Plaid, Stripes and Camouflage

Remnants of a Dream

Oscar

Stone and Wood

Own Choice

How important is it to you that you get to choose your own reading material at school. Pleas give reasons to justify your answer.

Issues that Affect People Your Age

In your opinion, what are some important issues that affect people your age? Please explain why you feel the way you do about these issues.

The American Dream

What is the American Dream? Does the general definition of the American Dream differ from your personal American Dream? Please share your thoughts on this topic which is central to our class.

What is the American Dream

Here we are, all Americans living in 2008, the year of a presidential election. We all want our president to be a "good American," right? Well, I'd like to know exactly what it means to be a good American. Can you help me figure this out?

Connections

Please make and explain any connections that you've made with texts in this class. These connections could be text to text, text to self, or text to world connections. The texts that we've worked with include videos (Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground/How They Get There by Michael Gondry and Spike Jonze, respectively), books (Glass Castle or any of the books you've read on your own), or short stories/excerpts (The Incomplete Quad).

The Election

Has the upcoming presidential election affected you in any way? Please explain your answer.

Glass Castle--review

What do you think of the book Glass Castle so far?

Nature or Nurture?

In your opinion, what is the bigger contributor in how a person turns out--his or her upbringing and environment or the "nature" or personality that he or she is born with? In other words, are individuals born or made? Can experiences change people? Can people change themselves? Can a dysfunctional upbringing result in a stronger person? Do people sometimes fulfill others' perceptions of them without really thinking about who they, themselves, are or want to be?