Nickel+&+Dimed;+Scratch+Beginnings

http://swcta.net/moore/files/2013/03/Nickel-and-Dimed-Barbara-Ehrenreich.pdf -- the book 1. __ALL__: //Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America// by Barbara Ehrenreich. Read //Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America// by Barbara Ehrenreich and complete the __optional study guide__ to assure preparedness for class discussions and the book test on the second day of school. Purchase or borrow the book ($10 or less on Amazon.com). You will also need to have this book with you in class for the first 2-3 weeks of school.
 * __Summer Assignment #1:__**

__HONORS__: //In addition to// the above reading and optional study guide completion, ELA12 Honors students must complete this short research project. Please be certain to include a Works Cited Page with proper MLA citation for sources used and include a typed summary of and reaction to the results. ** APPENDIX A **

2. __ALL:__ __CHOOSE ONE__: Senior Writing Tasks A. Choose from one of the 6 prompts to begin your college essay. ** APPENDIX B ** OR B. Write the outline for your senior project paper. ** APPENDIX C **
 * __Summer Assignment #2:__**
 * Writing workshops will be held if you want assistance:**
 * Norristown Public Library: 7/24 12pm-3pm; Phoenixville Public Library: 7/28 12pm-3pm**
 * If you are choosing to do this, it is due in Google Classroom** ja4elpx **by AUG 1st**
 * If you are choosing to do this, it is due in Google Classroom** ja4elpx **by AUG 1st**

3. __Optional__ choice novel and assignment extra credit ** APPENDIX D **
 * __OPTIONAL Summer Assignment #3:__**
 * If you are choosing to do this, it is due in Google Classroom** ja4elpx **by AUG 28th.**
 * All assignments should be typed and in proper MLA format (heading, pagination, double-spacing, 12 pt Times New Roman font, etc.).**


 * THE SUMMER REMIND CODE IS: Text @ela12summr to 81010 **


 * __Discussion__:**
 * Budget**


 * Honors Research**
 * Then (~2001): Record this information from the novel.**
 * Location || Job/Wage || Rent- studio or 1 bedroom || Other $ amounts / Gas Price ||
 * Key West, Florida ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Portland, Maine ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Minneapolis, Minnesota ||  ||   ||   ||


 * Now (2015): Research this information on your own.**
 * Location || Job/Wage || Rent- studio or 1 bedroom || Other $ amounts / Gas Price ||
 * Key West, Florida || # National Fast Food _/ $ /hr
 * 1) Grocery Store _/ $ /hr
 * 2) Waitress / Waiter _/$ /hr ||   ||   ||
 * Portland, Maine || # National Fast Food _/ $ /hr
 * 1) Grocery Store _/ $ /hr
 * 2) Waitress / Waiter _/$ /hr ||   ||   ||
 * Minneapolis, Minnesota || # National Fast Food _/ $ /hr
 * 1) Grocery Store _/ $ /hr
 * 2) Waitress / Waiter _/$ /hr ||   ||   ||
 * Philadelphia, PA || # National Fast Food _/ $ /hr
 * 1) Grocery Store _/ $ /hr
 * 2) Waitress / Waiter _/$ /hr ||   ||   ||
 * (City of your Choice) || # National Fast Food _/ $ /hr
 * 1) Grocery Store _/ $ /hr
 * 2) Waitress / Waiter _/$ /hr ||   ||   ||
 * *Be certain to cite your sources in MLA format on a Works Cited page **

http://barbaraehrenreich.com/nickel-and-dimed-reading-group-guide/ 1. Were your perceptions of blue-collar Americans transformed or reinforced by Nickel and Dimed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since reading the book? What about your own treatment of waiters, maids, and salespeople?
 * Small Group Conversations **

2. Housing costs pose the greatest obstacle for low-wage workers. Why does our society seem to resist rectifying this situation? Do you believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable housing?

3. Ehrenreichis white and middle class. She asserts that her experience would have been radically different had she been a person of color or a single parent. Do you think discrimination shaped Ehrenreich's story? In what ways?

4. How does managers' scrutiny - "time theft" crackdowns and drug testing - affect workers' morale? How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating employees like suspected criminals?

5. Many of Ehrenreich's colleagues relied heavily on family-for housing and help with child-care, by sharing appliances and dividing up the cooking, shopping, and cleaning. Do you think Americans make excessive demands on the family unit rather than calling for the government to help those in need?

6. After reading Nickel and Dimed, do you think that having a job-any job-is better than no job at all? Did this book make you feel angry? Better informed? Relieved that some one has finally described your experience? Galvanized to do something?



http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/vjkrkb/barbara-ehrenreich

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=interview+with+barbara+ehrenreich+nickel+and+dimed&FORM=VIRE8#view=detail&mid=6F96016F20991C1D0EE16F96016F20991C1D0EE1

http://sudoseth.com/static-pages/ScratchBeginnings/Scratch-Beginnings.pdf --the book

SB you tube Adam's intro 2 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKgqIrd-7Xc

email interview with Adam Shepard: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/02/18/scratch-beginnings-an-interview-with-adam-shepard/

SB on Today show: http://www.today.com/id/21134540/vp/23351953#23351953

Book website and practical reading questions: http://scratchbeginnings.com/ http://scratchbeginnings.com/reading-guide

**1.** As part of his premise, Shepard offers the idea that he will not be able to use his educational background. In your opinion, how does his educational background come into play (if at all) throughout the course of the book? Is his college degree useful while he is performing blue-collar jobs and enforcing spending and savings tactics to get him out of his present circumstance? **2.** From the beginning, Shepard establishes a contrast to //Nickel and Dimed// by Barbara Ehrenreich. If you have read her book, analyze the difference in attitudes of each of these authors as depicted in their respective narrative accounts of the vitality of the American Dream. **3**. Shepard asserts early on that he is not an author or a journalist. Do you think that this declaration adds to his story or takes away from it? Does being a “regular guy” add to the credibility of his story? Or not? **4.** While perhaps a victim of his own naiveté, Shepard doesn’t appear nervous as he walks down Rivers Avenue late on his first night in Charleston. Discuss what your reaction might be to being dropped in an unknown city, by yourself, where you don’t know anybody. **5.** Shepard spends 70 days in Charleston’s homeless shelter where he meets a variety of people including both his “fair share of laggards and old, bearded men with whiskey on their breath” as well as guys that he didn’t think “even existed in those shelters.” Discuss our perceptions of the homeless and our perceptions of those that live in poverty. How do we justify those perceptions? **6.** Perhaps the greatest shock for Shepard is the trouble that he had finding a job. He could have taken the job at the car wash or the restaurant, but he decided to hold out for something better, eventually finding work as a mover at Fast Company. Was his struggle finding a job unique? Is it enough for us to fill out applications around town or is it necessary to develop extraordinary strategies as Shepard did with his speech to Curtis, where he offered his services for free for a day? **7**. Peppered throughout //Scratch Beginnings// are stories of the people that Shepard met along the way, stories of guys that were up to no good from the start and stories of guys that had simply been dealt a rough hand of cards in their lives. Discuss how their reactions to facing adversity shape who they become and how those reactions may or may not set the course for their future. What is society’s responsibility to guys like the one that Shepard met in the shelter who had been run over by a drunk driver? How does accountability for one’s actions and reactions figure into such scenarios? Have you ever had a time when you faced adversity, forced to make a decision on whether to stay strong or give up? **8.** Near the end of Shepard’s time in the shelter, Rico and “Easy E” head to Florida for a six-month drug rehab program in affiliation with one of the local churches. What is your opinion on the fact that the two of them decided it was time for them to shape up, whereas other guys simply accepted their fate as the “filth on the bottom floor of life's social structure"? Why do some eventually get “it,” while others don’t? **9.** Moving furniture is a demanding occupation. It can be argued that Shepard accepted a job in the most difficult blue-collar profession he could have possibly chosen. How does this play into his story? Did he have an advantage because of his work ethic or is that the whole point – that we can choose to work hard and remain disciplined, and eventually we will emerge triumphant from a lower class lifestyle?  **10.** In order to accomplish his goals, Shepard develops thrifty spending habits and aggressive saving techniques. “Every $5 and $10 I could save might not matter so much for that one day, but it would be so valuable in the long run,” he says. Is it really that easy? Isn’t it difficult to quit smoking, shopping for unnecessary items, or supplying oneself with the entertainment to which he or she has become so accustomed? Discuss the sacrifices that Shepard made in realizing a successful journey. **11.** Shepard is torn about his feelings for the owner of Fast Company: he wants him to run a successful operation, but he is not impressed with his hands-off leadership style. Do you see that as a serious issue in today’s American economy, owners and managers that expect their businesses to run efficiently while they observe from afar? Is this a fair way for things to operate? After all, owners and managers have worked hard and earned an education to obtain their status in life. Who suffers as a result of these faulty management techniques? **12.** Throughout his narrative, Shepard writes about his being an outcast. He initially has trouble fitting in at the shelter, his goofiness tends to work against him at Fast Company (his work attire, in particular) and on the dance floor, and the obvious cultural differences between he and BG lead to a physical altercation in chapter fifteen. Does being a supposed outcast work for him or against him throughout his story? See if you can argue both sides. **13.** Along those same lines, Shepard discusses the need for more “neighborhood heroes, more small timers stepping up – against the crowd – to show what it takes to embrace change.” While the course is set for Shepard to emerge as a working class hero in his book, Scratch Beginnings takes a different course, seeing Derrick Hale emerge as the champion. He works hard, is smart with his money, and he buys a house, despite a history of having come from economically impoverished Kingstree, SC and having served 24 months in prison. Does Derrick’s story give you hope that the American Dream is still alive or do you see his as just another, isolated situation? **14**. Although he accomplished much more than he had set out to accomplish – and in a quicker amount of time – Shepard offers the idea that things might have been different if he had started in another city or town. Do you think his results would have been the same if he would have started in your community? Would his success have been more profound or would he have struggled to even find a job? **15**. In comparing his outcome to what it might have been if he would have attempted his project elsewhere, Shepard remarks “that we live in the greatest country in the world.” Discuss how his project might have been different in another country – confronting substandard conditions as well language barriers and cultural differences – and then apply those thoughts to the recent wave of immigration in America. **16.** In the epilogue, Shepard comments that “a hike in minimum wage is fun to talk about, but, in the end, economically speaking, it isn't a worthy option.” Discuss why he says this. Do you agree or disagree? **17**. Also in the epilogue, Shepard offers seven solutions, institutional changes that can begin to alter the cycle of poverty. He notes that “these are not aggressive changes that will require massive funding.” Do you agree that these seven solutions are feasible options? Offer a solution of your own for discussion. **18.** Near the conclusion, Shepard acknowledges that his project was not without its flaws. After all, he didn’t have kids to tow around and he says that he “got lucky working with the greatest mover on the planet.” How might his project have been different if he would have had other responsibilities to adhere to? In the end, is it fair for certain people – people that have had children out of wedlock, for example – to lean on others for support, those that have made more educated decisions? Or is it necessary for them to accept their plight and make the most of their situation? **19.** After completing //Scratch Beginnings,// take a step back to reflect on Shepard’s study. He began with next to nothing, and, in the end, was prepared to confront the limitless opportunity that awaited him. Does his project give you even more hope for the vitality of the American Dream? Do you recognize, more so now than before, that some people are go-getters while others choose to squander opportunity that is placed directly in front of them? Does his story – along with the conclusions that he was able to draw – make you compelled to want to do something for someone less fortunate than yourself, to give a couple hours per week to someone who did not have the same opportunities that you may have had growing up?