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Drought refugee family from McAlester, Oklahoma. Arrived in California October 1936 to join the cotton harvest. Near Tulare, California.

Figuring Somepin 'Bout the Great Depression

Lesson Three:  Analyzing Issues

Objectives At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
  • interpret articles and editorials from Depression-era newspapers in order to understand the migrants' relationship to political issues of the Great Depression;
  • analyze song lyrics of the period to better understand the point of view of those who lived during the Great Depression, and
  • select articles and songs appropriate to compile a scrapbook from the point of view of a migrant worker;
Resources
Materials

Procedure

    Preparation

  1. Select and print out examples of news articles and clippings from the Voices from the Dust Bowl Scrapbook. Choose an article to use as a model in your presentation and several articles for distribution to the students.

  2. Select and print out examples of the lyrics of the songs of Woody Guthrie. Choose a song to use as a model in your presentation and several others for distribution to the students.

  3. Obtain a copy of the Woody Guthrie CD Dust Bowl Ballads for classroom listening.

    4. Classroom Presentation

  4. Model to the students the analysis of the news article that you have selected, using the How to Analyze a News Article worksheet.

  5. Distribute copies of news articles to each individual student.

  6. Each student analyzes a news article from the Voices from the Dust Bowl Scrapbook, using the How to Analyze a News Article worksheet.

  7. Model to the students the analysis of the lyrics of the song that you have selected, using the How to Analyze a Song worksheet.

  8. Distribute a copy of the lyrics of one of Woody Guthrie's songs to each individual student.

  9. Each student analyzes Woody Guthrie's song lyrics, using the How to Analyze a Song worksheet.


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Last updated 09/26/2002