TeachRock

Materials Needed:

1. Students need a device with access to the internet.

Preparation:

1. Distribute Document Set – Scenario Primary Sources to each student electronically. 
2. Display Gallery Walk – Realities and Reactions around the classroom for Part 2 of the lesson.

Motivational Activity:

1. Ask students:
   • Is there a type of music, musician, or song you like to listen to when you are having a bad day?
   • What makes you want to listen to it/them when you are having a bad day?
2. Play the clip above, Sample from “Detroit Moan” by Victoria Spivey. Then, ask students:
   • Why might someone like this song? What is compelling about it?
3. Next, play the clip above, Sample from “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Benny Goodman. Then, ask students:
   • Why might someone like this song? What is compelling about it?
4. Explain to students that both these songs were written in the 1930s when the United States experienced the global economic decline known as the “Great Depression.” Then, ask students:
   • What do you know about the Great Depression already? What might it have been like?
   • Why might have songs such as the ones you heard be popular during this time?

Procedure

PART 1: CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

1. Divide the class into groups of five and distribute one copy of Handout – Character Profiles and Budget Sheets to each group. Ask student groups to choose one of the five characters in the handout so that all characters are covered in each group.
2. Display Slideshow – Great Depression Scenarios (Teacher’s Guide) and ask students to read their assigned character’s profile and briefly discuss within their groups. Then, ask students the questions on the first slide.
3. Display Slide 3 of the presentation and instruct students through what the stock market is and what it was like in the 1920s. Move to Slide 3 and instruct students to view Scenario 1 primary sources on the Document Set – Scenario Primary Sources document shared with them electronically. Guide students through the investment opportunity and allow them time to fill in their decision on their character’s budget sheet.
4. Move to Slide 4-5. Instruct students to examine Scenario 1 primary sources on the Document Set – Scenario Primary Sources. Guide students through the investment opportunity outlined on the slide, and allow them time to fill in their decision on their character’s budget sheet.
5. Continue to guide students through the remaining scenarios. Use the questions on each slide to facilitate a class wide discussion. Allow time to view the corresponding primary sources for each scenario and fill in the budget sheet when applicable.
6. Discuss the last slide (Great Depression Statistics and Facts) with the class. Then, ask students:
   • What surprised you most during the scenarios?
   • What did you feel about what your character experienced? 
   • What one thing will you remember about the Great Depression from the scenarios?
7. Display Image 1, Exit Ticket.

PART 2: REACTIONS TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION

1. Distribute Handout – 1930s Listening Party to students. After students complete the activity, ask them to share their songs and question responses with the class.
2. Ask students to find a partner and instruct them to circle the room to view the Gallery Walk – Realities and Reactions. Instruct students to discuss the question below each source with their partner as they examine each source.  Then, ask students:
   • What was it like for people living through the Great Depression based on the sources you examined?
   • How did people react to the Great Depression based on the sources you examined?
   • What is one thing that surprised you?

Summary Activity:

1. Distribute Handout – COVID-19 Pandemic Compare and Contrast and ask students to complete the graphic organizer. Then, ask students:
   • What are some similarities between the Great Depression and the COVID-19 Pandemic?
   • What are some differences between the Great Depression and the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Extension Activities:

1. Read about the Harlem Swing Club. (This excerpt contains primary source documents and other materials that may include terms and images reflecting the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times that today are considered offensive and demeaning. TeachRock does not endorse the views expressed in these documents, but recognizes the value such materials provide for historical inquiry. For guidance on introducing controversial historical materials into the classroom, we suggest reviewing this document from the Library of Congress.) Answer the questions below:
   • What kind of societal space was the Harlem Swing Club?
   • What did it provide to the community?
2. How might someone learn more about the Great Depression using the Library of Congress newspaper archive, Chronicling America?
   • What years should go in the search parameters?
   • What keywords might someone use in the search parameters to get the most helpful results?
3. Create your own 1930s playlist.
   • Research other songs from the 1930s and create a playlist.
   • What did you like about these songs?
   • What is the overall mood and tone of the songs?
   • Do you think they would have been used to escape or connect to the realities of the Great Depression?

Document Set – Scenario Primary Sources Gallery Walk – Realities and Reactions Great Depression Scenarios Presentation (Teacher’s Guide) Handout – 1930s Listening Party Handout – Character Profiles and Budget Sheets Handout – COVID-19 Pandemic Compare and Contrast

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Social Studies Standards

History

• D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
• D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.
• D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
• D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.
• D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
• D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.
• D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

California History–Social Science Content Standards

11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.

• 1. Describe the monetary issues of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that gave rise to the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the weaknesses in key sectors of the economy in the late 1920s. 
• 2. Understand the explanations of the principal causes of the Great Depression and the steps taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress, and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat the economic crisis. 
• 3. Discuss the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, and unwise agricultural practices and their effects on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in California.
  

District of Columbia Social Studies Standards

US2.39 Analyze the reasons for the Great Depression, including the impact of underlying economic and social conditions of the 1920s, and evaluate its impact on different groups of people in the United States, with special attention to race, ethnicity, religion, gender and class. 

US2.41 Analyze the rise of nativism and violence as a result of the Great Depression, including efforts of the American government to “repatriate” American citizens of Mexican descent to Mexico.

Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework Standards

Topic 2. Modernity in the United States: ideologies and economies [USII.T2]

2. Describe the multiple causes (e.g., fall in stock market and commodities prices, restrictive monetary and trade policies, post-war reparations and debt) and consequences of the global depression of the 1930s (e.g., widespread unemployment, decline of personal income, support for social and political reform, decline in trade, the rise of fascism), including consideration of competing economic theories that explain the crisis (e.g., insufficient demand for goods and services [Keynesianism] vs. insufficient supply of money [monetarism]). 
3. Gather, evaluate, and analyze primary sources (e.g., economic data, articles, diaries, photographs, audio and video recordings, songs, movies, and literary works) to create an oral, media, or written report on how Americans responded to the Great Depression.

Connecticut Secondary Social Studies Framework

US-4. The 1920s, Great Depression, and New Deal

• US.His.6.a. Analyze how authors, artists, and musicians documented perspectives and experiences of individuals and groups throughout the interwar period (e.g., Jacob Lawrence, Dorthea Lange, Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón).
• US.His.12.b. Develop questions to investigate the causes and effects of the Great Depression using multiple historical sources.

New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Social Studies

Era 9. The Great Depression and World War II: The Great Depression (1929–1945)

• 6.1.12.GeoHE.9.a: Determine how agricultural practices, overproduction, and the Dust Bowl intensified the worsening economic situation during the Great Depression.
• 6.1.12.EconNE.9.b: Compare and contrast the causes and outcomes of the stock market crash in 1929 with other periods of economic instability.
• 6.1.12.HistoryCC.9.a: Analyze how the actions and policies of the United States government contributed to the Great Depression.
• 6.1.12.HistoryCA.9.a: Explore the global context of the Great Depression and the reasons for the worldwide economic collapse.
• 6.1.12.HistoryUP.9.a: Analyze the impact of the Great Depression on the American family
  and ethnic and racial minorities.

Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

• Theme 1: Culture
• Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
• Theme 3: People, Places and Environments
• Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity
• Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
• Theme 7: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

Common Core State Standards

College and Career Readiness Reading Information Text Standards for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.