Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Quest for the American Dream in "Raisin"

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This unique online lesson explores the term "The American Dream," and applies it to Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun." Students define what they believe is "The American Dream," and then modify that belief based on a thorough study...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Writing Lesson: The American Dream

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Using music, video and readings, students will explore their views of the American Dream, and use this information to create "Animoto" videos that express a personal opinion or take on the dream. Students will develop and support their...
Lesson Plan
Utah Education Network

Uen: American Dream and the Great Gatsby

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Analyze the argument in articles about the American dream.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Contemporary Drama: Act I: An American Dream

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an introduction to Act I of "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry which focuses on "how the social, educational, and political climate of the 1950s affected African Americans' quest for 'The American Dream.'" It features...
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: The American Dream

For Teachers 9th - 10th
With the help of digitized primary documents -- pictures, photograph, recordings, and written accounts -- students will explore and define what the "American Dream" meant for people over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth...
Lesson Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: English Language Arts, Grade 11: American Dream

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Young scholars learn about the American Dream through various texts. They explore how foundational American literature treats the topic and consider different perspectives.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality

For Students 9th - 10th
A learning module that begins with "American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality" by Ari Shapiro, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online...
Website
PBS

Pbs: The American Novel

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Information and analysis on the central concerns, characteristics, and distinguishing features of American literature, presented in timeline format. With synopses of classic works, biographical sketches, overviews of literary movements,...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: American Dream: Spotlight on 1965

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Use quotes from people in 1965 to talk about culture, the 1960s, and the American Dream. Students write about them and discuss their ideas in groups. The quotes are included on a handout, and there is a link that explains who said each...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Post War Prosperity and Cold War Fears 1945 1960: The American Dream

For Students 11th - 12th
Looks at the policies of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, both at home and abroad. Also examines changing gender roles in the 1950s, and the impact of suburbanization on America.
Website
Other

Center for a New American Dream

For Students 9th - 10th
Has the American Dream become jaded? Has it turned into a materialistic nightmare? The New American Dream center has information to keep the Dream alive and healthy.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: Lessons: Wall of Dreams

For Students 9th - 10th
Read personal dreams for America's future, and share one of your own. Hundreds of dreams from across the country and around the world, all in hope for a better tomorrow.
Website
The Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation: Saving the American Dream: Social Security

For Students 9th - 10th
Includes facts on Social Security, its history, problems, and possible solutions for the program.
Handout
Other

Stephen Collins Foster: American Dreams

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a wealth of information about the American songwriter, Stephen Foster. This link leads you to the biographical information which is divided into five sections: beginnings, his life's work, the legend, the problems, and...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: American Dream: I Have a Dream

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Use Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to talk about the American Dream, word choice, and persuasion.
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Pbs American Portrait Collection

For Students 9th - 10th
PBS American Portrait is a national storytelling project that invites individuals to participate in a conversation about what it really means to be an American today. To answer this question, PBS and its partners are collecting photos,...
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: American Colonial Literature: Native American Myths

For Students 9th - 10th
This lesson focuses on Native American myths including the creation myth "The Earth on Turtle's Back." It includes links to the above myth, a self-assessment quiz, and an assignment for a mini-report over a Native American tribe.
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Dream in Color, African American Heritage

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover the African American Culture and share the information through these lessons with your students. Choose from several different lesson plans and grade levels to help students learn about the African American Culture.
Unit Plan
TES Global

Tes: West Side Story (1961) Film Guide

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a film guide for the film West Side Story (1961), the musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which is set in 1950s New York and incorporates themes around street crime,...
Website
American Academy of Achievement

Academy of Achievement: Keys to Success

For Students 9th - 10th
Examines the lives of famous people who have achieved their life's goals by highlighting seven core principles that helped them to succeed. These include passion, vision, preparation, courage, perseverance, integrity, and pursuit of an...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In this speech, King discusses racial...
Primary
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1962 1963: Standoffs

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips highlighting the efforts of African Americans to fight racial segregation in education. Looks at the struggle of James H. Meredith to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962, and the resulting...
Primary
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1964: Spotlights

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips highlighting the African American struggle for equal voting rights in 1964. Looks at the Mississippi Freedom Summer where college students helped to register black voters, the murder of three of those...
Article
Seeker

Seeker: Mlk Tested 'Dream' Speech as a Teen

For Students 9th - 10th
Article reports on a speech given by a teen Martin Luther King, Jr. and its similiarities to his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Includes a video.

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