The Great Depression
Goals & Objectives
Students will be able to describe at least two reasons for the Great Depression.
Students will be able describe the dustbowl and its effect on people in America.
Student will be able to list 3 ways in which people suffered through the great depression.
Students will be able to describe at least 4 terms specifically associated with the Great Depression.
California State Content Standards
11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.
11.6.2 Understand the explanations of the principal causes of the Great Depression and the steps taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress, and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat the economic crisis.
11.6.3 Discuss the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, and unwise agricultural practices and their effects on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in California.
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS, ELA 11-12, RH 8 Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
CCSS, ELA 11-12, 2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS, ELA 11-12, WHST 9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Driving Historical Question
What were some causes of the Great Depression?
How was life difficult for Americans during the Great Depression?
Lesson Introduction (Accessing Prior Knowledge) Time: 5 min
The class will begin and I will call for students to quiet down and look at the board. On the projector I will show 4 images which will show an image of a dustbowl, a shantytown, the long breadlines and people wearing mask to avoid the dust. I will call for them to look at these pictures quietly for 1 minute and for 1 more minute they will think of how they would describe them to someone else. Then I will call for 4 students to have each one describe one picture. From then I will tell them they will get a chance to find out what the right answer is at the end of this lesson.
Vocabulary (Content Language Development) Time: Through Lesson
Shantytown
Soup kitchen
Breadline
Dustbowl
Direct relief
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) Time: 35 min
I will call for one student from each row to get books for the rest of his row. I will take attendance while this happens and begin passing out the handout for the day. Once every student has a book I will ask that they pay attention as I instruct them to read the pages listed on the board, they will also be listed in their handout. I will remind them that like always they are expected to discuss the reading with their partner once they are finished filing in the required information. Their discussion should include both students comparing what they each wrote down in their handouts and a discussion about the guiding questions at the bottom of the handout. I will remind them that we are aiming for 35 minutes to read and fill the handout with 10 for discussion. If they are not finished filling out their worksheets by the time discussion time starts they can finish it for homework.
Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) Time: 10 min
Once students are done with their assigned reading and have completed the graphic organizer they will know and will be instructed that they can and should begin their group discussion. I will call out that discussion time has begun and will also call out when it ends. This group discussion will focus on sharing what they each wrote down for each box, what they thought about the reading and also on the guiding questions that are at the bottom of the handout. These questions will align with the learning goals for the day.
Lesson Closure Time: 5
I will once again display the same images from the beginning of the class this time I will just call on students so that one student can explain what the picture most likely displays and I will ask them to further elaborate on the context of the image. For example I have a student correctly identify an image showing the effects of the dustbowl and for an acceptable expanded response they can tell me how this led to migration from places like Oklahoma to the West. Once all pictures have been identified and expanded and when I see that we have less than 30 seconds before the bell rings I will end the class.
Assessment (Formative & Summative)
The introductory activity will be an assessment that aims to see if any students have any prior knowledge about the great depression and if they have been exposed to pictures that depict this time period. Based on their answers I will gauge their level of familiarity with the topic and this will change the amount of background information or amount of images that I show about this topic.
The formative assessment that I will implement here is the progress checks I will conduct while I walk around examining that students are having meaningful discussions guided by the questions that I’ve provided. The last part of this assessment will include the closure activity where I will put up the same images as in the beginning of the class and see the progress the class has made. This will be gauge by their accuracy and their expanded responses. These worksheets will be handed in the next day and I will be able to review individual papers
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
The use of images as a way to access prior knowledge is an accommodation to English learners, striving readers , and some students with special needs as it uses an image and no words to gauge their familiarity with a topic. These also serve a visual representation to terms that will be included in the chapter which can be used to help students make a connection between what they have seen and what they are reading. This lesson does not provide a vocabulary list as the terms here will be learned in a variety of ways. English learners, striving readers and students with special needs will have a chance to see these terms in visual form, they will also have a graphic organizer with instructions to focus on these terms, from there they will also have a chance to discuss their findings with another student. While all students will be engaging in the same activity these accommodations are aimed at covering those students who would not perform well with either a pure lecture or an individual reading in order to obtain the information needed. The use of these strategies for the whole class also limits any undue attention towards those students who need any extra help which will hopefully allow them to do better in class as they won’t feel singled out. However I as the teacher know that these students do require some additional help and will be providing it in terms of progress checks with students while they are working on their handouts, I will ask that they tell me what they think each term means. I will also have the class seating arranged so that students who need reading accommodations are seated in pairs that include advanced readers.
Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)
Projector, 4 images one of a dustbowl, a shantytown, the long breadlines and people wearing masks to avoid the dust. U.S History books (one per student), one “The Great Depression” handout per student.
graphic_organizer.docx | |
File Size: | 19 kb |
File Type: | docx |