Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
Schools

* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

 

LU Title: The Roar of the Twenties; The Crash of the Thirties 1920-1939

Author(s): Janice B. Peters

Grade Level: Eighth grade

School Address: Gouverneur Middle
School113 E. Barney St. Gouverneur, NY 13642
Semester school with eighty-six minute periods, every other day

Content Area: Social Studies

School Phone: (315)287-1903

Fax: (315) 287-7963

 

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative

Procedural

  • Diversity as an issue in the 1920
  • Social Climate and use of slang
  • Changing Life Styles
  • Press conference
  • Role play
  • Student generated slide presentation
  • Factors that led to Economic Collapse
  • Stress of losses
  • Using primary source data on Collapse

 

  • Role play of rich vs. poor
  • Journaling
  • Graphing data
  • Human Impact of Great Depression
  • Analyzing slides of the era
  • Writing letters
  • Focus of New Deal Programs
  • Modern day impact of these programs
  • Categorizing
  • Note taking

 

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 

 Overview: Designed for a modified semestered school; 86 minute classes which meet every other day all year long. Used with grade 8 by myself and a student teacher. The materials came from a History Alive unit developed by the Teachers Curriculum Institute, 1170 East Meadow Drive. Palo Alto, California 94303. www.teachtci.com which feature group work and higher order thinking skills. I have adapted this unit to meet the NY State learning unit format and have changed the launch activity and the culminating activity to better suit 8th graders.

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Students will view a section of the A & E Special: Prohibition, Thirteen Years that Changed America, focusing on the music, clothing and dance crazes of the 1920s. They are also reading Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. in English class. (Students in my classes are required to read 20 + historical fiction books during the duration on the class, relating to the historical periods we cover)

Using a dictionary of 60+ slang terms from the 1920s, students groups of 4 will write two parallel skits, one with teens using at least 10 slang terms and the second, translating the first skit into a modern setting.

 

Much of the material used in the unit comes from History Alive!, Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Unit entitled

The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Twentieth Century United States History.

Ordering information can be located at http://www.teachtci.com

 

Connection to State Learning Standards

Content Area: N.Y.S. Social Studies # 1 - History of the United States with a strong secondary connection to N.Y.S. Social Studies # 4 - Economics

Level: Intermediate (Grade 8)

Benchmarks: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to: explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of changing and competing interpretations of different historical developments.

 

Benchmarks: Economics requires the development and application of the skills needed to make informed and well-reasoned economic decisions in daily and national life.

 

Standard: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras (1920s-30s) themes, developments and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

 

Standard: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the U.S. and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and non-market mechanisms.

 

Unit Theme: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression; Up Close and Personal

After delving into the American decades of the 1920s and 1930s, students will create a diary showing the experiences of an American family during these years of transformation

Standard: ELA 1 - Language for information and understanding.

 

Standard: MST 2 Information Systems - access, generate, process and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

Benchmarks: Write and present on a variety of topics; using standard English skillfully

 

Benchmarks:Information Technology is used to retrieve, process and communicate information and as a tool to enhance final production.

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Post WW I tensions caused by diversity in America

Hiram W. Evand

Marcus Garvey

Charles E. Hughes

John L. Lewis

  1. Mitchell Palmer

Judge Webster Thayer

Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Ida B. Wells

Research for Press Conference

Developing meaningful symbols.

Organizing investigative questions.

A Press conference will be held featuring several diverse figures from the early 1920. Student groups will script their person, and develop questions for their own person and the others on the panel; A note sheet will be filled out charting each character's view on the worth of diversity.

Life-style changes in the 1930s

  • Increasing Consumerism
  • Harlem Renaissance
  • Prohibition
  • Popularity of Radio and Movies
  • Sports Mania
  • Improved Transportation
  • Changing Role of Women

Groups of three will study slides related to one area of change, such as the Harlem Renaissance, ads showing commercialism, Prohibition, Radio and Movie ads, Sports teams, Transportation, Women's roles.

Slides are provided with the History Alive Unit.

Each group will prepare a presentation of their four slides for their classmates

In addition to preparing a section to the lesson, students will chart the information from other presentations.

Economic Collapse

Slide lecture on multiple causes;

Journaling a response to a personal loss;

Graphing economic data for the two decades based on

Index of Common Stock Prices

Gross National Product

Unemployment

Workers’ Yearly Wages (both farm workers and factory workers

Bank Closures

Note taking

Journal Response

Line graph construction

 After being told that a test paper/grade has been lost and a zero will go into their average, students will respond in journals about the fairness of this practice;

Looking at data provided by the teacher, 6 line graphs will be constructed by pairs of students.

Human Impact of the Great Depression

Study and react to several Dorothea Lange photos taken during the depression.

Listen to sections of John Stienbeck's Grapes of Wrath

Record field notes on pictures specifically related to see, feel, hear, smell,

Using the Library of Congress American Memory website and slides provided in class, write a letter to President Roosevelt describing a Depression problem and what you think the Government will do or should do about it.

Problems faced in the 1930s

New Deal Programs and Policies

What effects continue today

Groups will review an area of concern; develop a plan and compare it to what was actually done.

Student solutions will be categorized as to conservative, liberal or radical.

In groups of three, study four specific depression era issues and develop a solution.

Chart the "alphabet soup" agencies, their focus; what was addressed in the 1930s and how does it effect us today.

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Assume an accurate portrayal of an historic figure from teacher provided note sheets and outside resources.

Teams will meet with teacher to review salient points. Conference will be video taped for future study

Participate in a classroom press conference of diverse historical figures of the early 1920.Create a symbol and a costume for this character; Internalize positions in order to answer both friendly and investigative questions. Record each character's position on the place of diversity in American Life on a chart.

Present a meaningful slide presentation for classmates (ex. Harlem Renaissance, Prohibition, role of Women)

Classmates will chart the information and question group members if information is inadequate or faulty.

Groups of four students will present on different topics. Each group member must take a visible role.

Write scripts and role-play showing a variety of perspectives.

Classroom performance will be monitored for accuracy

After studying the economic changes following the crash of '29, students will take the roles of rich, poor and working class Americans and express their feelings about their own plight and the plights of other groups.

Analyze and interpret information from a series of line graphs

Collaborative pairs will work on responses

Once data is correctly placed on all six graphs, scaffolded questions will be answered by pairs of students

Categorize information

Chart information

Depression problems will be detailed and possible solutions will be suggested by groups of three students. Then the labels conservative, liberal or radical will categorize the solutions.

Note taking

Notes will be taken on the right side of the notebook, only. Pictures, cartoons, mnemonics will be created on the left side to reinforce learning.

Notes taken during slide lectures will be supported with teacher directed support activities on the opposite page. This occurs all year long.

 

Learning Experiences

Extending and Refining

What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe what will be done.

Examining the changes in life styles, role of government and economics in America, 1920-1939

  • (x)Comparing
  • (x)Classifying
  • (x)Analyzing Perspectives

Press Conference of figures of the 1920s discussing their views of the value of diversity in American society.

Analyzing economic data and proposing solutions in a letter to the president (FDR)

Comparing photos of the period to experiences of the people in those photos by completing photo log sheets identifying descriptions of the times and places where these photo would have been taken.

 

Planning Guide

 

Unit: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Up Close and Personal

 

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

What knowledge will students be using meaningfully? Specifically, they will be demonstrating their understanding of and ability to...........

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe student's products and performances and the criteria for evaluation.

 

[ x] Decision Making
(selecting from seemingly equal alternatives or examining the decisions of others)
[ x] Invention
(creating something to meet a need or improve on a situation)

Products/Performances

Assignment: By the end of the unit, each student will create a historically correct diary of a family, beginning in 1920 and ending in 1938. A series of ten dates will be supplied. The student author must include six of them. Each diary must have a specific geographic location. The student is to assume the identity of one family member and compile the diary so the reader will witness social, economic and governmental changes correct to that period of time, location and economic class of the family. All diaries are to be word processed, ready to publish, and are due one week following the completion of the unit.

Criteria for evaluation

 

See Rubric Below

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated?

Elements: Significant, meaningful changes in social and economic status of family are portrayed.

Diary is well developed and organized with clear examples offered as support.

Student demonstrated control of standard English language and mechanics.

 

(Weights shown below)

 

Element #1

Portrayal of family is historically possible and meaningful

Element #2

Changes are developed using examples

Element #3

Organization

Element #4

Use of Standard English and Language Mechanics

Elements


Scale

Weights

30% or

1-5 point per entry

30% or

1-5 points per entry

30% or

1-5 points per entry

10%

10 points on overall diary

4

 Reflects classroom learning and goes beyond material presented in class

Change is evident as story moves between entries. Cultural, economic and governmental topics are included in each entry. 

Clear pattern draws reader from page to page. 

Error Free

Ready to Publish 

3

 Reflects classroom learning

 Changes are evident but and not shown with consistency.

 Entries follow a pattern that encourages reader understanding.

 Errors do not prevent understanding.

2

 Reflects classroom learning with fewer than 5 historical errors

 Some examples of change are missing in each entry or are incorrect.

 Some confusion is caused by varied pattern of entries or monotonous entries.

 Errors confuse reader.

1

 Has multiple historical errors;

Or

Does not follow directions.

 Examples of change are missing

Or

Examples do not reflect assigned categories.

 Lacks organization.

 Multiple errors are present.

 

Have You Considered These Yet?

Learn to Learn Skills:

 Note taking; cooperative group behaviors, presentation skills.

Assessment Modifications:

 IEP students will do fewer entries or may dictate diary entries to an aide. The verbal presentations in the press conference and slide presentation often are appealing to students with lower reading and writing skills.

Unit Schedule/Time Plan:

Ten to twelve, eighty-six minute class periods over two to three weeks. Four - five weeks on a 45 minute, per day schedule.

Written Overview: After assuming identities of prominent figures from the 1920s, looking at slides of photos and data from the era, students will be able to relate, in diary form, the cultural, economic and political changes that happened in America between 1920 and 1939.