I know a lot about this time period. I've taken a few that have covered the Great Depression in depth. I'm not an expert on 1930s U.S. History, though, so I'd have some research to do on this era. Additionally, I would like to limit the scope of this unit idea to maybe just the family experience of the Great Depression or dust bowl. It would allow me to cover economics and geography within a greater historical context that isn't too overwhelming for students.
I'm conflicted about whether I want to focus on the general family experience in the Great Depression, or the experience of Dust Bowl Families.
I'd spend a lot of time on primary source analysis, getting students to think like a historian. The Great Depression is full of all types of primary sources, from songs, print documents, to letters, etc. I'll need to do a lot of research in order to pick out the best and most appropriate sources to be analyzed during class.
One of my favorite Ken Burns documentaries chronicles the Dust Bowl. The preview can be viewed here.
The subject of the Great Depression is a great unit to cover with your students. There are so many different resources to use with your students from personal accounts of the hardships that were faced during that period to pictures taken by reporters that show the harsh living conditions during that time. I think there are a lot of opportunities for exciting and engaging lessons that you could do with your students. I am interested in seeing the different resources you find and use with your lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an intriguing topic I think there will be many sources available aside from traditional text that will be very interesting to your students. I think film would be a great source for this topic, and that there a lot of films out there on the dust bowl and the great depression. Another thing to maybe consider is how students will be able to learn about this and relate it to their lives today.
ReplyDeleteThese are both really interesting time periods that I think students could really become interested in with a variety of sources. I actually learned more about the Dust Bowl from a student who I tutored online last semester, and it seemed really interesting. I think most non-historians have more general background knowledge on the Great Depression, so it could be interesting to go with the Dust Bowl? (Just my two cents!) But I think that with either topic, you have a lot of options for texts and sources you can bring to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic, many of our students know about the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, but the 1930’s (outside of the Great Depression) are a bit ambiguous. U.S. history tends to jump from the Great Depression right into World War II, leaving the 30’s in the shadows. It definitely is an interesting topic to explore. You are right, that that Great Depression has provided many sources for you to explore, both print and media. I think having students learn about the daily lives of those living during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl would give them a better perspective and maybe allow them to make a personal connection to the past.
ReplyDeleteI too am intrigued by your selection of the depression era. When teaching Of Mice and Men, we focused a lot on the depression. My students always found the dust bowl to be so interesting wondering if it could happen again. I also used to include some of the short poems from Karen Hesse's poetic narrative Out of the Dust. The students liked how they provided insight into daily family life. I've included the link here if you'd like to check it out.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Out-The-Dust-Karen-Hesse/dp/0590371258