WWII: America Joins the War

Dr. Seuss seems to bring us all to a place of childhood nostalgia. He also brings us political satire.
Today in class we analyzed a cartoon Dr. Seuss drew before the United States joined WWII.

Students had to observe, infer and question the cartoon.
I also asked students if they thought Dr. Seuss was in support of going to war, or against it. Most students said he was obviously against it. I had at least one in each class say that no, actually it looks like he is for going to war. He appears to be making fun of the situation. Below is the explanation of Seuss' views on the war and his intentions with the cartoon.

"Dr. Seuss wants the U.S. to get involved in the war effort against the totalitarian regimes. It is clear that Europe is weak as a result of the takeover by fascists and Stalin and the entire continent is suffering. The caption seems to chide the U.S. for staying in their own bed and not getting in with the rest of the suffering nations. Uncle Sam is portrayed as large and clearly healthy, and seemingly able to assist but has his eyes closed to the situation since he has a separate bed."

We had a class discussion on joining the war. Two questions were presented, and students had to write about their opinion on each. I had students share their opinions on each.

{Prior to Pearl Harbor}

• Why would Americans NOT WANT to join WWII?
• Why might Americans WANT to join the war?

The Dust Bowl

After having students complete a homework assignment on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, we spent the day hearing stories from those who lived through it.

I found a video on Discovery Education, that you can access HERE  that follows the story of two families during the 1930s. One from Oklahoma, and one from Arkansas.

After learning about the decisions of thousands of farmers to pack up their belongings and move West, we had a class simulation of the same.

These were the guidelines of the activity:

Our farm in Oklahoma is covered in dust. We are losing the farm to foreclosure because we are unable to make a profit off the land. We are losing everything.

As a family,(yes, we are a large family… but family nonetheless!) we are heading west in search of a new life, new jobs, new opportunities.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE??  

You have the clothes on your back, and we are heading out of town in the morning. Take only what you can carry.

On a small slip of paper, write down four essentials you CAN NOT live without.

 

Then we had to do some imagining :) They had to pretend the conditions from the 1930's still applied to our simulation, but they could bring the items they actually own today in 2013.

I read the lists out at the end to see what things we were bringing with us. This is always entertaining to see who prepares for the journey with hygiene essentials like a toothbrush and deodorant (we are always thankful for the ones who remember those items). There are those who cant live without their phones, but some unlucky few who forget to pack their charger.  I had several today bring guitars so we could sing campfire songs along the way :)

This was a fun way to end the discussion today! I hope they were able to in some small way understand the sacrifice of leaving many things behind to start anew.

American's Face Hard Times

We are covering the Great Depression this week.

After the notes of statistics and figures of the bank failures and businesses going bankrupt, it is easy to forget the faces behind the numbers.
How easy is it to gloss over 25% unemployment? It's the stories that give us insite into the lives of those millions of people out of work. Its the stories that tell us what it was like to have to leave home, leave your family behind to find work - food.

In 2009, Lisa Ling went into Tent City in Sacramento, California; one of the hardest hit cities during the current recession to interview the occupents. I show this clip to my students every year for a few reasons. One, its a good clip. Two, students are able to emotionally connect with the hardship of thos ewho lost everything when the economy started to fail. Three, they are able to connect the stories of the people in recent years to the lives of those who lost so much in the early 1930's.

(originally aired on Oprah, Feb 18, 2009)

 

 

 

 

The stories of the people we are studying are the bases of history. It is easy to sometimes forget the reality to the condensed versions of what we gloss over in textbooks. Another great resource - interviewing those you know!

Today, I was reminded of the importance of story. I had several students share their family historyin class. They told the stories of their grandparents, and some great grandparents experiences during the Great Depression. They were stories that allowed me, and their classmates to learn a little more about the time period than had we just stuck to the notes.  

 

I won't use names, but I want to be able to share the stories with you - in hopes you will also be able to better understand the lives of those who experienced the Great Depression in the 1930s. These are not direct quotes - but as close as I can remember!

 

 

"My grandma's parents sent her and her siblings to a children's home, because it was the only way she could insure they would get something to eat. The parents would come visit the children. But they lived there throughout the Depression."

"My family lived in Kentucky on a farm at the time. They said it wasn't that big of a deal there. They were able to farm, and live off the land. They never had to really worry about food." 

"My great grandma didn't trust the banks! She hid money all over her house. Once she died, we were finding money stashed away in toilet paper rolls!"
 

Have a conversation with your family to learn your family history. What did your family experience during the Depression?

Do you have stories to share??

 

 

 



Keep Calm

US History Timeline

I have a large wall at the back of my classroom. For the past 6 years I have stared at that wall trying to figure out what to put on it. There are a few posters, but with such a big space it looked a little silly.
At the beginning of the year I decided I wanted to utilize the space as a review for my students. We have an EOC exam from the state each May. When we start reviewing for it in May, I have found that a lot of my students have completely forgotten what we discussed in August through April.  I wanted to change that.

Brainstorming

I created a HUGE US History Timeline.

For each chapter we cover, I create some type of visual (something we used in class during the instruction) they can look at to remind them of what we talked about. I gave my students a learning style inventory at the beginning of the year, and a large number of my students are visual learners. This is a way to target that learning style. My hope is that looking at the review everyday all year, the material will stay fresh in their minds.
This week we are reviewing for their Midterms.
The timeline has proven to be very helpful (I THINK)! It is a teaching tool I can reference as we are discussing the different chapters we have covered. We will see how they do on the exams next week, but I think the visual will help trigger the discussions we had in class.

1920's Projects

My students spent the past 2 weeks creating websites on the 1920s. They were able to choose any topic of interest to them. I had some who picked the normal 1920′s topics like jazz music and the flappers. I also had a few research fun topics like bubble gum and pez in the 1920s.

The websites turned out great. I was impressed with the work that was completed.

We used Google Docs to complete this assignment. I went in and created a class webpage, then shared the site with the class so they had access to edit the page. Students told me their topics the day before we started working with the computers. I was able to set up all the pages (topics) to the webpage before they started working.

Students had to use 3 resources, one of those had to be a book source. They also had to include a primary source document on their website. This could include a quote from or about the person they were researching, a newspaper article or magazine from the time; really anything from the 1920s! This proved to be one of the challenges of the research, but many were able to find a primary source to include.

When planning this project, I was debating on how I wanted students to present their research to their classmates. I wanted everyone to see/ learn about the different topics. I decided to do a webquest. As a requirement for this project, I had the students include 5 questions at the bottom of their site that anyone could answer, based solely on the information they included.

The day after the projects were due, I had the students log back into the website and visit at least 5 other student’s webpages. I wish they would have had more time to look at all of them, but that wasn’t possible in one class period. I allowed them to choose which 5 they wanted to look at/ answer. They just had to complete the 5 questions from 5 different sites (25 questions total).

I wish I could link to all the sites so you can see them, but they are protected websites and you must have a log in to see them. If you have feedback, or questions, please let me know!

Prohibition and Organized Crime

The 18th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1919. The temperance movement had finally won. I guess Carrie Nation showed up to enough saloons out in Kansas to get the vote! (You know, if she had still been alive in 1919).

Carrie Nation, "The Original Bar Room Smasher"

Prohibition, known as the "Noble Experiment", created one of the most lawless decades of our time. It also contributed to the new music, dance, fashion and movies of the time. Prohibition caused ordinary law-abiding citizens to become police-dodgers!

Organized Crime also was at it's height during the Prohibition age. With the outlawing of alcohol, it became Big Business for the underground market. Bartenders needed a product, and the mobs had what they needed. Men like Al Capone and Bugs Moran ran the city of Chicago by making millions in the alcohol business. Law enforcement tried its hardest to stop the illegal sell of alcohol but with drastic measures taken on the side of the bootleggers, bar owners and bar attenders, it was an impossible task.

"Prohibition marked the zenith of the temperance movement. In the end, however, Prohibition proved to be temperance's undoing, for Prohibition proved to be an utter fiasco. Millions of Americans continued to drink illegally, and a lucrative black market in booze fueled a shocking rise in organized crime and violence. By 1932, a large majority of the American population favored Prohibition's repeal, and Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932 in no small part because he promised to let Americans ease the pain of the Great Depression with beer. Alcohol has been legal for American adults ever since." (Shmoop Editorial Team)

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Gender in History of Drugs in America" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Today in class we paired class discussions of Prohibition and Organized Crime with several video clips on the topics (found on Discovery Education Streaming). We discussed the rise of the speakeasies and the bootleggers of the 1920s.

Students connected the 1920's to today. The TV show on the History Channel, Moonshiners, has brought the topic to our TV screens in recent years. There have been many movies in recent years created on the topic too.  We also discussed the dangers of the unregulated alcohol, moonshine, of the 1920s and how many could have and did face death because of it.
One student asked the question, if it is so apparent that Prohibition didn't work in the 1920s, why is the country trying so hard to do the same thing with the war on drugs today? Good Question. There are a lot of connections to the Prohibition movement of the 192o's to today's battle the country is facing. With the recent laws changed in Colorado and Washington it will be interesting to watch how the rest of the country responds.


- To further address this issue, check out this article HERE from Scholastic and the Scientist of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The chemical components of this plant are not able to consistently be regulated. There are over 400 different chemicals in this drug - which differ from plant to plant, so it is impossible for the FDA to approve it. The FDA's job is to keep you safe and away from harm!

Scopes Trial

Today in class we are learning about the famous Scopes Trial that took place in Dayton, TN. in 1925.

Such a small town (around 1,800 people in 1925) in East Tennessee made such a huge impact on our country in the 1920s. Times were changing, that is for sure. Modernism pitted against fundamentalism. Creationism vs. Evolution. Rural traditions versus the Modernism of the cities. This court case was more than just guilty or innocent when it came to the issue of John T. Scopes teaching the theory of evolution in a public school. The truth was simple. Yes, he violated the Butler Act. He didn't deny that. He agreed to pay the $100 fine that was imposed upon him at the end of the trial for breaking the law. This trial was much bigger than that.

The trial of the century, as some refer to it, captured the attention of Americans around the country. Not because they cared for a silly school teacher in small town Tennessee. No, they cared about the topics near and dear to their hearts. Religion vs. Science was on trial. And they were turning in to hear the outcome of this monumental case. The Scopes trial was the 1st radio broadcast court case. People tuned in each day to listen in on the famous court room attorneys going head to head. William Jennings Bryan, the former Democratic Party candidate for President and Clarance Darrow, the well known lawyer and speaker on the topic of evolution and science made their way to Dayton, Tn. to defend both the case but their beliefs. In fact, Bryan was put in the witness stand himself and questioned by Darrow on the legitimacy of the Bible. It would seem fundamentalism (the literal interpretation of the Bible), and maybe even the Bible itself was on trial!

In the end, the traditional views that represented many of the rural parts of the South; in this case, the support of the Butler Act, won. The Butler Act remained the law of the land in Tennessee until the late 1960s. It was illegal to teach anything in opposition to creationism in any public school in the state, even at the University level.

Students had the opportunity to read an excerpt from the trial and act out a piece of history today in class. I found the script in America Firsthand: Readings from Reconstruction to the Present 4th Edition by Robert D. Marcus and David Burner (pages 157-163)

When we finished the theatrical performance of the trial, we had a class discussion using the BEFORE YOU READ questions that preceded the document.

We had a great discussion in many of my classes. Students were able to make a connection to their science classes today. Many came to the conclusion that the pendulum has swung the other direction. Today, in their textbooks, they learn about the theory of evolution. But they noted, no where in their biology books does it teach them about Creationism. One student even noted that if this court case would have happened today, it would be the teacher that taught Creationism to its students that would most likely be the one on trial. The last almost 90 years have brought a lot of change to the education system in Tennessee.

 

 



Students in my 7th period class acting out the Scopes Trial