The American Dream Today

Respond to the articles below.
1. Summarize article.
2. Provide personal reactions to information.

The American Dream Today:
1. “Who wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream” by Matthew Warshauer
a. http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm
2. “Save a Middle Class Dream” Robert Schwab
a. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-schwab/denver-union-rally_b_828703.html
3. “Kentuckians support Wisconsin at Rally for the American Dream” by Christopher Hignite
a. http://www.examiner.com/courts-in-lexington/kentuckians-support-wisconsin-at-rally-to-save-the-american-dream
4. “They have a Dream” by Mariacarmen Godoy-Andino
a. http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/they_have_a_dream/id_34153
5. The 2010 MetLife Study of the American Dream
a. http://www.metlife.com/business/insights-and-tools/industry-knowledge/metlife-study-of-the-american-dream/index.html?WT.mc_id=vu1234
6. “Two Thirds Feel American Dream Harder to Achieve: Americans not sure Government can Help” by Robert Longley
a. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/baddream.htm
7. “Should undocumented immigrants have ‘a shot at the American dream’?” by Alan Shapiro
a. http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/immigration2.html

The Kite Runner Introductory Project

Assignment:
Your uncle, who is being deployed to Afghanistan, must refresh his knowledge of that country. You volunteer to help him by creating a pamphlet that contains pertinent information of the following categories:

1. Stated Mission:
• Name and define the stated mission of United States’ involvement in Afghanistan.

2. Mission’s Deadline
• What is the deadline for our Afghanistan mission? What was the original deadline? Why has it been pushed back?

3. Modern history:
• Provide a brief history of the region by outlining the 5 most important events in Afghanistan history since 1978. Must include one fact about its war against the Soviet Union, the Taliban emergence, and USA involvement in country post 9/11.

4. Afghanistan People:
• Define a Pashtun and Hazara. Include religion and ethnicity in your definition.
• Provide 3 examples of conflict between these groups.
• Name and define one problem a soldier may encounter because of this conflict.

5. Geography:
• Provide a map with 3 major cities, including the capitol, 2 military zones, and its border with Pakistan labeled.
• Name, describe, and provide a picture of 3 different types of terrain. Describe one potential problem soldiers may encounter with each of them.

6. Weapons:
• Describe the Kalashnikovs, the gun used by the Taliban. Include one advantage and one weakness of using that gun. Provide a picture of it.

Brochure Rubric

CATEGORY (4=A) Excellent; (3=B) Good; (2=C) Almost; (1=D) Not Yet

Attractiveness & Organization
4: The brochure has attractive formatting, is in point form and has very well organized information. 3: The brochure has attractive formatting, is in point form and has organized information.
2: The brochure has adequate formatting, is in point form and is somewhat organized.
1: The brochure's formatting and organization of material are confusing to the reader. Information is not in point form.

Content - Accuracy
4: The brochure has all of the required information and some additional information.
3: The brochure has all of the required information.
2: The brochure has half of the required information.
1: The brochure has little of the required information.

Writing – Mechanics:
4: All of the writing is in complete sentences. Capitalization, punctuation and spelling are correct throughout the brochure.
3: Most of the writing is in complete sentences. Most of the capitalization, punctuation and spelling are correct throughout the brochure.
2: Half of the writing is in complete sentences. Some of the capitalization, punctuation and spelling are correct throughout the brochure.
1: Much of the writing is not in complete sentences. Much of the capitalization, punctuation and spelling is not correct throughout the brochure.

Graphics/Pictures
4: More than five effective graphics are included and go well with the text.
3: Five relatively effective graphics are included and go well with the text.
2: Three-four graphics are included but do not always go well with the text.
1. Less than two graphics are used and may or may not go with the text.

How to Make a Brochure Using Microsoft Word

Microsoft word already has a template prepared for you to make a brochure. All you have to do is cut and paste your own text into the brochure and print it!

How to Pick Brochure Template
1. To access this template, go to FILE and select NEW on the top of the screen.
2. On left side of page, under the heading Microsoft Office Online, click “Brochures and Booklets.”
3. In middle of page, click “Brochures.” 
4. In center pane, look through the brochure templates. Click a template thumbnail to view details in the right pane.

5. Select the tri-fold brochure template you want, and click Download. The template is applied to a new document.

5.  The template will be on your screen. It is already filled with words (garbage mostly). All you have to do its cut those words out and paste with your own

You can modify any of the placeholder objects, such as Text Boxes, Pictures, and Shapes, to create your layout.

How to Add Your Content

1.     Dive in, and type your brochure. Here are some tips:

·         In a template, type information in a text box.

·         Try using large font sizes for titles, and center them using the Center button on the Home tab.

·         WordArt works nicely for the front (title) page. To insert WordArt, on the Insert tab, click WordArt, and then select a style.

·         To prevent text from flowing from the bottom of one column to the top of the next column, you can use text boxes. Draw a text box over a column. When you type in the text box, all text will remain inside the container. If you want text to flow from one text box to another, select the first text box, and then, on the Text Box Tools Format tab, click Create Link. Then, click the empty text box that you want the text to flow into.

2.     Add pictures, shapes, SmartArt, and any other object to go with your text. Here are some tips:

·         On the Insert tab in the Illustrations group, click an object, such as a Picture or SmartArt graphic, to add it to your brochure. You can also drag a picture file from a folder.

·         Select an object, click the object Format tab, and then click Text Wrapping to align the object to the column (In Line with Text) or click one of the other options to move the object freely.

·         Try the other options on the object Format tab, such as Outline, Effects, and Fill. For example, you could add a light fill color to a text box or a drop shadow to a picture.

3.     Remember to save your document regularly. When you're finished with your brochure, print it. Fold it into thirds, and see how it looks. You might need to move things away from the edges a bit so you don't cut off text or pictures.

Senior Final: Choose one of the following and submit June 1.

1. Senior Video Final Exam
IntroductionAs promised, here is your long awaited senior video final exam. This is designed to give you a chance to make a final, lasting impression on AHS and get a grade in the process. This project caters to you and your family as you prepare to start the next phase of your life. The following is a list of criteria and objectives. Good luck and have fun!

Objectives
As a result of participating in this project, the student will be able to…
1. Purposefully reflect on his/her high school experience
2. Effectively use technology to create a video retrospective
3. Reflect on his/her growth and maturation using interviews with parents, friends, loved ones, teachers, etc.
4. Create a tangible final product
5. Illustrate the different phases of life from which he/she has “graduated”

Criteria and Scoring
1. The video should be 10 minutes for an individual project, 16 minutes for a group of two, and 20 minutes for a group of three. Should you choose a group project, your stories need to complement each other in some way.
2. What most interests me about the video is you. I want to know as much about you as possible. Include references to your beginnings, struggles, triumphs, maturation, future plans, etc.
3. You MUST include at least one parent or guardian.
4. You MUST have a unified purpose and/or narrative, much like any of the papers you’ve written this year.
5. You MUST include clips from every phase of your life.
6. You MUST include yourself actually doing something (sports, working, acting, drawing, etc.)
7. You MUST include interviews with at least three other people (non-family) who have made an impression on you.
8. You MUST include some sort of order represented through chronology or theme.
9. You MUST include smooth transitions. Please don’t walk around aimlessly and film everything. Like a paper, move from one part of your video to the next with transitions (fades, music, announcements, etc.)
10. You MUST include between 4-6 different locations that are relevant and reflective as well as explained.
11. Provide me with a final product compatible with my VCR or DVD player
12. Hand in the film and this packet on the due date
13. As is the case with any project of this sort, my biggest concern is crossing the line into indecency. If you plan on bringing your camera to a party, prom weekend, etc. you need only to exercise this rule: If your parents wouldn’t want to see it, neither would I. Understand that including alcohol, drugs, violence, or other inappropriate action in the video will result in failure and a referral to the administration and to your parents. I reserve the right to fail any video I deem inappropriate, disrespectful, or in direct violation of the aforementioned rules. We’ve built a mutual respect during the course of the year, so consider that before putting us both in a situation from which there is only way to extricate ourselves.

Suggestions
1. Make your parent interview meaningful. It doesn’t have to be scripted but it should be something on which you look back with pride in the years to come.
2. Make the video a documentary. In other words, tell stories of your youth, visit people you care about, go back to places you haven’t been in years, allow yourself to enjoy making the video as well as watching it. Edit the film in such a way that it includes sit down interviews and live-action shots.
3. Consider candid conversations, rehearsed bits, parties, vacations, the workplace, first loves, last loves, true confessions, athletics, drama, anything school related, etc.
4. Consider using pictures to create a storyboard of your life.
5. We aren’t interested in your house, your room, your car, etc.
6. Don’t overact or put on a show using some character who is not the person I’ve come to know. This is a reality show!
7. Sacrifice a little embarrassment and laugh at yourself.
8. Please give each group member equal time. It’s immediately obvious when one or more members aren’t working as hard as the others.
9. Don’t spend too much time on any one part of the video (i.e. your boyfriend/girlfriend, your work, a party, etc.)

The Camera
1. Be as steady as possible
2. Have the subject of the shot move….not the camera
3. Avoid excessive zooming and unzooming
4. SPEAK UP!! Especially when you’re outside
5. Charge your batteries so you don’t cut yourself off in the middle of a profound moment
6. Avoid walking while the camera is running. If you want to move, pause the recording and move
7. USE A FRESH TAPE!! I don’t want to see twenty minutes of your dance recital or Little League game in the middle!

And Finally…
This is your final exam!! Failure to turn in your video on the due date will result in a grade of 0%. Any finals handed to me after the due date will be returned to you immediately.

Videos are due June 1.


2. Autobiography Final Exam
For this option, I’d like you to put together a high school autobiography. The narrative should only include your four years of high school and should be based on your growth, maturation, and self-reflection. In other words, I do not want a dissertation on everything that happened to you during your high school career; instead, I’d ask that you consider your story as part of a larger whole, as based on a predetermined thematic connection, or as a written “mirror image” of your time in high school.

Tips for getting started:
1. Feel free to include dialogue even if it’s only loosely based on actual conversations.
2. Much like the senior video, I’d like you to weave in those people who served as your greatest mentors (parents, teachers, etc.), your friends and confidants, and even your enemies.
3. Your struggles should be as catalogued as your triumphs. You can approach this from a purely academic perspective, but I think a truer account of your life should include a more personal perspective as well.
4. Because this exam is based on self-reflection, you’re going to have to really sit down and think about your life, which, for some people, isn’t easy. It may be useful to talk to other people whose time with you can better represent your growth than your time spent alone.
5. If you feel compelled to get creative, I’ll allow this to be written in such fashion. For instance, maybe you’d consider writing your own autobiography as a ghost writer, so the narrative would be in the third person even though we both know you wrote it. Maybe you’d consider writing it like an epistolary novel (The Perks of Being A Wallflower) in the form of letters, diary entries, or blogs. Such decisions need to be cleared by me.

Logistics
1. The paper needs to be at least six pages long, double spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman font.
2. The paper needs an effective title (not “My Story” or some other uninventive title) which should be centered and underlined on the first page.
3. Writers should observe common writing conventions, grammar rules, and mechanical nuances that were taught during the course of the year.

The Perversion of the American Dream

Background: The American Dream, a recurring theme in American literature, was established in early colonial writings, later explored by philosophers like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and finally mythologized by writers like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson.


Yet, the twentieth century, with its World Wars, financial recessions and depressions, and multiple genocides, ushered in an unprecedented cultural cynicism that questioned the idealism and optimism present in the original American dream, ultimately perverting and changing it.

Assignment:

1. Write about dreams or wishes that you once had that you now think are unrealistic or foolish. (At least 4 sentences.)

2. Why do you think those dream are unrealistic now? In your response, consider what lessons, experiences, and people have diminished your original idealism or optimism? Explain. (At least 5 sentences.)

3. Read other responses to question 1 and 2. Write a paragraph that considers the similarities and differences between students' various responses. Describe any common lessons, experiences, or people that have been a discouraging influence to initial dreams. Are there any trends apparent? Explain. (At least 5 sentences.)

Winthrop and Franklin's Influence

In “A Model of Christian Charity,” John Winthrop describes a covenant that he believes exist between God and immigrants on the Arabella . He states that the colonists must create “a city upon a hill,” a Godly, Christian, Puritan city whose blueprint would redeem and reform English society. Winthrop ultimately hoped to establish in New England a pure church that would offer a model for the churches in England. American presidents like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan have borrowed Winthrop’s phrase, claiming their presidential goals/dreams are quintessential “American” because they continue in the tradition established by John Winthrop’s “a city upon a hill.” Yet, JFK and Reagan transform its original meaning, using the symbol differently to present their version of the American Dream as defined by Franklin.

JFK:

1. JFK wrote this speech after elected in order to present his American Dream for his presidency. In his speech, he promises to remember his Massachusetts roots in the White House. According to JFK, what Massachusetts groups exhibit important qualities that he hopes to uphold as president-elect? What qualities do you think these groups symbolize? What parts of JFK’s vision uphold and reject Ben Franklin’s version of the American Dream? Explain your answer. (5 sentences)

2. JFK stated that his presidency will be guided and judged by standards established by John Winthrop. According to JFK, what are those standards? How do JFK’s standards expand and change Winthrop’s original standards?

3. What does JFK specifically mean when he stated that America is “a city upon a hill?” How did JFK expand and change Winthrop’s original meaning?

Reagan

4. In his farewell speech, Reagan described his vision of and dream for America. Name 2 aspects of that dream that Reagan believed are inherently “American.” What parts of this vision uphold and reject Ben Franklin’s version of the American Dream? Explain your answer. (5 sentences)

5. What does Reagan specifically mean when he stated that America is “a city upon a hill?” How did Reagan expand and change Winthrop’s original meaning?

7. Access http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism to read the definition of American Exceptionalism. Write a one sentence definition of that term. Then provide 2 phrases/sentences from Winthrop’s speech that express this sentiment and explain how they establish the idea that this country is special. Provide 2 phrases/sentences from JFK and Reagan’s speech that express this sentiment and explain how they express this similar idea. Finally, why do you think American presidents express American Exceptionalism in speeches? Explain you answer. (8 sentences)

Homework:

Reread Blog posts that explore each students' American dreams under the section  titled "The Great Gatsby: The American Dream-Introduction."
1. How do your personal American Dreams compare to JFK and Reagan’s dreams for this country? Provide 1 similarity and one difference between your dreams and JFK and Reagan’s visions.
2. Do you think that your dreams have been influenced by the idea of American Exceptionalism? Explain your answer. (5 sentences)

The Great Gatsby: The American Dream-Introduction

In "Dreams," the poem presented below, Langston Hughes promotes dreams.


Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.


1. Summarize the poem meanings. Do you agree with it? Why or why not? 
2. What literary devices does Langston Hughes use? How do these devices uphold the poem's meaning, form, mood, or tone? Must analyze at least 2 devices.
3. What are you personal reactions to the poem? Why would Hughes provoke those emotions in a reader? Does he critique, warn, or celebrate something? Explain. 
4. Describe your personal dreams, including professional, personal, and financial goals. Consider immediate goals (like college) and future goals (like career and marriage). Be as specific as you can. (At least 3 paragraphs)
5. What steps will you take now and in the future to accomplish these goals? (3 paragraphs)


Homework: Read other responses to question 3 and 4. Write a paragraph that considers the similarities and differences between students' various responses. Describe any common goals found and analyze why they seem universal. Describe differences found. Are there any trends apparent? Consider gender, creed, and age. (2 paragraphs) 

The Kite Runner: Afghanistan

It is time to reflect on what you learned now that you have completed brochures that explore Afghanistan, its culture, geography, politics, history, and American involvement. Answer the following questions fully-at least a paragraph for each.

1. Choose two of the research topics (culture, geography, politics, history, and American involvement) and write a paragraph for each describing what you learned about them. Include in your answer personal reactions to this research.
2. Name and explore one new fact you learned from Commander Fitzpatrick, whether it be about America's strategic plan for Afghanistan, problems with counterinsurgency strategies, or modern military weapons. Include in your answer personal reactions to this research.

Scarlet Letter

Unfortunately, I have a family emergency and will not be in the next two days. But that does not mean I cannot help you. We will use the blog to communicate so you can keep analyzing the novel.

Please independently read chapter 20 and 21. Must take 6 marginal notes on the chapter and post them here.

Stories are due Thursday, January 7th.

Othello Outlines and Rough Drafts

Unfortunately, I have a family emergency and will not be class for the next two days. But that does not mean I cannot help you. We will use the blog to communicate so you can keep working on your papers.


You must submit completed outlines and one body paragraph by the completion of Wednesday’s class. I will help you during the writing process, commenting on your work, so check back for advice on your papers.