Unit: The Interwar Years,

Transcription

1 Allen 1 Unit: The Interwar Years, Subject: World History II Grade Level: 10th Day of Unit: 2 Topic: The Great Depression/global economic depression SOL Standard: WHII.11 Kind of Lesson: Inquiry Inquiry Question: What were the causes of the Great Depression/the global economic depression of the 1930s? *Adapted from: Overview: This lesson will be taught to high school sophomores in mid-march at a high school in Virginia. The "Interwar Years" unit will last 4 days, plus a 5th day for a test. Provided pacing holds true, I will begin teaching students about the Great Depression/global economic depression on the second day of the unit. Understanding the causes of/circumstances surrounding the Great Depression/global economic depression is listed as part of the essential knowledge associated with SOL standard WHII.11. In this inquiry-driven lesson, students will use both primary and secondary sources to help determine what the causes of the Great Depression/global economic depression of the 1930s were. Lesson objective(s): 1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the economic developments during the Interwar Period by citing causes of worldwide depression (SOL WHII.11). 2. Students will practice analyzing and interpreting primary and secondary sources in order to determine the causes of these economic developments. 3. Students will practice critical reading skills by using annotations (i.e. highlight important phrases/sentences, margin commenting, reader reactions, etc.). Procedure: 1. Setting the Stage: I. Steps: A. Students will be divided into pairs or small groups for this activity.

2 Allen 2 B. Students will be asked to work in their pairs/group to hypothesize what they think are possible causes of economic depression. i. Each pair/group will elect a "recorder" to write down the hypotheses. C. Each pair/group will be asked to offer a hypothesis as to what causes economic depressions to the rest of the class. The teacher will write these hypotheses on the whiteboard. D. Students will use these offered guesses later in the lesson to see which hypotheses were supported by the data and which were not. 2. In pairs and/or groups, students will receive copies of a document worksheet. They will use this "Document Analysis" worksheet (Appendix A) to evaluate which hypotheses were supported vs. not supported by a given data set. I. At this point, the teacher will review the "Document Analysis" worksheet with the students. 3. Students will be given the first document. In their pairs/groups, they will critically read this document and annotate it (documents will be laminated). Students will fill out the "Document Analysis" worksheet for the first document. Then, the teacher will reconvene the class as a whole group and the document will be reviewed together. Students will offer answers about which hypotheses previously drafted were confirmed/denied, and the teacher will mark a checkmark or a negative sign next to those hypotheses on the board. I. Step 3 will be repeated until all of the documents have been read, annotated, and analyzed by the students and the hypotheses have been confirmed/denied several times via document reading/analysis. 4. Following the inquiry lesson plan, students will be given a notes sheet (for studying purposes) (Appendix E) that lists the causes of the Great Depression/global economic depression during the 1930s. 5. Students will complete (for homework) the Writing Prompt activity. There are two options that the teacher could use for this assignment. I. Students will analyze a photograph from the Great Depression era. They will then pretend they are the subject/photographer of that photograph and write a diary entry or letter from the perspective of that person. II. Students will do research to compare/contrast the causes of the Great Depression (as learned through this inquiry lesson) with those of the Great Recession of the late 2000s. A. The goal is for students to learn which things are universal causes of economic downturns. Assessment: Formative Small group work on the tables, reporting during class discussions, check of the "Document Analysis" worksheets

3 Allen 3 Appendix A: Name: Date: Block: WORKSHEET: Document Analysis (Some questions attributed from an Archives.gov example) Title of Document: Do you know the author? If so, who is it? What kind of document do you think this is (a speech, newspaper article, etc.)? What is the purpose of this document? List evidence in the document that helped you figure out what might've caused the economic depression: What hypotheses are supported by this document? What hypotheses are NOT supported by this document? What new hypotheses about the causes of the French Revolution did you find evidence of in the document? According to the document, which hypothesis is the most important?

4 Appendix B: Allen 4

5 Allen 5 Appendix C: Herbert Hoover's Letter to Senator Hess, 1933

6 Allen 6 Appendix D: Excerpts from John Maynard Keynes' "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" "I believe that the campaign for securing out of Germany the general costs of the war was one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom for which our statesmen have ever been responsible. To what a different future Europe might have looked forward if either Mr. Lloyd George or Mr. Wilson had apprehended that the most serious of the problems which claimed their attention were not political or territorial but financial and economic, and that the perils of the future lay not in frontiers or sovereignties but in food, coal, and transport. Neither of them paid adequate attention to these problems at any stage of the Conference." [...} "The Treaty of Versailles includes no requirements for the economic recovery of Europe, nothing to make the Central Powers good neighbors, or promote economic unity amongst the allies. The large amount of money spent on the war effort has left us in debt. There is an inability of the allied powers to repay America for the lend-lease program which loaned military equipment, humanitarian aid, supplies, and money. In the two generations before the outbreak of war, Germany transformed from an agrarian state to an industrial state. As an agrarian state, Germany could feed forty million inhabitants. As an industrial state, Germany could feed sixty-seven million inhabitants, but the war has hurt German industry. Much of their food and resources were imported from their colonies. Now that the war is over, they have lost their colonies, merchant fleet, and foreign investments. There is no doubt that their industry will suffer greatly. Businesses and factories are failing, and soon Germany will not be in a position to give bread and work to her numerous millions of inhabitants who are prevented from earning their livelihood by navigation and trade."

7 Allen 7 Appendix E: Name: Date: Block: Notes: Great Depression, Global Economic Depression What were the causes of the Great Depression/global economic depression of the 1930s? Short-term causes: Stock market crash in 1929 Banks demand repayment of loans U.S. can no longer loan money to other countries (like those in Europe) Businesses fail and factories have to close High protective tariffs Long-term causes: Large debts from WWI European countries are dependent on U.S. loans - Becomes a problem for Europe when the U.S. banks collapse Overproduction of goods and a decline in demand Widespread use of credit Failure of the Treaty of Versailles regarding reparations What were subsequent effects of the Great Depression/global economic depression of the 1930s? Short-term effects: High unemployment Bank failures Collapse of credit Loss of faith in capitalism and democracy Authoritarian leaders gain support Long-term effects: Nazis take control of Germany Scapegoats (especially Jews) are blamed for economic failures Stage for WWII is set

8 Allen 8 Name: Date: Block: Critical "Reading" and Response: (Option 1) Life during the Great Depression Directions: Choose one of the photographs and "read" it. Look carefully at it. Who is in the picture? What is the picture of? What is the subject? What do you think the picture and/or its photographer are trying to tell you? What story might it be trying to tell you? After looking at and "reading" the picture, you will write a story about the photo. Do not write just a summary of the photograph itself! This response should be done in a narrative format. should be writing a story. For example, if you are looking at the picture of a mother with a baby, take on the role of the mother. What is her life like? How has the economic depression hurt her and her family? Make the response a personal one. Possible response ideas include a story, a letter, or a diary entry.

9 Allen 9 Name: Date: Block: WRITTEN RESPONSE: (Option 2) Comparing the Causes of the Great Depression and the "Great Recession" Directions: You have just completed an inquiry lesson in which you learned about the causes of the Great Depression/global economic depression of the 1930s. With that knowledge in mind, you will compare and contrast the causes of the Great Depression with those of the "Great Recession" of the late 2000s in a one (1) page response on the back of this page. What similarities do you see? Any differences? Why do you think the similarities/differences exist? Are there certain universal things that seem to lead to economic depressions? While researching, you can use this PolitiFact article ( as a starting point, but you should also do some of your own research. You can use other articles, graphs/charts, political cartoons, and photographs to use as your compare/contrast evidence. Make sure you keep track of the resources you use and write down your evidence on the Venn diagram below. This graphic organizer will help you organize all your comparison/contrast evidence so you can write your written response. Great Depression Great Recession

10 Allen 10 Research Report : Comparing and Contrasting the Causes of the Great Depression and the Great Recession CATEGORY 3 POINTS 2 POINTS 1 POINT 0 POINTS Mechanics No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors. Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. Graphic Organizer Comparison and contrast element All three sections of the Venn Diagram graphic organizer are accurately and appropriately filledin. Student makes several comparison AND contrast examples between the Great Depression and Great Recession Two of the three sections of the Venn Diagram graphic organizer are accurately and appropriately filledin. Student makes only a few comparison AND contrast examples between the Great Depression and the Great Recession One of the three sections of the Venn Diagram graphic organizer are accurately and appropriately filledin. Student makes any number of comparisons OR contrasts, but not both Graphic organizer is entirely incomplete. Student fails to include any appropriate comparison AND/OR contrasts in their writing response Inclusion of evidence from class discussion Students uses 3 or more examples of classrelated evidence in writing response Student uses 2 examples of classrelated evidence in writing response Student uses 1 example of classrelated evidence in writing response Student does not use any class-related evidence in writing response Use and citing of outside sources for "Great Depression/Great Recession" causes Student uses 2+ proper outside sources (i.e. newspaper articles) and identifies these sources Student uses 1 proper outside source (i.e. newspaper article) and identifies the source Student uses any number of resources (and identifies them), but none of them are valid, reliable sources Student uses no outside sources or identifies no outside sources