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Our Year
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Dream Cloud
At the start of the year, everyone created their own dream cloud and presented their own hopes for their future to the class. -
Steve Jobs' Commencement Address to Stanford University (2006)
To help us examine how to have a meaningful life, we listened to Steve Jobs' speech to the Stanford graduates. He helped us remember to "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." -
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"
Next, we watched and listened to Randy Paush's lecture on how to achieve childhood dreams. He, too, reminded us about the importance of having fun and enjoying life...even brick walls! -
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
To fully understand how to have a meaningful life, we read the lessons that Morrie Schwartz bestowed upon Mitch Albom in this story. The importance of having love in our life was shown through multiple lessons by Morrie. -
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
To help us understand how our choices affect not only ourselves, but others...and in ways we may not realize, we read the story about a character, Hannah Baker, and the narrator, Clay Jensen. This book reminds us of how important it is to think of others and the "unseen" impact we have. -
Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
As some read the story about Eddie, a man questioning the meaning and purpose he had with his life, they learned the importance of making sure we make choices we can live with later in life and to always aspire for something greater by showing compassion and understanding for the world around us. -
Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx
Some of you read about the transformation Joe Ehrmann made in his own life in order to overcome an overly-stern father and the loss of his brother. He realized that his own life was out of balance and, in order to restore this and gain happiness, he needed to show love and compassion. This, according to Joe, was how to be a person of good character. -
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Examining The American Dream in literature helped us to see the timelessness of the pursuit of happiness and the all-too-common missteps we often make. The tragic story of Willy Loman helps us remember what is truly important in life and to keep THAT as our focus instead of the materialistic pursuits that only distract us from our own success. -
The Pursuit of Happyness (about Chris Gardner)
Following the sad story of the Loman family, we examined the inspirational story of Chris Gardner to find a man starting with fairly similar circumstances as Willy Loman. However, because of his persistence and focus on what truly made him happy, we see how Chris Gardner was able to pursue AND achieve The American Dream. -
Nickel & Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Giving us a "reality check" of sorts, Barbara Ehrenreich exposed the working conditions of low-wage workers in order to make us question the true mobility among the classes that is at the heart of The American Dream. -
Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard
As a response to Nickel & Dimed, Adam Shepard set out to test The American Dream by literally starting from nothing. His conclusion that attitude would better ensure success was shown with his being able to go from homeless to living in a furnished apartment and, at least from first appearances in the low-wage worker Ehrenreich focused solely on, felt that he would still be able to overcome the obstacles she pointed out. -
Analysis of The American Dream
We then drew our own conclusions on the state of The American Dream and determined what "strategy" (character trait) would help us better prepare for our own chance at The Dream. We used the experiences of Barbara Ehrenreich, Adam Shepard, and the subject of a memoir to help us analyze The American Dream. To help introduce research skills, we analyzed two of the three required sources together in class and worked in groups to reinforce these skills as well as your understanding of the texts. -
Memoir (Character Trait for Success)
In order to help us focus on at least one key character trait needed to successfully achieve The American Dream, everyone read a memoir of someone they felt exemplified this accomplishment. Most of you were able to find someone in at least a field related to one you were considering to help give you added insight into that career to make the learning even more relevant to you on a more personal level. -
Two Roads-Career Researching Project
As everyone nears that next step of the journey they will soon embark on, everyone chose two different careers to research and examine before ultimately choosing one to pursue after high school. This project requires the researching skills introduced in the unit before to be used independently, but on a project that is on a much more personal level. -
Presentations :)
As we did at the start of the year, everyone will share their more clearly defined plans for their future and the life they hope to lead following graduation. -
Regents Exam
8:00-11:00 -
Summer :)
