What is the American Dream?

Answer the following questions to the best of your ability. “I don’t know” is not an acceptable response. Everyone has an opinion. Explain yours. Be prepared to share you answers. The more you write here, the better off you’ll be when called on.

  1. Paraphrase this quote (in other words, put this quote in your own words).
  1. What does “better and richer and fuller” mean to you?
  1. What different kinds of “fortuitous (chance) circumstances” exist in society?
  1. Do you believe the American dream still exists? Explain.

Analyzing the Evolution of the American Dream

Annotation: a note added by way of comment or explanation.

Personification: giving human qualities to something not human.

Tone: the attitude the author takes toward its subject.

Directions: As you watch the video, annotate the lyrics. Make sure that you circle important ideas, or things that stand out to you and write notes to interpret what it is trying to say. Then answer the following questions. Be prepared for a discussion.

  1. What is America being personified as in this song?
  1. What is the tone of the song?
  1. Given the tone and personification, how does the artist feel about current America?
  1. What does the artist want America to do?
  1. Turn to page ____ in your textbook and read the poem “To His Excellency General George Washington”
  1. What does Phyllis Wheatley personifyAmerica as?
  1. What is her tone?
  1. Given the tone and personification, how does she feel about past America?
  1. Why do you think these interpretations are so different?
  1. How do the poems show that the American vision or ideal has changed?

Homework: Define your idea of the American Dream and personify America. Thinking about current events and the two poems we looked at today, how would you personify America? Would she be the goddess that Wheatley sees or the “lady of questionable morals” Styx sees? Decide how you would like to personify her and write a poem based on your ideas. Remember to think about the American dream definition and what it means to you. The poem will be graded for completion and effort based on the below rubric (which will be posted on my website). A rough draft of the poem is due tomorrow.

Category / 5 points / 4 points / 3 points / 2 points
Rough Draft / The rough draft was completed on time, was neat and organized, showed evidence of significant time and effort, adhered to all guidelines. / The rough draft was completed on time, was neat and organized, showed evidence of some time and effort, adhered to most guidelines. / The rough draft was completed on time, was neat and organized and adhered to some guidelines. / The rough draft was completed on time with very little effort.
Peer Evaluation / Peer evaluation submitted with poem / ---- / ---- / ----
Final Draft
Category / 4 points / 3 points / 2 points / 1 points
Title / Title is creative, sparks interest and is related to the poem and topic. / Title is related to the poem and topic. / Title is present, but does not appear to be related to the story and topic. / No title
Organization / The poem follows a logical sequence with exceptional flow. / The poem follows a logical sequence with some flow. / The poem follows a logical sequence. / The poem does not follow a logical sequence.
Focus / The entire poem is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much more about the topic. / Most of the story is related to the assigned topic. The story wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about the topic. / Some of the story is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about the topic / No attempt has been made to relate the story to the assigned topic.
Creativity / Poem demonstrates exceptional creativity with thought to personification that was neither trite nor “copy-cattish” / Poem demonstrates some creativity with a little thought to personification that was neither trite nor “copy-cattish” / Poem demonstrates little creativity with a little thought to personification that was somewhat trite nor “copy-cattish” / No creativity detected
Neatness / Poem is typed, clean, not wrinkled, and is easy to read with no distracting error corrections. It was done with pride. / Poem is neatly hand-written, clean, not wrinkled, and is easy to read with no distracting error corrections. It was done with care. / Poem is typed and is crumpled or slightly stained. It may have 1-2 distracting error corrections. It was done with some care. / Poem is typed and looks like it had been shoved in a pocket or locker. It may have several distracting error corrections. It looks like it was done in a hurry or stored improperly.
(TPE)______/ 30 (TPP)
Letter Equivalent

How is American literature American?

You will need your poem, a pen and a highlighter. Have these items on your desk.

  1. Pass your poem to the person directly in front of you. The person in the front row should get up and walk their poem to the person in the back. *If you do not have your poem you will NOT be participating in the peer editing! You should be writing your poem and will be penalized for having turned in the rough draft late. It is still your responsibility to have someone else peer edit your poem before turning in the final draft.
  1. Read through the poem carefully, and annotate as you read (just like we did with the Styx song yesterday!)
  1. After reading through the poem, write one sentence at the bottom that sums up the main idea you received as reading.
  1. Give one complement about the poem.
  1. Check for personification. Did the poet give human like qualities to America?
  1. Make one suggestion for how they should improve the poem (Think about word choice like we saw with “Great Beginnings”). *Remember: Constructive criticism is the only acceptable criticism. If you do not show respect for your classmates, this will come back on you.

Final draft due ______! Don’t lose the rough draft, you’ll turn it in with the final!