School Context: The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

School Context: Silver Creek High School is located in the suburb of Longmont, Colorado. At Silver Creek, majority of the students are Caucasian (79.8%). Around 14% of the population is Hispanic. This leaves the remaining 6% of students identifying as Asian, Black, Native American or Pacific Islanders. Majority of these students come from middle, to upper middle class families. Most students live in the many surrounding suburban neighborhoods near the school, however there are a handful of students who live in nearby towns and commute. Silver Creek is thought to be an exceptionally “good school” because of the overall high test score performance compared to other Colorado high schools. Despite the high test scores, the school overall lacks diversity both ethnically and class wise.
Unit Context: …show more content…
For this unit we will be studying the influence of race, gender and education in relation to the American Dream. To support the content, we will be reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby and comparing the influence of race, gender and class on the American Dream in the time period of the novel (1920s) and then the modern day effect of the same influences. The guiding questions for the semester unit are, “What are the influences that affect our lives and social-historical worlds? What are the consequences of those influences? What is our responsibility to question influences?” During this unit, I want students to focus on the sub guiding questions of, “Is there a modern American Dream? How do the influences of race, gender and education shape the modern American Dream and our future? Do race, gender and education influence society? Should we question influence? What happens if we do