Title: Hard Times: Americans Living the Great Depression

Type of teaching unit: Lesson Plan
Grade Level: (s): 6-8
Time Frame: 5 days
Subject Matter: Social Studies

Teacher Information:
Anjanette White, Delicia C. Harris
Lincoln Middle School
AAM Affiliation: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Destined_2002@yahoo.com

Lesson Plan Description and Rationale:

Students will first understand causes and implications of the Great Depression of 1929 on American culture. 

State Standards:

15. A.3d- Describe the causes of unemployment (e.g., seasonal fluctuation in demand, changing jobs, changing skill requirements, national spending).

16.A. 3b- Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.

16. C. 3c.(US)- Describe how economic developments and government policies after 1865 affected the country’s economic institutions including corporations, banks and organized labor.

Objectives:

Given primary sources, especially pictures, from the Great Depression, students will analyze the photos and tell what was happening in them literally and analytically.

After reading a selection on the Great Depression, the students will be able to explain the causes and effects of the Great Depression.

Resources:

Image: caption follows Lange, Dorthea. “Migrant Mother.” March 1936. Popular Photography [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@
filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b41800))+@field(COLLID+fsa))]
fsa 8b29516 (March 2004)
Photograph of a Breadline in New York City During the Great Depression http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd49.htm (April 2004)
Image: caption follows Rothstein, Arthur. “Farmer and sons...dust storm.” 1936. Tenant Farmers [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop1.html] (April 2004)
Image 5 of 468, Case studies of unemployment, Unemployment Committee of the National Federation of Settlements,
Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy
1921-1929 (1931). http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/
coolbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrlg+lg11)) (March 2004)

Methods:

Anticipatory Set:

Students will be given photos of several images from the Great Depression and will offer suggestions as to what was going on in the photos. They will then take a moment to gather their thoughts and then justify their responses.

  1. Each student will be given a packet of information that contains the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
  2. We will read the information together as a class, stopping to discuss complex issues encountered e.g. the stock market crash, unemployment rate, and laws of supply and demand.
  3. After the reading is completed, we will look at a line graph that charts the unemployment rate of the Great Depression to determine when the depression was at its worse and when it began to end.
  4. Students will also be given a worksheet that list problems Americans experienced during the Great Depression and will be responsible for creating solutions to the problems.  After finishing the worksheet, students will then be presented a chart that lists the government’s response to the problems.
  5. Lastly, students will complete an assignment in which they will answer questions based on the reading packet.

Evaluation:

The reading questions that accompany the reading packet will be turned in by each student and assessed for a grade.  There will be multiple choice, short answer and true or false items that will determine whether students comprehended the lesson.

Keywords for this lesson:

Great Depression, pictures, unemployment, American culture