1. Bell-Ringer: Write a paragraph (5-8 sentences) using one of the following topics to describe YOUR “American Dream”. These are words that you and your classmates came up with during the writing prompt last Friday. If you brought in your own article or image, you can write about that instead.
Adapted from Wordle.net

2. The “American Dream”
Car
House
Family

3. Number your paper 1-10 and write a sentence explaining what each of these images have to do with the
“American Dream”.
At the end, we will take time to rank the images in the order of what best depicts our understanding of the

4. #1
Fireworks and Independence

5. #2
Home Cooked Apple Pie

6. #3
Coffee Shop / Starbucks / Customer

7. #4
Vacation / Money for a trip

8. #5
High School Graduation / Education

9. #6
College

10. #7
Own a Business

11. #8
Health Care

12. TV (Cable), Internet (Facebook), Cell Phones#9
Communication:
TV (Cable), Internet (Facebook), Cell Phones

13. #10
Money

14. “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps”
Key Concepts:
- The “American Dream”
- Old saying / slogan
“Pull yourself up by the bootstraps”
- Class Status

15. 1. How does the “American Dream” differ from
one person to the next? Does everyone have
the same opportunities?
2. Consider the American slogan “pull yourself
up by the bootstraps,” which means that if you
work hard enough, you can do anything. In
what ways is this true or false?
3. In what ways does class status (determined
by how much money a family has – upper class/
rich, middle class, working class, poor) impact
the “American Dream”?