Title: Hard Times: Americans Living the Great Depression

Type of Teaching unit: Lesson Plan
Grade Level(s): 6-8
Time Frame: 2-3 days
Subject Matter: Language Arts

Teacher Information:
Name: Delicia C. Harris, Anjanette White
Lincoln Middle School
AAM affiliation (Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville)

Lesson plan description and rationale:

1.      Students will identify the themes of three poems written during the Great Depression.  Students need to understand how the social and economic climate of this era is reflected in the subject of each poem.  Students must also understand that even though all Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination, and segregation. 

Illinois Learning Standards/ Benchmark or Descriptor:

State Goal 1:  Read with understanding and fluency.

Goal 1.B.3.a.:  Students will be able to apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.   Students will be able to identify text structure and create a visual representation (e.g. graphic organizer, outline, drawing) to use while reading.

Goal 2.A.3a:  Students will be able to identify and analyze a variety of literary techniques (e.g. figurative language, dialogue, description, word choice, dialect) within classical and contemporary works representing a variety of genres.

State Goal 3:  Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.

Goal 3.A.3:  Students will be able to write compositions that contain complete sentences and effective paragraphs using conventions.

Objectives:

1.  Students will be able to understand how the social and economic climate of the 1930’s       and 1940’s affected literature by identifying the themes and tones of various poems.

2.  Students will understand that even though all Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination, and segregation.

Resources:

Baldwin, James. “Black Girl Shouting”. The Magpie, Winter 1 942, v. 26, n. 1, p. 32. http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/docs/42winp32B.htm

Brush, Robert. “Depression”.   The Magpie, June 1936, v. 20, n. 2, p. 72. "Outdoor Issue." http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/docs/3606p72.htm

Hughes, Langston. “Dream Deferred”. http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm

	Rothstein, Arthur. “Wife of Evicted Sharecropper New Madrid County, Missouri.” Jan 1939. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/fsaall:@filreq (@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8a10484))+@field(COLLID+fsa)) [fsa 8a10484 ] (April 2004).
	“Dust Storm Headline Montage.” Between 1930-1942. Farm Security Administration-Office of War Photograph Collection. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/fsaall:@field (NUMBER+@band(fsa+8e03296)) [fsa 8e03296] (April 2004).
	Lange, Dorothea. “Migrant Mother.” March 1936. Popular Photography.http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i? pp/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b29516))+@field (COLLID+fsa)):displayType=1:m856sd=fsa:m856sf=> [fsa 8b29516] (April 2004).
	“A Man Was Lynched Yesterday.” 1930. African American Odyssey. [http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/06/0610002r.jpg  [aaohtml 0610a] (April 2004).

Methods:

Anticipatory Set:

Students will discuss what it means to be depressed and how they handle depression.  Students will also review what the Great Depression meant for the United States and the economic and social effects of the Great Depression.  Students will be encouraged during discussion to make connections between their lives and the lives of those who experienced this era.  Students will also be reminded that literature is affected by the social climate.

1.      Students will first review the literary terms: stanza, line, simile, metaphor, personification, speaker, tone, imagery, and hyperbole.

2.      Next, students will be given the poem “Black Girl Shouting,” by James Hughes.  Baldwin was a student at Dewitt Clinton High School during the Great Depression and “Black Girl Shouting” was published in his high school journal, titled The Magpie Sings the Great Depression.  Students must identify the speaker, tone, and subject of the poem.  Students will also discuss their feelings towards the poem.  Students will receive a “Black Girl Shouting” analysis worksheet.

1.      Students will next read the poem “Depression,” by Robert Brush, a student who poem was published in The Magpie Sings the Great Depression during the Great Depression.  This poem illustrates how a farmer was affected by the depression.  Students will discuss various theories of why the farmer has been dispossessed.  Students will also discuss tenant farming, sharecropping, and how the New Deal aided farmers.  Students will receive a “Depression” analysis worksheet.

2.      Lastly, students will read “Dream Deferred,” by Langston Hughes.  This poem uses metaphors, questioning what happens to people when their dreams are deferred.  Students will be expected to make connections between the poem and people who experienced the Great Depression.  Students will also be able to make connection between the poem and their own lives.  Students will receive a “Dream Deferred” analysis worksheet.

Evaluation:

Assessment 1: Students will be presented various photos taken during the Great Depression.  They must analyze the photos and match them with the poems read during class.  Students must also write a brief explanation of how they grouped the poems and photos.

Assessment 2:  Students will be responsible choosing one of the poems read in class and draw an illustration reflecting the subject of the poem.  Students will also be required to present their drawing, explaining their representation of the poem.

Assessment 3: Students will take information learned from the Great Depression photos, poetry studied, and class discussion and be responsible for writing a poem, using the theme the Great Depression.