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THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN YOUR CLASSROOM: Creating Successful Student Lessons around American Memory

Total workshop time: 2 hours

Time	Activity	Materials & equipment
10 min	1. Introduction: workshop goals and components. (No official breaks indicated, but participants may take care of needs during computer work time.)
60 min	2. Work & Share time Explain compression of original assignment for workshop purposes. Complete Part One (20 mins) as described on the exercise page. (Teachers may work alone, with a partner, or in small groups.) Debrief Why did you select the photographer you did? What's the most interesting thing you learned about your photographer? How would you describe his/her style? How are his/her pictures alike? How do his/her subjects relate to The Grapes of Wrath? Complete Part Two as described on the exercise page. Facilitator may have participants create visual poster display with their images if time and materials are available. Debrief How plentiful were the images on your topic? How difficult was it to find and select the images that you chose? How did what you found online compare with what you read in The Grapes of Wrath? Are the real images similar to your mental images? Which image is the most powerful one you found and why? What did you learn about the American Memory collections? What did you learn about your chapter's topic?	Student lesson "FSA-OWI Photo Project," with student worksheets The Grapes of Wrath: Thematic Chapters Photograph Ranking Sheet computers with Internet access, printer posterboard, markers, glue/tape (if participants are going to create a display of the photos they selected for Part Two)
40 min	3. Analysis of Lesson Components Facilitator will refer to actual student lesson, comparing it to the abbreviated workshop activities. Share examples of product images and found poems. Use questions on exercise page to debrief on this particular lesson only. Extend conversation to include experiences other have had using technology. These can include facility/hardware experiences and lesson creation and instructional experiences.	Student lesson "FSA-OWI Photo Project," with student worksheets Examples of student posters Additional AM lesson using found poetry from the Learning Page - Enhancing a Poetry Unit with American Memory
10 min	4. Extending the Lesson Using Audio and Text Collections Facilitator will lead discussion on how this lesson format could be extended to collections of oral histories and music Discussion of how using diverse collections in combination with each other could enhance learning about the Depression Era. If time allowed, participants could spend time exploring these other Depression-based sites and identify specific lesson ideas.	Student Lesson: FSA/OWI Photo Project Student Lesson: WPA Federal Writers' Project Student Lesson: Voices of the Dustbowl Learning Page - Lessons (See Great Depression) MS - The New Deal: North Carolina's Reconstruction? MS - Visions In the Dust HS - Brother, Can You Spare a Dime HS - Figuring Somepin 'Bout the Great Depression HS - The Great Depression and the 1990s HS - Immigration/Migration HS - Using Oral History

 

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Last updated 09/26/2002