thank you for your work in class today!
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