A.D - 1.

American Dream Essential Questions Carousel Reflection

Task:
In class, I asked you to move between various prompts in order to reflect on what
constitutes the American Dream. For this assignment, I would like you to select one of
the prompts from the carousel, and develop your thinking further:
supporting/defending your views. You should use one of the prompts as a basis (or
start) for your response, and then detail the response with 5-8 sentences.

Prompts (Select 1):

● Someone who achieves the American Dream has…
● In order to achieve the American Dream, one should…
● What does it mean to have an American Identity?
● How has the American Dream changed over time?
● What are some obstacles to achieving the American Dream?
● Is there something that all Americans have in common? What are the most
significant differences?

Grading:
This task, like many in-class assignments this year, will be graded out of 10 points.
Students should: Produce writing that is clear and coherent in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
My Reflection: When achieving the American Dream there are quite a few obstacles.
To start I would say that some of the biggest ones are racism and sexism. Even
though it has slowed down in recent years, racism is a problem that many citizens
who expect to be welcomed into the community have struggled with for the past
hundred years. For starters racism has limited african american, asian and many
other races of citizens from achieving their dreams by taking away their rights and
freedoms. This has been most defined in african american history with black people
having separate bathrooms, bus seatings and even water fountains. Even though
these problems were helped a great deal by figures like Martin Luther King Jr., they
still are somewhat relevant today. People often compare people to others of their
ethnicity or skin color when we are all one human race. Another flaw that is just as big
as racism is sexism. Women weren’t treated nearly as well as men from the start of
the country and it is ridiculous that there are people out there that believe that “this is
a white man’s land”. All in all, obstacles that rely on people's gender, skin color or just
things they can’t control are extremely insensitive and shouldn’t exist in the first place.
When you have finished, please let me know so I can pair you up to do the
following tasks with a partner. Please take notes relating to this discussion. If you finish
early, come talk to me and I can give you feedback:

- Any similarities or differences in thinking

- What evidence/reasoning contributes to what you have
written (Make a list)
- How could you turn your reflection into a 1 sentence
statement (what’s that called again? Oh, yeah… a thesis
statement?)

Working Thesis:
Racism and sexism are some of the biggest obstacles when
achieving the American dream because of how they limit
people based on things they cannot control.