Activity
1.Quiet time: Give each student a copy of Handout
1 (lyrics) and read the song lyrics in class.
2. When done reading, ask students to fill out Handout
2 (analysis form). Give them 10-20 minutes.
3. When time is up, ask them to share thoughts and questions
raised by the song lyrics.
4. On an overhead, compile a list of messages students
feel address the song. Communicating concepts are:
- Unemployment
-
jobs
-
standing in line
-
the need for bread
-
boots slogging through hell
-
earth to plow
-
being ignored
- being
overlooked
5. Compile separate list of questions students raise
based on the song. (Refer to Teacher’s Aide 1 for questions and possible answers to help guide students,
if necessary.)
6. As a class, categorize questions into the three categories:
-
the time period
-
the character
-
the event
7. Have students write the list and questions in
their notes. Pose the following question:
What event is being described?
8.
Answer questions that will help realize the Great Depression
as being the possible
time period
this is
taking place.
Use Teacher’s Aide 1 to help
direct the questions.
9. Introduce topic of The Great Depression
and the question of how it affected where
and how
people lived.
10. End by setting the stage for the next
lesson (which will require they explore the
Great
Depression in more
detail)
by exploring
the following concepts:
- How
the Stock Market Crash of 1929 (October) aggravated
a world-wide depression
to new depths.
- How
it affected business and banks
- How
it changed the way people lived and survived.
- Why the Depression in the United States affected the
rest of the world.
- Why
our foreign policy during the Great Depression
worked
to our disadvantage.
- How
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) economic
solutions
re-defined
American government’s role in the social
lives of the people.
- What
the financial philosophy of the time
was, a philosophy
supported
by J.
Edgar Hoover
and how FDR’s New Deal changed
how we looked at government and business
relationships.
- The
role overproduction and under-consumption
had on agricultural
production.
- The
role an environmental catastrophe such
as drought can
have to
an already
strained economy.
- Industry,
unemployment, job loss, and
the rise of the unions
to protect
the worker.
Closure
11. End with the following question: What was the Great Depression?
Homework
If
applicable.
|
Embedded
Assessment
The student’s song analysis forms and participation
in class discussion can be assessed.
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