The Langston Hughes’ poem “Dreams” provides students with a great opportunity to contemplate a person’s ability to pursue their own happiness. Without dreams, the poet states, our existence is merely “a broken-winged bird” or “a barren field.” If one just …
I am teaching analysis of U.S documents with historical significance, and I want to focus on the theme of dreams by looking at the primary document, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream…” speech. The unit could be framed …
I imagine introducing John Winthrop’s famous City Upon a Hill speech just after a conversation on dreams with Harriet Tubman. By exploring the importance of dreams first, students would gain a foothold for understanding how important it is for leaders …
In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza says, “I knew then I had to have a house…One I could point to. But this isn’t it…For the time being, Mama says…But I know how these things go” (Cisneros 5). Esperanza (“Hope”) …
I’m teaching the Underground Railroad and I want to focus on the importance of dreams as a tool for changing the world. I could use the Harriet Tubman conversation to kick off the lesson. For fun, I wouldn’t tell the …
In Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream, Jordan’s mother and sister, Deloris and Rosalyn Jordan write the true story of Michael Jordan’s struggle to pursue his dream of playing basketball. In the tale, he worries …
Ask the students what they dream about and you are sure to get a wild variety of interesting answers. Students dream all of the time and some use them to set lofty goals for their life pursuits. Others see dreams as fake pictures of reality. However they are viewed, thinking about dreams is a chance for students to become more self-aware about what they value and what they really want out of life.