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Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression

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This lesson provided by:

Author:	Alabama Department of Archives and Hist
System:	Informal Education Partner
School:	Informal Education Partner
The event this resource created for:	Alabama History Education Initiative

General Lesson Information

Lesson Plan ID:	33736
Title:	Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression
Overview/Annotation:	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

Associated Standards and Objectives

Content Standard(s):

Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 4
Alabama Studies

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

Examples: 1920s—increase in availability of electricity, employment opportunities, wages, products, consumption of goods and services; overproduction of goods; stock market crash

Great Depression—overcropping of land, unemployment, poverty, establishment of new federal programs

• Explaining how supply and demand impacted economies of Alabama and the United States during the 1920s and the Great Depression

Unpacked Content

Strand: Economics, History

Course Title: Alabama Studies (Alabama)

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Describe the impact the 1920s had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama.
Summarize the impact the Great Depression had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama.
Describe how supply and demand impacted economies of Alabama and the United States during the 1920s and the Great Depression.

Teacher 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.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SS.AAS.4.12- Identify the impact of the 1920s and the Great Depression on Alabamians.

Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 6
United States Studies: The Industrial Revolution to the Present

5 ) Explain causes and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the United States.

Examples: economic failure, loss of farms, rising unemployment, building of Hoovervilles

• Identifying patterns of migration during the Great Depression

• Locating on a map the area of the United States known as the Dust Bowl

• Describing the importance of the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States, including the New Deal alphabet agencies

• Locating on a map the river systems utilized by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (Alabama)

Unpacked Content

Strand: Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government

Course Title: United States Studies: The Industrial Revolution to the Present

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Explain the cause and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the United States.
Identify patterns of migration.
Locate on a map the area known as the Dust Bowl, as well as the river systems utilized by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
Describe the importance of the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Compare and contrast the policies of Harding, Hoover, and Roosevelt.

Teacher 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.

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SS.AAS.6.5- Define economic depression; identify the general factors of the Great Depression including stock market crash of 1929, Dust Bowl, Hoovervilles, and FDR.
SS.AAS.6.5a - Describe the purpose of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its location.

Local/National Standards:

National Standards for History, 1996 Standards in History for Grades 5-12, p. 117 Era 8, Standard 1B – The student understands how American life changed during the 1930s.

Primary Learning Objective(s):

• 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.

Additional Learning Objective(s):

Preparation Information

Total Duration:	31 to 60 Minutes
Materials and Resources:	• Classroom copies of the first four paragraphs from A Place of Springs by Viola Goode Liddell (Paragraphs may be projected instead.) • One copy per group of the following photographs: o African Americans picking cotton o Woman picking cotton in north Alabama o Toll of erosion o Former slave standing in field in Cahaba, Alabama o African American man standing in a field in Russell County, Alabama o Dadeville, Alabama gully stabilized with kudzu in 1934 o Farmer using a mule-driven plow o Alabama tenant farmer and children. Family labor in cotton. Near Anniston, Alabama • Knowledge, Observation, Interpretation Matrix • Postcard rubric • Postcard assignment sheet • Art supplies including scissors
Technology Resources Needed:	Internet access
Background/Preparation:	Background information for teacher: • The teacher should be familiar with the cultural and economic circumstances in the United States prior to and during the Great Depression The effects on African Americans after the Great Depression can be found at: http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1435 • Boll Weevil: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec11.html • An article about the Boll Weevil in Alabama can be found at: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1436 Student Preparation: The students should have an understanding of the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction on agricultural Alabama. • The students should have an understanding of the effect of Jim Crow on African Americans. • The students should have an understanding of the causes of the Great Depression. • The students should be familiar with the concept of setting in literature.

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.”

Assessment

Assessment Strategies

Grade the postcard by using the rubric.

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.
Intervention:	Allow extra time to complete the assignment.

View the Special Education resources for instructional guidance in providing modifications and adaptations for students with significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for the Alabama Alternate Assessment.

ALEX Lesson Plan

Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression