Lesson Plan

Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

4, 6

Overview

This lesson will include the use of a primary document and period photographs for a cross-curriculum lesson analyzing setting to identify some adverse effects of the Great Depression for farmers. The student will create a postcard which depicts an understanding of the impact of the Great Depression on farmers.

This lesson was created as a part of the Alabama History Education Initiative, funded by a generous grant from the Malone Family Foundation in 2009.

Author Information: April Mitchell (Cohort 2: 2010-2011); Greenwood Elementary; Bessemer City Schools; Bessemer, AL

Content Standards

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 4

SS10.4.12
Explain the impact the 1920s and Great Depression had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama.

Unpacked Content

Vocabulary

analyze
supply and demand
overproduction
overcropping
TVA
unemployment
poverty
wages
consumption
stock market
Great Depression
migrant
foreclosure
soup kitchen
relief
discrimination
segregation
consumer goods

Knowledge

Students know:

The increase in availability of electricity, employment opportunities, wages, products, consumption of goods and services, the overproduction of goods, and the stock market crash each had an impact on Alabama in the 1920's.
The overcropping of land, unemployment, poverty, establishment of new federal programs impacted Alabama during the Great Depression.
Supply and demand had an impact on the economies of Alabama and the United States during the 1920s and the Great Depression.

Skills

Students are able to:

Explain the impact the 1920s had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama including increase in availability of electricity, employment opportunities, wages, products, consumption of goods and services; overproduction of goods; stock market crash.
Explain the impact the Great Depression had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama including overcropping of land, unemployment, poverty, establishment of new federal programs.
Interpret data linked to supply and demand and understand how this impacted economies of Alabama and the United States during the 1920s and the Great Depression. Analyze the human impact of New Deal programs on the people of Alabama.

Understanding

Students understand that:

Events and consumer habits in the 1920's impacted the lives of Alabamians and how they lived during the Great Depression.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 6

SS10.6.5
Explain causes and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the United States.

Unpacked Content

Vocabulary

depression
economic failure
Hoovervilles
migration
Dust Bowl
New Deal
Tennessee Valley Authority
river systems

Knowledge

Students know:

What caused the Great Depression and the effect it had on the people of the United States.

Skills

Students are able to:

Examine cause and effect to see relationships between people, places, ideas, and events.
Use map skills to locate places of historical significance.

Understanding

Students understand that:

There were many causes and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the U.S.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Learning Objectives

Primary Learning Objectives

• The students will be able to describe and picture the effects of the Great Depression on Alabama farmers.

• The students will be able to determine setting, as a literary device, from a primary source document and photographs.

Procedures/Activities

Engagement/Motivation Activity:

Before:

The teacher will state, “The Great Depression began for farmers in the 1920s due an extended drought, low prices for farm products, the boll weevil, and poor farming techniques. What do you think life was like for Alabama farmers during the 1930s if times were already difficult by the beginning of the Great Depression?” Give students time to respond.

During:

Step 1 Pass out copies or project the first four paragraphs of A Place of Springs. Tell the students that this is an excerpt from an Alabama author’s memoir written in the 1930s. Say, “Follow along with me as I read the excerpts, and picture the setting in which this story takes place. As I read this, remember that setting includes time, place, mood, physical environment, and cultural environment.” Read the excerpt to the class.

Step 2 Ask the students the following questions about the reading:

• “Are there any words that you did not understand?”

• “Where is the action of the story taking place geographically?”

• “What time period is it?”

• “What feeling is created in this paragraph? Is it bright, cheerful, or dark?”

• “What did you visualize as I was reading?”

• “What are some of the descriptive words or phrases that caught your attention?’

• “Have you ever been in such a place? If so, describe the setting.”

Step 3 Divide the class into eight groups. Give each group a copy of the “Knowledge, Observation, Interpretation Matrix” and a copy of one of eight photos linked in Materials and Equipment. Give students time to analyze the setting using the matrix.

Step 4 Allow a spokesman from each group to share answers to the questions on the matrix while the teacher shows the corresponding photograph. Another group member will record descriptors related to the picture on a chart. Examples of descriptors should include hot, dry, erosion, few material goods, tattered clothes, insects, animal-powered farm equipment, dilapidated housing. Tell students, “This list of descriptors of setting will be displayed for your use as you create a postcard illustrating what you have learned.”

After:

Step 5 Pass out postcard assignment sheet and rubric to each student. Tell students, “Imagine that you are a young person living on a farm in Alabama during the Great Depression.” Instruct students to cut out the postcard portion of the sheet, then say, “On the blank side of the postcard design a picture illustrating the setting of your farm. On the other side, write a message describing a day in your life on the farm. Address the postcard to your hypothetical cousin in Ohio.”

Learning Activity (Before)

Learning Activity (During)

Learning Activity (After)

Assessment Strategies

Grade the postcard by using the rubric.

Acceleration and Intervention

Acceleration

Have students research the use of kudzu to stop erosion and the unintended consequences of its planting. They may illustrate their research by finding pictures or photographing results of unintended consequences of kudzu planting.