What is your dream for a better world? After reading a short article about Dr Martin Luther King, kids identify something they would like to see changed, the steps that could be followed to make the dream a reality, and the effects these...

Has society progressed to the dream Martin Luther King Jr. expressed in his famous address during the civil rights movement? Learners work with a partner to analyze one excerpt from King's "I Have A Dream" speech and find a current...

America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a instructional activity that focuses on speeches...

Exploring the idea of working to achieve the American Dream, the class reads an excerpt from How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez. Following, the class analyzes the excerpt and discusses the theme of the reading using...

You might not be able to put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes but you can generate interest in A Midsummer’s Night Dream in that length of time. As an introduction to Shakespeare’s comedy, pairs of students assume the roles of...

Students define and recognize changes to the American Dream.  In this American Dream lesson, students view a PowerPoint, read and article and draw a picture to illustrate the American Dream. Students explain their vision of the...

Fourth graders examine a number of poems that deal with the negative side of the American Dream. In this poetry and the American Dream instructional activity, 4th graders work in literature circle groups to analyze the poem which they...

How do you describe the American Dream? What motivates others to immigrate to the United States, and why do some groups have trouble attaining the American Dream? Your learners will consider these questions as they explore figurative...

Students explore, analyze and study novel reflections on the American dream that the United States has held the promise of unlimited possibilities. They describe the concept of the American dream, listen to and record real stories of...

For this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 25 multiple choice questions about Edward Albee's American Dream. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength provides the model for using dreams in narrative writing. After a discussion of the purpose of dreams in Lewis’s tale, class members craft a story in which their dreams play an essential role.

Use this communication skills lesson to emphasize evaluating a speaker's main point and argument. After reading Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream Speech" and John F. Kennedy's speech, "I Believe in an America Where the Separation of...

Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...

A reading of “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers,” a New York Times article by Sara Rimer, triggers a discussion of the American Dream and what it means to strive for something. Following the discussion, class members...

In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 14 multiple choice questions about Tsao Hsueh-Chin's Dream of the Red Chamber. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

In this literature worksheet, students respond to 15 short answer and essay questions about Dream of the Red Chamber. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.

Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...

Connect a scene from a class play to events in your middle and high schoolers' own lives. First, they act out a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream in pairs. They work to role play a scene as an extension of the one they have read,...

Evaluate vocabulary by writing definitions of known words and finding out those that are unknown. As an anticipatory set, the class fills out an agree/disagree chart discussing vocabulary. While reading about the American dream, kids...

High schoolers are introduced to the ideas of the American Dream at the turn of the century. They present their ideas on the American Dream at the turn of the century through a person characterized in Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River...

High schoolers recognize the importance of planning for the future. They think about and project themselves into the future. Students become aware that everyone encounters challenges in life and that they can be met and obstacles can be...

In this online interactive literature worksheet, learners respond to 8 short answer and essay questions about Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. Students may check some of their answers online.

In this online interactive reading comprehension learning exercise, students respond to 25 multiple choice questions about Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

How do artists affect and how are artists affected by the time periods in which they live? Learners examine the life and work of controversial and influential cultural artist Patti Smith as they seek answers to this essential question....