The Great Depression Foldable Activity
The Causes of the Great Depression
Overview
Description
The lesson focuses on the causes and effects of the Great Depression. When the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, it led to the beginning of the Great Depression that affected many businesses and Americans economically. The crash caused businesses to close and people to lose their jobs and become homeless. As the depression worsened, people became desperate for the government to assist them. President Herbert Hoover decided to implement government policies that would help improve conditions for Americans, but were they enough?
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan: The Great Depression
Teacher: Stephanie Bradley
Grade: 10-12
Overall Goal: The overall goal of this lesson is for students to understand how the American identity was affected by an economic boom and bust in the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1920s, optimism drove stock prices to new highs, but risky investment practices set the stage for a crash. Fearing danger, investors sold their holdings, causing the market to lose lots of money and the nation’s banks to collapse. Companies went out of business and lots of people lost their jobs. People were faced with the problems of not being able to provide for their families.
Standard: USHC.4.P Summarize the changing role of the government in the economy during the period 1917–1945.
Learning Target(s): I can explain the causes and effects of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, and assess the degree of change in American Life by analyzing forces for continuity and change.
Academic Vocabulary:
Herbert Hoover
stock market
Long Bull Market
Black Tuesday
Hooverville
Dust Bowl
repatriation
Public Works
Agricultural Marketing Act
Reconstruction Finance Corp.
Emergency Relief Act
Bonus Army
In order to achieve this goal, the instructor will open the lesson by having students copy bellringer (listed on the whiteboard) and record their responses in their journals. Bellringer: How did the prosperity of the 1920s give way to the Great Depression? Students will participate in a class discussion based on their responses to the bellringer.
The teacher will demonstrate a lesson (PowerPoint) on the Great Depression. The teacher will discuss the rise and fall of the American economy in the 1920s and 1930s and describe the impact those trends had on American life.The teacher and students will discuss how changing economic conditions shaped governmental policies.
Assessment:
The students will create a foldable activity to assess the effectiveness of President Hoover’s policies in response to the Great Depression. Students will describe the measures the government took, and describe the results of those measures.
Exit Slip: How did the Great Depression happen, and how did Americans respond to it?