Summary
This lesson will focus on the impact of the New Deal in addressing the hardships of the Great Depression. Guiding this lesson is an essential question focused on debating the level of government intervention in a crisis situation and when that intervention becomes too powerful. Students will be able to voice their opinions on government intervention in the past as well as current policy actions that address issues in present times. They will also have an opportunity to research New Deal projects that shaped their community as a way to extend this lesson further.
Essential Question(s)
What are the roles and responsibility of government? When should government solve a problem? What makes government too powerful?
Snapshot
Engage
Students will debate if the government is too powerful using the Four Corners activity.
Explore
With a graphic organizer, students will analyze a primary source written by FDR in 1933.
Explain
In groups, students will debate whether or not FDR's response to the Great Depression was an overreach of power.
Extend
Students will locate a New Deal project in their local area and write a short paper over its history and its importance to the area.
Evaluate
The group or individual SOAPS handout and the research paper will serve as the assessments for this lesson.
Materials
Computers or I-pads for student use
SOAPS-Graphic Organizer, student handout
New Deal at Home Assignment, student handout
FDR's Fireside Chat of May 1933- student handout
Engage
Present students with the statement, "The American Government too powerful." Once they have had a chance to think about whether or not they agree with the statement, students will show their response through a Four Corners activity, by moving to the corner that best represents their level of agreement or disagreement with it. Students will then discuss their reasoning with classmates who gather around the same response and determine, as a group, justification for their opinion. Once groups have come up with their justifications, allow each to share out their thoughts. These responses will drive the discussion.
Explore
After the Four Corners activity, split students into groups of four or five.
Distribute multiple copies of the "Fireside Chat Transcript," as well as multiple copies of the "SOAPS Graphic Organizer." Groups may have the option of filling out multiple SOAPS or simply putting all of the information on a single copy. Have students use the SOAPS graphic organizer to analyze FDR’s Fireside Chat transcript from May of 1933. Before they start, advise students to pay close attention to FDR’s ideas on addressing the problems of the Great Depression that are laid out in the document, specifically programs that expand the role of government and ones that could possibly be viewed as governmental overreach.
Explain
Students should remain in their groups for the next activity.
On the board, write the question, "Did FDR and the government exercise too much power in the response to the Great Depression?" Each group will discuss the question and come to a consensus based on evidence they have gathered from their research. Students will choose a spokesperson for the group and share the group consensus while providing evidence to support their opinion. Students may cite their primary source analyses from the previous activity as reference. Also, provide students with Internet access to help them look for further information to back their opinion. The answers from each group will drive the debate from there. As a closing portion of the debate, pose the following question, "Can you think of any examples of governmental overreach that are happening today?"
Extend
Students will prepare a research paper over New Deal programs in your area, specifically projects that are both completed with local people and that put people back to work. To start this project, distribute the "New Deal at Home Handout" to the class and read it with the students in order to field questions and concerns. Using computer lab time or technology in the classroom, students will have one class period to research New Deal projects in your area. For the actual assignment, students will write a one-page research paper (minimum, three pages max) over a specific project, focusing on what the project was, where it was built, and why it was built in that area. Students should also provide pictures, when applicable.
Evaluate
As part of the evaluation piece, the group or individual SOAPS handouts and the research papers will serve as assessments for this lesson.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Four corners. Strategies. Retrieved from https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5064550
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. Retrieved from https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f507c1b8
Roosevelt, F. D. (1933). May 7, 1933: Fireside chat 2: On progress of the first two months. University of Virginia, Miller Center. Retrieved from https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/may-7-1933-fireside-chat-2-progress-during-first-two-months
