Curating Disciplinary Texts - The Dust Bowl

I settled on the family experience during the Dust Bowl in the United States. Rather than going broad and discussing how the U.S. government dealt with the Dust Bowl, or the science of it, I felt that it would be most interesting to students to learn about how individuals and families were affected. This unit would be on the Dust Bowl, and I may actually have the opportunity (fingers crossed) to teach this unit later this semester! The 9^th grade social studies class I teach focuses heavily on reading historical texts “like a historian,” so I would definitely look at different texts this way. To best educate an historical phenomenon, as well as the historical thinking skills needed to be a successful student “historian,” I would use varying texts, ranging from content-driven, to primary sources, to multimedia, etc. This would help students have the best understanding of the subject as possible, as well as keep them engaged in the topic throughout the unit.

1. “Interactive Dust Bowl” – multimedia/visualization source

PBS, “Interactive Dust Bowl,” http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/interactive/

This “text” was created as an accompaniment to the Ken Burns documentary, The Dust Bowl. It allows you to click through scenarios that Dust Bowl families faced, looking at haunting photos of the Dust Bowl. The text is very accessible to students, as all of mine have their own school-issued iPads. I also selected this text specifically because the language is easy to understand. It doesn’t use many difficult words, or long and complex sentences, thus it would be a good place to start for students learning about the Dust Bowl. StoryToolz gives this text a grad 7 readability score, which makes sense to me. More than half of my students read above 7^th grade levels, thus overall this wouldn’t be a text that is too complex for students. For students that aren’t quite at grade level, there are a few terms that may need instructional support: embark, profit, expand, descend, and geographic.

This text would be used as an introduction to the Dust Bowl. Though students wouldn’t have a lot of background knowledge, this would help build it, as well as engage students by using technology.

Thinking Question: What would you do if your family farm failed for several years? Stay put and keep working, or move somewhere else?

2. Film The Dust Bowl, by Ken Burns

The Dust Bowl, Ken Burns, 2012. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/

Admittedly, part of the reason I selected this film was because I just really love it. Ken Burns films are just amazing. This film chronicles the family experience during the Dust Bowl era. The documentary was released in 2012, making it very modern, though the content is obviously 80 years old. It features interviews with Dust Bowl surivors (primary sources), which is an important element of historical reading. The documentary would be viewed during class, and some students would be able to view some segments at home on their iPads. To determine text complexity, I input the transcript from part of the film into StoryToolz. It scored a 9^th grade level, which is in line with the majority of the students in the class. Giving students text at the appropriate grade level would ensure that students won’t get too frustrated watching a film that they don’t understand. I agree with the score, I think the vocabulary and sentence structure is pretty appropriate for 9^th graders. Some important vocabulary words for this film are: reap, combine, expanse, rape (as in “they raped the land”), resemble, mustard gas, topsoil.

This text would be used to help introduce the Dust Bowl, as a follow up to the interactive Dust Bowl site. Using film, showing photos, interviews and clips, will help engage students in the subject, as well as get the important background information that they’ll need. Part of being an effective teacher is using differentiation when teaching, and students who are more visual would get more out of watching a film than reading a textbook or a website.

When watching the film, I’d ask students to compare the experiences of the people interviewed in the film with their answers from the previous text, “What would you do if your family farm failed for several years? Stay put and keep working, or move somewhere else?”

3. Book (Print), Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Dust

I’m so excited at the possibility I might teach this book in a class! It was my favorite book in like 3rd grade, and I’ve read it at least ten times. I think the reason why this book is so interesting is because, though it’s historical fiction, it’s so readable. It follows Billie Jo, a girl living in the heart of the Dustbowl, the panhandle of Oklahoma. It shows Billie Jo’s struggles, along with those of other families trying to survive the Dust Bowl. The structure of the book is free verse poetry, which provides students with a different means of getting information about the Dust Bowl. It will engage students by containing the narrative of one girl’s story, as well as a unique type of text that may engage students that don’t normally enjoy reading. StoryToolz rated this book around a 4^th grade reading level, and because it’s free verse, it would be a breeze for most students to read most, or all, of it. Important words to go over would include: what free verse poetry is, Panhandle, and FDR.

Thought Question: How does Billie Jo’s story compare to other peoples’ stories that you’ve seen or read? How does the use of free verse affect your opinion of the book?

4. Book (Print), The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Timothy Egan

http://www.amazon.com/The-Worst-Hard-Time-Survived/dp/0618773479

The Worst Hard Time is a National Book Award Winner following the experiences of those living during the Great Depression’s Dust Bowl. Egan interviewed survivors who were as interesting as any nonfiction book. These firsthand accounts of life in the Dust Bowl are informative, but the language is also very creative and engaging. I would use this text in scaffolding, because the language is more difficult than Out of the Dust. I’d probably use it after the other three texts because it’s the most difficult to read in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure. The aim, though, is to engage students in reading at higher levels to encourage growth and literacy. Story Toolz rated the book at varying levels, some portions were lower level, while other sections of text I input for quantitative analysis were rated at a college level. Because the book balances several reading levels, it would be good for scaffolding to help students get better at reading.

Thought Question: How reliable are the stories that you’re reading? Are they corroborated by any other sources you’ve read?

5. (Print) I’d Rather Not Be On Relief, Lester Hunter

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/dust-bowl-migration/pdf/relief.pdf

These lyrics are from a song written by Lester Hunter in 1938. The song was written about the Dust Bowl experience, and is somewhat similar to Woody Guthrie music. It’s written from someone experiencing the Dust Bowl’s hardships point of view. This text is great because students may be able to better relate to music and lyrics. I’m still looking for a youtube clip of the song, but if I found it, I would accompany the lyrics by playing the song. It’s a different way of giving information about the Dust Bowl. The average grade level for this text is about 8^th grade, which seems accurate. Some of the vocabulary would be difficult for the students so it would need to be accompanied by a section of going over vocabulary. I would probably use this to engage students who might be slipping after doing a lot of more intense reading with the other print texts. Some vocabulary: lean-to, WPA, gypsy, dickens.

Thought Question: Does this song accurately represent the experience of the Dust Bowl family? Why? How do you know?

6. Photos (Print), Migrant Farm Families, Dorothea Lange Collection of Dust Bowl Photos

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/

I really enjoy analyzing photos as part of a text analysis. Though there isn’t any reading necessarily associated with them, they can really help engage students and teach them a lot. In some cases photos can teach us what written texts can’t. Analyzing photos is an important aspect of reading like a historian as well. These photos were taken by Dorthea Lange as she followed families in the central United States, and as they headed west in search of more opportunities for success. The photos don’t have a quantitative text complexity, but I do think that looking at photos is more difficult than reading some texts. I’d use this “text” last because then students could use all of the knowledge they’ve built up reading the other texts to interpret and analyze these photos. It’s also a good way to summarize the unit in general. I would have to go over how to analyze photos again, though I have spent a lot of time looking at photos with my students.

Thought Question: what can you conclude from looking at this/these photos? How do you know?