1/31: HOMEWORK: Read "Is the American Dream Really Dead?" (attached below) and respond to the prompt at the top of article. In class: See "Am Lit exploring the dream," attached below.
1/30: HOMEWORK: Read through the profiles featured in this Atlantic piece exploring the American Dream. Choose 4 of the people who are featured to write about (at least one of these should be a person whose views are different from yours or who makes you see America from a different perspective). On a piece of notebook paper that you can hand in tomorrow (not in your journal), write down the person’s name, summarize his/her view and tell me why you chose it (the WHY part should be reflective and probing and each should be about a paragraph long). In class: We reimagined through images the two Inaugural poems and discovered some new insights to those poems.
1/29: HOMEWORK: Choose 3 of Allit's principles to reflect on (I’d like you choose at least one principle that challenges your thinking). For each, write about how you understand the principle, about whether/how we strive to meet this ideal (now and through history) and what we still need to do. In class: We listened to part of Professor Allit's opening lecture about the American Identity, in order to discover the principles of that identity that he outlines (we will be using these all semester, so if you were out, please come to listen to the audio). We also worked with "Praise Song for the Day," and "The Gift Outright" (attached below)
1/26: class discussion about the objects and the ideals they represent.
1/25: See " Am Lit object classwork" attached below.
1/24: HOMEWORK: See "Am Lit object hw" attached below. In class: We wrote and talked about American values and used Washington Crosses the Delaware as a way to think about how art portrays our values.