Mary Ledbetter, M. Ed. UT Elementary School - Austin, Texas Fifth Grade Teacher

 The important thing about teaching the Great Depression, is that it gives your students an opportunity to develop empathy and understanding about the past so that they can apply those lessons to the future.  It is fun, meaningful and relevant to their lives.  It isn’t rote memorization of dates and names.  It is full of sights, sounds, and experiences that make them want to know more.  The important thing about teaching the Great Depression is that it gives my students a frame of reference for their lives and helps them become empathetic, thoughtful citizens.

 Great Depression Art and Literature:  Novels – Out of the Dust, Hesse & Esperanza Rising, Muñoz-Ryan  Picture books – Rudy Rides the Rails, Mackall  Poetry – Celebrating America complied by Whipple  Art – No Work (1935) Blanche Grambs  Photos - Migrant Mother (1936) Dorothea Lange  Letters – Dear Mrs. Roosevelt…

 Great Depression Multi-Media:  Artifacts – JackDaw, Pub. and Teacher Created Materials, Inc.  On-line Museum and supplemental resources – The Price of Freedom: Americans at War  On-line Radio, News, and Music recordings/lyrics  On-line Video footage – United Streaming  On-line lessons - Brain Pop  PBS – The American Experience website

 Migrant Mother lesson using poetry writing, art, & read alouds  Photographic Art analysis  Read aloud  Student Writing - If I Were…  Student Art "Nipomo, Calif. March Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children and their mother, aged 32. The father is a native Californian." Migrant Mother,

…about teaching the Great Depression is _____________________________________. It is ________________________________. It isn’t ______________________________. It __________________________________. But the important thing about teaching the Great Depression is_____________________.