Title
Skill
EBA Activity
Claims and/or
Warrants
The Changing American Dream and Unfulfilled Dreams Essay Pre-Writing
Structuring a Complex Argument
Essay Pre-Writing Activity
You may use the following claims:
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain provides the most
important and influential analysis of the American Dream.
 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald provides the most important and
influential analysis of the American Dream.
 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston provides the most
important and influential analysis of the American Dream.
 Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller provides the most important and
influential analysis of the American Dream.
Alternatively, the following claims may be used for this activity if teachers wish to
focus more on rhetorical analysis:
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the most well-written
American novel or play and the most successful in defining the changing
American Dream.
 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the most well-written American
novel or play and the most successful in defining the changing American
Dream.
 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is the most wellwritten American novel or play and the most successful in defining the
changing American Dream.
 Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is the most well-written American novel
or play and the most successful in defining the changing American Dream.
Procedure
Standard Essay Pre-Writing Activity
Timing/Pacing 1. This activity helps to prepare students for writing the Changing American
Dream research/ synthesis/ rhetorical analysis essay, which requires them to
synthesize multiple sources (more than one text from this or the previous unit,
plus outside sources) into an argument of their own based on the claims in the
preceding lesson.
2. This activity is approximately 60 minutes.
3. This activity comes after the Do Now.
Notes
The rationale for this activity is to help students build complex arguments in order
to write a well-reasoned and organized essay synthesizing multiple sources and to
write a rhetorical analysis of one of the texts they have read.
Follow-up
Activities
Text
To include an oral activity, follow up with a defeating counterarguments class
challenge activity.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and texts from this unit. Other
outside resources related to the novel, which students research themselves.
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Essay Pre-Writing Graphic Organizer
Which Text provides the most important and influential analysis of the American Dream?
Essay Outline
Possible Structure
Introduction
“Hook”
Introduce the topic.
Restate the resolution and state
your position clearly.
Transition to the essay body.
Explain why your warrant supports
your original interpretation.
Explain another reason why your
warrant supports your original
interpretation (optional)
Explain why your warrant supports
your original interpretation.
Body
Explain another reason why your
warrant supports your original
interpretation (optional)
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Notes, Comments and Ideas
Explain why their claim is
unfounded.
Explain why your warrant supports
your original interpretation.
Explain another reason why your
warrant supports your original
interpretation (optional)
Transition to conclusion
Conclusion
Restate the resolution and state
your position clearly.
Summary of reasons (optional)
Clincher (conclude with your
opinion or a “call to action”)
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