|
Summary and Objective
Students will understand that national events have a local impact. The Great Depression was a time period in which nearly everyone was affected in some way. Often it is depicited by images of the Dust Bowl and migrant workers. However, the affects were felt in all regions of the country. In this activity, students will use original documents to investigate what life was like in their community. Through newspaper accounts, they will discover the difficulties encountered and choices made by the people and community. In addition they will investigate how the community responded to these challenges. This activity was designed as a prelude to reading "Of Mice and Men." It certainly could stand alone, or be used with any other Depression era literature.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
Activate prior knowledge with a brainstorming session focused on what happened to people during the Depression.
Step 2.
View teacher selected images of the Depression which focus on three areas; homelessness, lack of jobs, responses to the problem
Step 3.
Create a chain of events that would show how a person or a family could be put in a postion to suffer the effects of the Depression.
Step 4.
Break into small groups. Teacher assigns a newspaper article from the collection for each group to read.
Step 5.
Write the catagories 'Effects' and 'Responses' on the board prior to groups reporting on their article.
Step 6.
As each group reports on their article, the class decides which category it fits into.
Step 7.
Assessment: Each student writes a short essay about an effect of the Depression, and how the community responded. (homelessness, loss of jobs, etc)
|
