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Karla Ramirez

Downey High School’s Mrs. Ordway taught some of the first classes of Designing the American Dream, and she talks about the best and the worst of handling a new subject. “There where a couple of key pieces of literature that we taught before, so that was exciting because it was familiar to me, but at the same time it was scary,” Ordway said, “we were reading Gatsby with a completely different look, so instead of focusing on colors and certain literary themes, you’re focusing more on the American Dream and who gets it, or who doesn’t.”

At the start of the 2015-2016 school year various new classes were incorporated, which took and changed many simple elements from the previous regular classes, like English 11, in order to help catch students attention. One these new classes was Designing the American Dream; a “new” method of teaching that integrates a students life aspirations with the history of how people have come to reach their dreams, and how the world has expanded the American Dream to more than the typical white picked fence.

Mrs. Ordway, who teaches ERWC along with English 11, was told only a couple days before school began about the new curriculum. She had to quickly come back into action and figure out ways to teach this new class, along with unfolding the material itself.

“I was really happy, because I had hoped that I would get the class last year at the end of WASC,” Ordway said. “When they let myself know, Mrs. Curtis and Mrs. Ramirez, it was kind, were going on an adventure kind of feeling, and we didn’t know the ultimate destination would be, but we knew it would be pretty good, a good adventure.”
The teachers setting up on this new project had some time in the of summer to prepare for this new journey, along with a few history teachers, who are also conducting the new subject, History and Public Health. In order to learn all the new material for the curriculum, these teachers traveled all the way to Sacramento.

The class has also changed the perspective of many students in life, according to Rubi Quiroz, 11, who part of the first year Designing the American Dream was offered. Quiroz speaks about the many experiences she had in this class. Not being part of a traditional English curriculum, D.T.A.D opened her mind to many different ways of living and how everyone’s purpose can be different and change over time.

“Talking about the American Dream and then seeing all the different types of writing it definitely made me think about what I wanted to do,” Quiroz said. “My purpose or what I think my purpose is and it helped shaped my outlook, my disposition.”

Designing the American Dream analyzes many aspects of life a traditional English 11 class does not. Although sometimes sharing the same material with English 11, D.T.A.D derives from a literature point-of-view and focuses on a pattern of living. Victoria Lopez, 11, also shares her opinion on what the class has taught her throughout the school year.

“I do think this class helps you with the future,” Lopez said. “It shows you realistic scenarios and articles that have to do with your future.”

The future for this new and innovative class is still to be seen, but its easy to foreshadow the success it will have. With the student blogs now part of the curriculum and on full run, Designing the American Dream will just keep expanding along with the minds of the students who become part of it.