Remembering the Great Depression

Teachers’ Page

This literary guide is designed to enhance the study of American literature set during the Great Depression. The site uses focused Web-based resources and activities appropriate for the secondary ELA classroom (target grades: 7-10).

Objectives

The site allows pre- and inservice ELA teachers to utilize the power of the Worldwide Web to:

1) Develop students’ understanding of the literary concept of setting.

2) Engage students’ personal responses to literature based on increased awareness of historical and cultural influences of the period.

3) Integrate Web-based materials and activities to enhance the study of literature set during the Great Depression, particularly Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Resources

1) Web resources focusing on the Great Depression and/or events leading to the historical period. Web sites have been screened for appropriateness for classroom use.

2) Web utility programs to promote interactive, on-line methods for students to demonstrate content mastery.

3) Personal memoirs about the Depression written by an author who grew up during the 1930’s.

4) Activity guides accompanying the memoirs to encourage evaluative and personal responses to non-fiction accounts of life during the Depression.

5) Activity guides developed to enhance understanding of the impact of setting in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and To Kill a Mockingbird to encourage evaluative and personal responses to fiction.

6) Suggestions for portfolio assessment.

Recommendations for Use

1) The K-W-L Chart can be used both as a pre- and post-study activity. As a preliminary exercise, the K-W-L Chart allows students to record initial ideas about the Depression, then note important information gathered from Web sites about the era. The Chart can be re-visited at the end of the unit to provide students an opportunity to reflect on changes from introductory ideas to developed knowledge about the topic.

2) The personal memoirs are included to give students a real-life context for the time period. Activity guides for the memoirs provide students with the opportunity to reflect on and respond to cultural differences between life during the Depression and their lives today as a springboard for studying literature set during the Depression. Most Activity Guides utilize additional Web resources for students to examine which relate to the topics of individual memoirs.

Note: Most memoirs have individual sections describing the major topic (e.g., the “Chores” memoirs contains sections on milking cows, baling hay, and picking corn). Therefore, teachers may wish to assign students to read individual sections vs. requiring each student to read an entire memoir before proceeding to the accompanying activity guide.

3) The Web resources included in the K-W-L Chart and memoirs activities provide a foundation for study of literature set during the Great Depression. Activities for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and To Kill a Mockingbird use Web utility sites and other Web resources to develop students’ interaction with the novels.

Note: Web resources and Web-based activities for the novels address a range of thinking and learning skills as well as a range of technology competencies. The variety of activities address content-based mastery, critical thinking, and creative expression. Many activities are designed in multiple parts of varying degrees of challenge, allowing flexibility and variety for classroom use. Some exercises use the Web as an add-on feature; others involve Web-based teaching and learning. Depending on computer facilities and technology infusion interests, teachers may wish to select activities most adaptable to their individual classroom environments.

4) Culminating “Challenge Activities” are suggested after completing work with the memoirs and the novels. The Challenge Activities encourage students to synthesize their learning to enrich content mastery.

5) Suggestions for evaluating student work through the unit are available through the Assessment link.

Additional Resources

NYS Learning Standards & NETS

Assessment Suggestions

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