The Great Depression

Apprentice

Objective: Become familiar with the causes, effects, and events of the Great Depression.

Study/Learn

1. If you don't understand how stock markets work, watch Stock Markets in Plain English

2. Read the pdf: The Prosperity & Depression Decades (You can skip chapter 2) AND write a paragraph summary after each chapter. Be sure to include important people, key word definitions, and legislation pros and cons in your summaries. I will let you use these notes in class to play jeopardy, so the better they are, the better chance you have of winning :).

Journeyman

Objective: Learn how the Great Depression affected people.

Study/Learn

1. Research a family member that lived through the Great Depression. Find some stories from their life. How did the Depression affect them?

2. Watch either The Grapes of Wrath (1940) or Cinderella Man (2005)


Know/Understand
Complete 1 of the following:

• Find a Depression era recipe and make it. Bring some to share with the class.

• Create a slideshow of impactful photos from the Depression that depict the plight of the people to share with the class.

• Find some Depression era popular music, art or poetry. Bring some samples to share with the class. How were these expressive arts affected by the Depression?

Become/Serve

• Why does the Lord allow trials to happen in our lives? Find some scriptures on adversity and write yourself an explanation.

Master

Objective: Learn how the New Deal legislation succeeded and failed and how it drastically changed government.

Study/Learn

1. Read The Forgotten Man (Graphic Edition), by Amity Shlaes
Note: Read the "Cast of Characters", timeline, and book description at the back of the book before starting. Then you won't be confused like me when I read it :)

Know/Understand
Complete BOTH of the following:

• Become an expert on one of the following New Deal programs and be prepared to teach it to the class. Also develop a list of positive things your program accomplished and negative effects your program caused. In your opinion, was the program successful, why or why not, and if not. And, what, if anything, would you have done differently? Is your program still around today? How is it working now? Please email me and let me know which one you would like to do.

     - Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) -- MACK
     - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
     - Public Works Administration (PWA)
     - Social Security Act -- PATTY
     - Works Progress Administration (WPA) -- JEN
     - Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC)
     - Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• Find a current economic issue that society is facing, like the cost of healthcare, the number of people in poverty, the federal deficit, or jobs being outsourced overseas. What are people proposing to do about your chosen issue? What do you think should be done? Do you think the government should get involved?