Unit: The Quest for the American Dream

Unit Description

Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle tells a story that readily engages students. Walls’ memoir is the kind of story young adult many teenagers can relate to, and her journey raises questions about identity, knowledge, adventure, risk-taking, and overcoming hardship that make the narrative more than a little compelling. In this extensive unit, Walls’ story serves as an entry point to a rich range of questions about America, the spirit, nature, and the American literature (particularly the Transcendentalists).

As is in a college-level classroom, you will read and explore The Glass Castle primarily on your own, journaling about your reactions and with opportunities to discuss the novel and connections to our in-class texts during weekly Socratic Seminars and optional blog posts. We will read and study rigorous texts in class: non-fictional text, short stories, historically significant essays, and a variety of poems. Essential questions that provided the impetus for the curricular unit are as follows:

·  How do we construct identity through our actions, interests, values and beliefs?

·  What is the relationship between nature and American identity?

·  What does it mean to be a rebel?

·  What is the relationship between self and society?

·  What is success?

·  To what extent is community central to happiness?

Learning Objectives

By the end of “The Quest for the American Dream,” students should be able to...

1.  Read for understanding

a.  Use inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating to decipher rigorous texts

b.  Develop strategies for identifying central ideas, writing strategies, and literary devices in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

c.  Read actively to identify and develop ideas, using strategies like annotating and reflective note-taking

2.  Produce texts that present ideas effectively

a.  Focus on a central idea or question

b.  Support ideas with reasoning and evidence

c.  Summarize others’ ideas clearly, accurately, and thoroughly

d.  Integrate their own ideas with the ideas of others

e.  Synthesize information and ideas from multiple sources

f.  Organize material to support and clarify ideas

3.  Identify and practice writing

a.  Develop and refine a biographical statement (bio)

b.  Reflect on learning strengths and produce a letter of self-recommendation

c.  Write a concise personal narrative

d.  Write an argumentative essay that synthesizes sources

e.  Write a expository literary analysis

Grades

Project / Description / Points
Attendance & Participation / We have twenty class sessions. Earn points for each session that you…
• attend in its entirety,
• complete required work
• and fully participate in, putting effort into each and every class activity.
If you are unprepared or not participating, or if you arrive late or leave early, you will not earn points that day. If your absence is marked green in the portal, we will not deduct points for that day, as long as you maintain your Activity Sheets / 200
(5 points per class X 40 class sessions)
Reflective Journal / Complete a Reflective Journal of 10 entries that chronicle your experiences and reactions in English class. Checked on Mondays or TBA. / 100
Biographical Statement / Complete a biographical statement on your current situation and achievements. This bio should be one paragraph long and contain all appropriate aspects of a bio. See example (to be given in class.) Submit to turnitin.com. / 100
Letter of Self-Recommendation / Compose a letter of self-recommendation. This creative piece should be from the perspective of someone in an evaluative position, such as a teacher, mentor, or guidance counselor, but signed by you. It should highlight your contributions to your academics, your strengths as a student, challenges you have overcome, and a brief prediction about your future. Follow the format and conventions of a business letter. See example (to be given in class.) Submit to turnitin.com. / 200
Personal Narrative / Compose a personal narrative about a time when you have a moment of epiphany, either large or small. This creative non-fiction piece should serve as the beginning stages of a possible college application personal statement. Follow the conventions of standard writing and use the guideline (or template) as a model. See example (to be given in class.) Submit to turnitin.com. / 300
PeerMark Assignment / Read and review a classmate’s personal narrative. Instructions on turnitin.com. / 100
Literary Analysis Response / Compose a literary analysis response of 2-3 paragraphs in class over one class period. Topic: How does an author use a writing strategy/literary device to convey a central claim? Texts to be studied: Assigned texts from Supplemental (blue) book. / 200
Argumentative Essay / Compose an argumentative essay, to be written in class over the course of two days. Topic to be given in class and will focus on The Glass Castle and supported with evidence to be pulled from assigned supplemental texts. / 300
Extra Credit Option / Blog about your reactions to our texts and our class through our class blog on our class website, www.tinyurl.com/MsLivE3H (each must be more than 500 characters) / +20 each posting
Total points available / 1,500
Final Grade / Points
A / 1,350+
B / 1,250+
C / 1,150+
D / 1000+
F / 900 or below

Calendar: Note that this is a “preview” of our schedule for this unit, and it may change (due to special activities or inclement weather). Our class website is the authoritative source for our schedule, and especially our class-by-class schedule. You must pay attention to website and, on occasion, post assignment there.

Week / Week of / Topics / Assignments this week / Major Assignments (in addition to Quote Journals) / Reflective Journals
1 / 4/11 / Survival and Resilience / ·  Read TGC through page 101
·  Curriculum Vitae
·  Personal Characteristics of Resilient People
·  12 Rules of Survival / Bio (Thurs)
Socratic Seminar (Fri) / Reflect this week on your reactions to the book. What do you think of the Walls family? What connections can you make between the memoir and the texts we read in class? What did you hear in the Socratic Seminar that helps support your understanding of the book?
2 / 4/18 / Nature vs. Nurture / ·  Read TGC through page 174
·  Nature
·  Self-Reliance / Letter of Self-Rec Due (Tues)
Personal Narrative Draft (Fri) / Continue to reflect on the book and the texts we read in class. What connections are you making between the book and the supplemental texts? Are there overarching themes or central ideas the come up? What evidence supports these central ideas?
3 / 4/25 / Epiphany and Growth / ·  Read TGC through page 288
·  Walden
·  Resistance to Civil Government / PeerMark Assignment (Tues)
Socratic Seminar (Fri) / How did the Personal Narrative go? Was it difficult to find a topic and expand on it?
4 / 5/1 / Turning ideas into writing. / Argumentative Essay
Socratic Seminar
Literary Analysis / Personal Narrative Final (Mon) / Freely respond to any topic you have in mind – school, life, work, the upcoming Regents exam.
5 / 5/9 / Regents Review / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / How is the Regents Prep going? Did you have APs to get through this week? How did those go? How are you feeling about school right now?
6 / 5/16 / Regents Review / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / What is your biggest strength and weakness when it comes to the Regents exam? What will you do to strengthen your strengths and your weaknesses? How are you feeling about school this week?
7 / 5/23 / Regents Review / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / School is winding down and you have grown a lot this year. In what ways have you grown the most? Where do you still have growing to do, socially, academically, emotionally, or otherwise?
8 / 5/30 / Regents Review / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Free write about your 6 days off. What were the pits and peaks of your time away from school?
9 / 6/6 / Regents Review / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / Task 1
Task 2
Task 3 / What are your hopes and dreams for next year and beyond? What things are attainable next year? How is your outlook on college and your life after high school? How does it feel to be a rising senior?
10 / 6/13 / Regents Exam / June 14th, 2016, Afternoon. / And how are you feeling about the upcoming Regents Exam?

Contract for Unit 4

To participate in this research unit, I agree to…

(write your initials beside each item if you agree)

Attend class regularly—not missing more than a week’s worth of classes (in other words, no more than 1 class).
Arrive to class on time. I understand that arriving late is disruptive and that…
-Arriving up to 5 minutes late will cost me 4 course points--half of the Attendance & Participation (A&P) points for that class session.
-I cannot enter class more than five minutes after class has started, and I will lose all A&P points for that session.
Complete and submit writing tasks when they are due. I understand that late work will be penalized by 10 percent per day, and that no late work will be accepted more than a week after the due date. I also know all major assignments will be handed in to www.turnitin.com
Complete all journal entries on time and bring a copy of each journal entry to class on the day that entry is due. I understand that I cannot earn points for attending class if I do not have my journal entry completed and with me in class.
Be prepared for each and every class session. This means completing, and bringing with me to class, all materials (journal entries, readings, drafts, etc.) that were involved in preparing for that class session.
Bring to class any and all readings completed for that particular class session.
Participate in all in-class exercises and activities. I understand that if I do not participate in class activities, I will lose my attendance and participation points for that day.
Submit only my own original work and never plagiarize. I understand that plagiarism includes submitting others’ work as my own. I understand that plagiarism also includes borrowing information or ideas from others and failing to give credit--to acknowledge that they are borrowed, and whom they are borrowed from. I understand that plagiarism is a serious academic offense and that, if I plagiarize, I will fail the assignment and be reported to college administration.
Refrain from using electronic devices including phones, tablets, and computers, except when instructed, or after seeking permission to use these for class purposes only. If I must use my device, I agree to leave the classroom to do so: “take the call in the hall.”

On the lines below, please print your name, then sign and date. You will submit this signed contract to the instructor, but do make a copy for your records.

______(Print) ______(Signature)

Outline for “The Quest for the American Dream”Unit / Page 5