The American Dream: Revisited, Day 2 - Class Recap

We talked today about wealth inequality in the United States. This is a photo from high up in the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Photo taken in 2014.

Dear class,

I enjoyed today's quick (due to the Assembly Schedule) day with you all, as we continued to revisit the idea of the American Dream and whether or not it is an attainable reality for everyone. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: "Just a Dream" by Nelly. Selected for today because of our continued conversation about the American Dream. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/31/19:
News Brief - Gaby
Wealth Inequality
The American Dream
Prep Time

Homework: Read the blog! Be prepared for Socratic Seminar discussion next class! Next news brief: Julian.

News Brief: Gaby had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: FoxNews.com - Polar vortex victims include University of Iowa student, ex-city councilman, police officer and wife. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Julian was assigned to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Wealth Inequality: To continue our look at the American Dream: I had students break into small groups and walked everyone through this lesson on guessing what wealth inequality looks like in the United States: MorningsideCenter.org - Wealth Inequality in America. I used different colors of paper and paper clips, but otherwise, the lesson is pretty much the same as what we did in class.

Basically, I wanted to see what students thought wealth distribution looks like in the United States, before I showed this video to the class as to the differences between typical perceptions and reality:

After the video, we had a discussion about what we noticed and reasons for why this wealth distribution pattern might have an impact on our society. My guess is that these numbers were surprising to you - why do you think that was?

American Dream: Next class, we will have a Socratic Seminar discussion on the question: "Is the American Dream attainable by everyone?"

Here is the packet that I passed out last class with readings with opinions about the status of the American Dream:

Google Drive - American Dream Socratic Seminar Materials

This packet will be turned in and assessed for a Critical Thinking grade, in combination with the Communication grade from the Seminar. The video notes on the last page are on the above video.

Prep Time: The rest of class was spent preparing for the Socratic Seminar next class. As a reminder, this is a student led discussion, based on the question: Do you think everyone can attain the American Dream? Why or why not?

Come prepared to next class with your answers and higher level questions about the American Dream! See you on Monday, barring a snow day! ;-)