Process

 

Farm foreclosure sale. (Circa 1933)



Step 1: Background
Each group will be responsible for answering these questions on a separate paper when turning in the newspaper.

        1. How were the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations different with their approach to the Great Depression?
        2. What were the political causes of the Great Depression?
        3. What was the New Deal?

Step 2:  Selection of the city you will research
Each group will be assigned a city to research and create a newspaper.  Each group should focus on studying the effects of the depression on the city assigned including the surrounding area.  The teacher will assign one of the cities listed below to each group.
1. New York, New York
2. Detroit, Michigan
3. Warm Springs, Georgia
4. Ames, Iowa
5. Tulsa, Oklahoma
6. Dallas, Texas
7. Lexington, Kentucky
8. Los Angeles, California

Step 3:  Researching from a specific perspective
The group will explore each one of the following perspectives of the Great Depression: economic, social, political, and cultural.  Your group will need to analyze the perspective and answer the questions given.  Approach the questions from the perspective of your group's location.  The group must also list the Internet sources that were used to answer the questions.
Economic Analysis
1. What were some of the economic causes of the Great Depression?
2. How were businesses and jobs affected in your area?
3. Based on your research, in an editorial format can you suggest things that may have prevented the Great Depression?
Your main goal as economic analyst is to explain to your team why the economy collapsed.  There are many different views on why the Depression occurred.  Your task is to research the differing opinions and determine which one you believe is most credible.  

Social Analysis
1. What social changes occurred during the Great Depression?
2. How were children affected by the Depression?
3. Depending on your group's city, how were farmers and/or urban citizens affected by the Depression and the devastating dust bowls?
Your main goal as social analyst is to describe the social atmosphere during the Depression.  Explain to your group what life was like for children, men, and women.

Political Analysis
1. What was the impact of decisions by Hoover and/or Roosevelt on your locality?
2. How did local politicians react to difficulties in their area?
3. How did some of the programs in the New Deal impact your area?
Your main goal as political analyst is to evaluate the politics before and during the Great Depression.  Focus on determining the successes and failures of the New Deal.

Cultural Analysis
1. What works of art and/or art projects were created in your locality?
2. What did radio programming and newspaper articles tell us about the mood of the era?
3. What did the art work tell us about their area?
Your main goal as cultural analyst is to determine what the culture (arts) of the Depression explains about their attitude.  You should be able to explain to your group what the newspaper, advertisements, art, and film say about the era.

Step 4:  Sharing research with the group and reaching consensus
The group has learned about the different perspectives on the Great Depression.  Now the group must come together with expertise gained by searching from each perspective.  Use information, pictures, letters, facts, opinions, etc. from the Web pages your group explored to explain the group's analysis of the questions.  Finally, the group must now review the analysis questions to collaboratively discuss and edit for changes.  

Step 5:  Creating the group newspaper
Your newspaper will need to include the following:
1.  Newspaper title
2.  Date and city the newspaper was distributed.  Your newspaper articles should then focus on topics that directly related to that part of the country.
3.  Four sections which focus on each of the four perspectives that are researched:
a.  Business (economic perspective)
b.  Lifestyle (social perspective)
c.  Government (political perspective)
d.  Entertainment (cultural perspective)
4.  Two 3-5 paragraph articles for each newspaper section. 
5.  Pictures with captions:  at least 1 that relates to each article.
All group members are responsible for editing the final product.

The newspaper must be word processed and created in a computer program that will enable you to clearly layout the information in an easy to read format.  The final project should be saved and also printed out. 

Step 6:  Presenting the project
Each group will present their newspaper to the class.  Each group member will read one article from their newspaper. 

Enjoy the journey, and be sure to investigate thoroughly to find information that may be interesting or different from your current lifestyle.

Follow along with the rubric provided on the Evaluation page to make sure your work matches the project expectations.

Now you can go to the Resource page and use the links provided to compile the information needed.


Introduction
 Task
 Process
 Resources
 Evaluation
 Conclusion