AP Language 2013-2014
Summer Reading in Eleven Challenging Steps:
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich,
with accompanying Exploration Log
***THIS ENTIRE LOG MUST BE HANDWRITTEN IN PEN DIRECTLY ON THIS PACKET***
Step One: Read the Introduction to Nickel and Dimed
In paragraph form, record your thoughts and impressions about the author of this book.
Make predictions about what this book will be like.
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Step Two: Complete the following explorations
Instructions: Research the following topics and record what you learn or think about from your research. Feel free to
express opinions about the information you uncover, and begin to form those opinions into over-arching arguments.
DEFINITION OF RESEARCH, for this packet: Using the suggested search terms, spend at least 15 minutes reading
PER SEARCH TERM (more would be better, even). Become curious about the topic. Click around on related or
kinda-related topics that interest you. Fall through an internet rabbit hole. Record what you read or learned in the
space provided.
Search Term:. “What is it like to be a free-lance writer?” Read the top several results. Click around. After 15
or so minutes, record your new knowledge.
Search Term: “Current Poverty Levels” (same instructions as above for all search terms)
Search Term: “Minimum Wage” and “Living Wage” (what is the difference and how to the search results
differ in tone?)
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Search Term: “The History of Labor Unions” “What is a labor union?”
Search Term: “The Controversy of Labor Unions”
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Step Three: Read “Serving in Florida” pp. 11-49
In paragraph form, write a brief summary of what occurred in this chapter and your
reactions to it.
Step Four: Complete the following explorations
Instructions: Research the following topics and record what you learn from your research. Follow the same protocol as
the previous section of search terms, and complete the information on the budgeting experiment thoroughly and
accurately. Use your parents, family friends and the internet as resources for information.
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BUDGETING EXPERIMENT
Congratulations! You’ve graduated from high school and are ready to live on your own. You plan
to work before going to college, and you’ve landed a full-time job already. Your parents have been
kind enough to give you a car and some household furnishings and basic supplies for your first
apartment. No need to buy dishes or pots and pans or linens and towels or a broom and mop.
Luckily you have a little money saved up for a security deposit on your apartment. Use this guide
to determine what you can afford on your salary at your first full-time job that has a take home pay
of $1,025.41 after federal and state taxes and social security withholdings. You are still on your
parents’ insurance, so any healthcare expenses are “covered.” How much money will you have left
over at the end of the month to save for college?
Monthly Income
Take-home pay __$1,025.41__
Monthly Expenses
Apartment rent/month
_________
Electric (if not included in rent) ______
Water/Gas (if not included in rent) ____
Phone* _______
Cable *_______
Food/groceries (eating in) ________
Gas for car** ________ or, Monthly bus pass ___________
Car insurance** ________
Food (eating out)* ________
Entertainment* ________
Personal care (toothpaste, shampoo, soap, shaving)
______________ ________
_______________ ________
HOW MUCH DID YOU SAVE? ______________________
You are required to use the Internet to search/find an apartment in Omaha for rent.
*optional. These are expenses that you can do without if you choose
**You can opt to not have a car (in order to eliminate those expenses) and walk to work but you must be able to prove that
the apartment is within walking distance of a grocery store or buy a monthly bus pass.
Address of apartment:
Address of imagined employer:
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Search Term: “What is it like to be a waitress?” (If you have worked as a waitress, compare and contrast
your experience to that online and in Nickel and Dimed. What is the reason for any differences, in your
opinion?)
Search Term: “What is it like to be a waiter?” (If you have worked as a waiter, compare and contrast your
experience to that online and in Nickel and Dimed. What is the reason for any differences, in your opinion?)
Did you notice any difference in the results between the two search terms? Discuss them.
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Step Five: Read “Scrubbing in Maine” pp. 51-119
In paragraph form, write a brief summary of what occurred in this chapter and your
reactions to it.
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Step Six: Complete the following explorations
Search Term: “Motel Prices in Omaha” “Weekly motels, Omaha” You may have to make phone calls.
Project: Clean your family bathroom or kitchen really, really thoroughly-- like you were being paid to do it
(floors, cabinets, walls, light-switches, shower/tub, sink, refrigerator, windows, mirrors, door-knobs). Ask
a parent or guardian to pretend they are your boss and evaluate your work. How long did it take? What was
it like? If your “boss: found a problem with your work, how did that feel? Journal about this. What would it
be like to do this every day for eight hours a day?
Search Term: “Full-time work without healthcare”
Search Term: “What is health insurance” Also ask your parents about it. How “covered” are “covered”
expenses?
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Search Term: “Obamacare Facts”
Search Term: “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Facts”
Observe the differences in results you got from the two search terms. Why is there a difference?
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Search Terms: “What is worker’s compensation” “History of worker’s compensation”
Search Term: “What is it like to work in a nursing home?” (If you have worked in nursing home, compare
and contrast your experience to that online and in Nickel and Dimed. What is the reason for any differences,
in your opinion?)
Search Term: “Frontline Nursing homes pbs.org”
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Step Seven: Read “Selling in Minnesota” pp. 121-191
In paragraph form, write a brief summary of what occurred in this chapter and your
reactions to it.
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Step Eight: Complete the following explorations
Search Term: “What is it like to work in retail?” (If you have worked in retail, compare and contrast your
experience to that online and in Nickel and Dimed. What is the reason for any differences, in your opinion?)
Search Term: “Unionize Wal-Mart”
Search Term: “Bangladesh Factory Collapse” “Bangladesh factory reforms”
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Search Term: Naomi Klein
Read this whole article and reflect on it:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/27/110627fa_fact_mead
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Step Nine: Read “Evaluation” and “Afterword” pp.
121-191
In paragraph form, write a brief summary of what occurred in these chapters and your
reactions.
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Step Ten: Complete the following explorations
Search Term: “Pay gap”
Search Term: “Drug testing in the workplace”
Search Term: “Drug Testing for Welfare”
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Search Term: “Barbara Ehrenreich”
Search Term: “Barbara Ehrenreish and Nickel and Dimed”
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Search Term: “Nickel and Dimed controversy”
Read this article and reflect on it: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/02/18/scratch-beginnings-an-interviewwith-adam-shepard/
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Step Eleven: Complete the following short essay
In a concise and well-organized essay, discuss the changes Ehrenreich would like to see in America and
how effective is this book in convincing readers that those changes are necessary. Explain.
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