TWO THEMATIC UNITS: HAPPINESS, SUCCESS, AND THE AMERICAN DREAM The following two thematic units were created by our students who were studying unit planning. They are skeletal, but they can provide seed ideas for other, more complete learning sequences or unit designs.
HAPPINESS, SUCCESS, AND THE AMERICAN DREAM F. SCOTT FITZGERALD S THE GREAT GATSBY ARTHUR M ILLER S DEATH OF A SALESMAN This ten-day unit on Happiness, Success, and the American Dream is designed for an eleventh-grade honors class that has been reading F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby and is preparing to read Arthur Miller s Death of a Salesman. Day 1 Journal topic: Write about a time when you portrayed yourself differently than you felt (acted fine or happy when really not, for example). Some students share. Personal reflections about happiness: narrow down your three requirements for happiness (think-pair-share). Present some commercials/advertisements. Discuss what image of happiness is being portrayed and sold identify logical fallacies, propaganda techniques, and what it might say about our culture s values. Homework: bring in three names of well-known people who are seen as happy/successful. Day 2 In class, interview a partner (or several if time/structure permits) about their three requirements for happiness, or specific anecdotes or things they believe about happiness/sadness. Assign long-term homework, due Day 10: Interview someone from the community or your acquaintance about his or her ideas and experiences with happiness, sadness, success. Day 3 Synonym continuum: create on board. As a class, place at least one of your names from homework on the continuum, with an explanation for your placement. Present images from National Geographic, Newsweek, Associated Press, etc., that portray happiness in not traditionally happy situations (war, poverty, etc.). Begin discussion of cultural differences in what is considered happiness/success. Read Nikki Giovanni s Nikki-Rosa. Discuss various cultural perspectives as they relates to The Great Gatsby. Day 4 Compare/contrast poems that come from happy/sad impulses (provided by teacher). In small groups, rehearse reading with intonation; each present. Discuss ideas (from Wordsworth, Yeats, and many other poets and critics) about whether one should write impassioned, emotional poetry. Is one better or more effective? Present additional poems with more ambiguous themes/images (perhaps Theodore Roethke s My Papa s Waltz and Stevie Smith s Not Waving But Drowning ).
Continue discussion of aesthetic and suitability of poetry to express complex emotion. Day 5 Move from ambiguity to ambivalence, for instance, Joseph Bruchac s Ellis Island poem. Discuss the speaker s quandary in relation to the American Dream. Present two to four other readings offering differing perspectives on life and success in America: excerpts from Ehrenreich s Nickel and Dimed alongside the success secrets of a famous CEO, for instance. Different groups read different excerpts. Fishbowl discussion with representatives of each group about realities of the American Dream. Homework: Read first part of Death of a Salesman (DOAS). Day 6 In journals, individually formulate a definition of the American Dream based on yesterday s class and our previous reading of The Great Gatsby. Share these; arrive at class definition. Class discussion on whether this definition holds for the characters in the play so far. What alterations may be made? What predictions? Homework: Read second part of Arthur Miller s Death of a Salesman. Day 7 Learning stations on character development (maybe four: Willie, wife, and two sons), how each character seems to view success and happiness now, any predictions possible, possibly dependent authoring from perspective of character. Homework: Read part 4 of DOAS. Day 8 Assign sections that were read as homework to groups to perform by the end of class, keeping in mind your character s objective in the scene and how that relates to their overall quest for happiness. Homework: Finish reading DOAS. Day 9 Journal: Choose a vignette that is especially significant. How is it significant to the work? How does it contribute to the character s happiness (or place on the happy sad continuum)? To our notion of the American Dream? Write for half the class period. Second half: peer-edit, mini writing workshop. Students should leave class knowing what they will need to change for their final draft of this as an essay about the play (focusing on this vignette). Homework: final draft of essay; prepare interview presentations. Day 10
Turn in final draft of essay. Each student presents who their interview subject was and why this person was chosen, and the two most memorable parts of their interview; things that surprised them or reaffirmed their notions of success and happiness. Go around the circle; each student should name one thing they are taking from this unit about happiness, success, and the American Dream.
A UNIT ON HAPPINESS Day 1: Introduction 1. General expectations. Brainstorm with students about what they think happiness is (using connective words, word etymologies, and so on). 2. Introduce the topic. Explain what the focus of the unit is; give some specific details and pique their interest. 3. American dream. What does society say happiness is? Break up into small groups. How does Hollywood paint happiness? Name one television show or one movie as an example of your view. What words from our brainstorming exercise does Hollywood s picture include? What is the American dream? Is it equally accessible to everyone? What groups have had trouble obtaining it? Why? 4. Journal assignment. What does happiness mean to you? 5. Long-term assignment. Interview someone who is fifty years old or older and have the person describe the experience that gave him or her the most happiness. The assignment is due on the ninth day of the unit. Day 2: Paintings Look at reproductions of the paintings Ecstasy by Maxfield Parrish, The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, Water Lilies by Monet, and assorted paintings by Matisse. Draw or color a representation of where you find happiness or describe the happiness in one of the paintings. Day 3: Media 1. Watch a comedy routine by a comic such as Robin Williams or Steven Wright. 2. Break into small groups. Write a short stand-up routine about happiness or how comedy affects parts of life. Volunteers perform stand-up routines. 3. Watch a clip from a television show such as Good Times. Discuss the show s implied view of happiness. For instance, in the case of Good Times, consider the irony in the title of the show. Does an accumulation of wealth make one happy? Can happiness occur without reference to wealth? 4. Watch the final wedding scene and a bantering scene between Beatrice and Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing. Discuss what seems to be Shakespeare s idea of happiness throughout the play. Day 4: Blues Music 1. Have blues music playing as students enter the classroom. Write down three feelings evoked by the blues. Hand out lyrics to two songs. Play the songs, read the lyrics, and discuss them. 2. Assignment. Bring in written lyrics and a cassette or CD of a love song for the next day. Day 5: Song Lyrics
Look at the written lyrics of several of the students love songs. Discuss the relationship between the song lyricist and a poet. How does the lyricist use rhythm, words, and sounds (like a poet) to convey a message? Why does music evoke such strong feelings and memories? Day 6: Poetry 1. Compare and contrast Wordsworth s Surprised by Joy and Keats s Ode to Melancholy. Are both happiness and melancholy worthy of being poeticized? How is sadness a part of happiness, and vice versa? 2. Read We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar. What emotions do we try to hide in order to put up a façade to the outside world? How and why do we hide these emotions? 3. Draw a mask expressing an emotion you would like to show to the outside world. On the back of this mask, write the emotion you are attempting to hide and why and under what conditions you would hide this emotion. Day 7: Stories 1. Read a children s book such as one of Maira Kalman s Max the Dread Dog stories aloud to the class. In this example, talk about dreams and how dreams relate to happiness. Was Max s happiness fixed to his dream? Were the Stravinskys happy? How about Max s best friend? 2. Talk about how children s stories and fairy tales often seem to end with And they lived happily ever after. Is that realistic? Why or why not? Are the endings of most stories happy? 3. Read Aesop s fable about the man, his son, and the donkey. Discuss how we go out of our way to make other people happy. How do we sometimes forsake our own happiness to ensure others happiness? 4. Read aloud Chaucer s Wife of Bath s Tale from The Canterbury Tales. What would make the Wife of Bath happy? Would finding the perfect mate make her happy? What characteristics would the perfect mate for you have? If you found this person, would he or she make you happy? Can you be happy without this person? 5. Talk about how sometimes the thing we think would make us the happiest is unattainable. Write in your journal about what would make you happiest. Would you still strive for it if others said it was unattainable? Day 8: Festivals and Holidays 1. Decorate the room in the style of holidays and festivals from different cultures (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and so on). 2. Read Rosetti s The Birthday. Examine Marc Chagall s painting The Birthday (1915). Discuss, in pairs, students most memorable birthday (good or bad). Ask for volunteers to discuss their birthday memories. 3. Look at clips of a production of A Midsummer Night s Dream and May Day celebrations. Discuss holidays that allow for activities and behaviors not ordinarily allowed. Day 9: Interviews
1. Conduct interviews in pairs or small groups about a happy occasion. Write a snippet (one to three sentences) expressing the interviewee s feelings and perceptions during this happy event. 2. Perform this snippet in character. The teacher is the audience. This dramatic presentation may even be videotaped and viewed later by students to critique their performances. 3. Reminder. Complete journal entries and interviews. Day 10: Conclusion 1. Reread your journal entry on happiness from the first day of the unit. Write a response to that entry about how your perception of happiness has changed. What part of this happiness unit altered your perceptions about happiness the most? What was the most meaningful activity? 2. Devise a list of fifty things that make you happy.