Reading Against the Grain in The Great Gatsby

Essential Question

How do the dynamics of power and privilege influence access to and distribution of resources and opportunities?
What are the most influential forces that drive human behavior?
Why is our society so obsessed with The Great Gatsby?

Texts

Multimedia

Gend-o-meter

In this video, young people reflect on society's rules for what males and females can and cannot do.

Debra Chasnoff

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Gender & Sexual Identity

July 8, 2014

Visual

How Rich Are the Superrich?

This graphic from Mother Jones magazine depicts income inequality in the United States.

Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

Economics

Topic

Class

July 9, 2014

Visual

In this ironic cartoon, the same man is depicted twice—once with tattered clothing and unkept body hair as a poor man and a second time in a suit with a clean-cut image as a rich man. As a poor man, he's regarded as crazy, but as a rich man, he's eccentric.

Andy Singer

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Class

July 2, 2014

Informational

Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug was a prominent liberal activist and politician in the 1960s and 1970s who championed women’s rights, human rights and the environment.

Learning for Justice Staff

Grade Level

9-12

Subject

Civics

History

Topic

Class Gender & Sexual Identity

August 7, 2017

Teaching Strategies

Word Work

Illustrated Vocabulary

In this visual strategy, students divide vocabulary words into parts and draw illustrations to represent the separate meaning of each part.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

L.6-12.4, L.6-12.6

July 19, 2014

Close and Critical Reading