Portraits+of+the+Great+Depression,+Joshua+Deisler



==**Great Depression was a time of despair. People despaired because of the economy, drought, inequality, and disillusionment. The experiences of people varied significantly, but one common feeling was a loss of hope. This unit targets 6th and 10th graders as they read //Out of the Dust// and //Of Mice and Men//. Students will learn to ask relevant research and reflective questions, take adequate notes, and construct new knowledge by applying it to modern-day circumstances. Portraits of the Great Depression (link) **==

Peer Addition: Andrea Brinkley
In order to adapt the themes of these units about the Great Depression for younger learners, I thought about how fourth grade students could use the inquiry skill of questioning. Daniel Callison (2006, pg 7) considers a cycle of questioning to be “the essence of lifelong learning.” Children are generally good at asking questions, but they need guidance and scaffolding in order to develop an inquiry. In this unit, the teacher will provide the overarching question- //How was life different during the Great Depression?// The students will develop more specific questions about different aspects of life as they make connections and comparisons to their own lives while reading a novel set during the Great Depression. In terms of McKenzie’s (1997) Questioning Toolkit, the teacher provides the essential question and the students generate subsidiary questions. At this level, though, the students will not be expected to know and understand the names for different types of questions. They will focus their attention on developing questions that will satisfy their curiosity about lifestyle differences between the 1930s and today.

Like the sixth and tenth grade units, the Indiana English/Language Arts standards for //Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Literary Text// were considered for this unit//.// The following fourth grade standards apply:

4.3.2 Identify the main events of the plot, including their causes and the effects of each event on future actions, and the major theme from the story action.

4.3.3 Use knowledge of the situation, setting, and a character’s traits, motivations, and feelings to determine the causes for that character’s actions.

4.3.6 Determine the theme.

4.3.7 Identify the narrator in a selection and tell whether the narrator or speaker is involved in the story.

Students will consider these story elements as they read the novel //Chig and the Second Spread// by Gwenyth Swain. This Young Hoosier Award winning book tells the story of a young girl growing up in southern Indiana during the Great Depression. As she faces the typical challenges of growing up and developing an identity, she also does what she can to help her family and neighbors deal with the local effects of the Depression. The book presents students with a positive role model and also provides historical context for the Great Depression in an Indiana setting. Although mini-lessons will be conducted throughout the reading of the book to address the English/Language Arts standards, the inquiry skill of questioning will be utilized mostly to meet a Social Studies standard. As students read and discuss the book, they will generate questions about the Great Depression that will lead them to other information sources that in order to build an understanding of the following Indiana Academic Standard for Social Studies:

4.1.11 Identify and describe important events and movements that changed life in Indiana in the early twentieth century.

Students will be working to meet the following //Standards for the 21st-Century Learner://

1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life. 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.

As the class reads and discusses the novel in a whole-group setting, students will make note of the differences between Chig’s life in the 1930s and their own lives. They will record their observations in a graphic organizer asking “//How was life different during the Great Depression?//” As they become aware of differences, they will develop additional questions about life during the Great Depression. They will then identify 3 important questions that they would like to explore more deeply. They will publish the information they find in a tri-fold brochure entitled //Life During the Great Depression//.

After students have brainstormed questions and identified the three that they will focus on, they will rotate through stations containing the following books and resources:

We the People: The Great Depression by Michael Burgan Welcome to Kit’s World, 1934 by Harriet Brown Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman The Depression and New Deal by Robert S. McElvaine Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s by Michael L. Cooper Great Depression entry in //Encyclopedia Britannica Online// __[|www.school.eb]__ (school password required)

As students find information to answer their questions, they will record it on their “Questions and Sources Sheet” along with bibliographic information for the sources they used. Students will then use this information to create their brochures, which will be assessed with a checklist.

The unit could conclude with a viewing of the film //Kit Kittredge: An American Girl//. Students would identify effects of the Great Depression that are depicted in the film and compare and contrast Kit’s urban environment with Chig’s rural one.



Callison, D., & Preddy, L. (2006). //The blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy.// Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

McKenzie, J. (1997). Questioning toolkit. Retrieved March 31, 2012, from http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html#anchor177354