5 Powerful Poems for Exploring the American Dream

Reading Instruction

Last year, I ditched the summer assignment for my college prep literature class. As a result, I needed a new opening unit for my junior American literature class. In the first unit, we are focused on reawakening our annotation skills and picking up where we left off last year: synthesizing ideas across multiple texts. With this in mind, I began brainstorming common themes that would lend themselves to junior American literature. I was also looking for a topic that would promote classroom discussion. In the end, I chose exploring the American Dream as our topic.

Overall, this proved to be a good topic because students had opinions, which meant they were engaged. Similarly, there’s no shortage of American literature exploring the American Dream and its meaning. Finally, that combination led to frequent opportunities for synthesis-level writing and meaningful classroom discussions.

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Preparing to Explore the American Dream

Before students began exploring the American Dream in literature, we spent some time building context. To do this, we began with a quick write about the American Dream. Students posted their answers in the Google Classroom and then responded to one another. Since this was our first unit of the year, this was a good way to practice using the Google Classroom and to practice communicating in a digital space.

Then, students read a series of articles about the American Dream. I found the articles on the New York Times Learning Network, but you could use any articles. (Better yet, students could practice research skills and each find their own article.) Each student annotates their article and then provides a letter grade for the American Dream. Then, students have to present their article and grading criteria to their classmates. Since this is our first unit, this was a good way for students to get comfortable presenting to their classmates. Read more about this lesson here.

Exploring the American Dream in Poetry

Once students have a good understanding of what the American Dream is and what it looks like, we begin reading a series of poems that touch on the American Dream.

First, we read the poem “Us vs. Them” by David Tomas Martinez. This is a contemporary poem, so it hooked students right off the bat. Plus, it touches on a variety of contemporary issues, so students can see their world reflected in Martinez’s writing. Read it here.
Next, we read “Eden, Then and Now” by Ruth Stone. This poem allowed us to practice analyzing allusion. Read alongside “Us vs. Them,” this poem also engages students in a conversation about characterization and juxtaposition. Read it here.
Then, I used “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson for my struggling students. This is such a high-interest poem with a straightforward “plot,” so it makes for a good text to use during intervention. This was ideal for my students who were intimidated by poetry, who struggled with the structure of the previous two poems, and for students who simply needed more practice. Read it here.

Last year, I ended this part of the unit here and pivoted to writing. However, in the future, I’m going to add “America” or “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman. Both of these poems are short and sweet but provide a different take on the American Dream. While all of the previous poems view the American Dream in a negative light, Whitman is a more optimistic poet. Grab both of these poems in my Walt Whitman Bundle!

Exploring the American Dream in Writing

In the first few weeks of school, I’m always looking for a writing sample from students. I’m also interested in reaffirming and reawakening students’ skills with structured, academic writing. This unit exploring the American Dream was ideal because students had such significant opinions! Here are some of the writing prompts that I used (and here’s the rubric):

Which of the poems best evokes the American Dream? Why or how?
Does the poet believe the American Dream is achievable? Why or why not?
Based on the texts, is the American Dream a worthwhile goal? Why or why not?
Based on the texts, what are the criteria needed to achieve the American Dream?
After reading the poem, do you think Richard Cory has achieved the American Dream? Why or why not?

Honorable Mentions

Ultimately, I don’t have more than a few weeks to devote to this unit, so I couldn’t include every text I considered. However, these were some of the honorable mentions, texts I wanted to include but couldn’t because I was short of time! All of these pieces would help students with exploring the American Dream. As this unit grows and evolves, I may swap in different texts. These texts may also appeal to different groups of learners.