The Roaring Twenties
William Ludwick
Introduction (general theme of unit)
This Unit will cover the presidency of
Warren G. Harding through the lead up to
the Great Depression.
This unit will go through the scandals of
the Harding administration, foreign affairs
of the time, Economic Boom, the ripple
effect of cars, prohibition, new
inventions/popular culture.
Introduction (identification)
 This Unit will be taught to ninth-grade American
history students
 This will be taught at a Dayton Public High
School
 This unit will be taught mainly as a whole-class
unit
 This will be taught to the students when they
return from their Thanksgiving break and will last
for roughly ten to fourteen days
Unit Objectives
 Know the Republican Presidents view of how the
economy should work and what was the best
way to make America prosperous
 Know the American Views of the world after
World War I and the foreign affairs of the US in
the twenties.
 Know the causes of the economic view of the
twenties and explain to who this boom truly
applied to.
Unit Objective Continued
Be able to list several ripple effects of cars
in the twenties.
know the reasons for prohibition and the
culture that prohibition created.
Be able to list several inventions of the era
and their importance.
Know the basics of the popular culture of
the time.
Lesson 1- discovering the knowledge of
the students
 Provide a pre-test to the students to find out how
much the students know about the subject.
 This will consist of roughly 15 multiple choice
questions, six matching, two short answers, and
a short essay.
 This will not be graded, this is simply to find out
what the students know.
 The students will be given ten points simply for
completing the test.
Lesson 2 – Harding’s Presidency
Use the computer and projector to project
images of President Harding so the
students can put a face with the name and
actions. (google.com then image search
Warren G. Harding)
Pass out a worksheet that is partially filledin. Have the students read page 680-681
that briefly covers Harding and have them
fill in the blanks on the worksheet.
Lesson 2 - continued
 Pass out a small quiz that asks about what we
have learned about Harding’s presidency so far.
Allow the students to use the textbook and the
notes they filled in.
 Have a short discussion about how other
Presidents besides Harding have had scandals
go on while they were in office. This ties the past
with the present.
 Lesson 2 NCSS standards met – II, V
Lesson 3 – Death of Harding and
Presidency of Coolidge
 Have students read part of supplement reading
#1 (The Roaring Twenties by David Pietrusza).
 After reading this supplement, hold a class
discussion regarding the death of Harding and
the views of President Coolidge.
Guide the students in the discussion how the two were
different including the different personalities of the men
and similarities such as their views on business
prosperity and how this would translate to prosperity for
all Americans.
Lesson 3 continued
Assess the students based on their
participation in the discussion. Be sure to
call on students who are not participating
and get everyone involved.
Lesson three NCSS standards met: II, VI,
Lesson 4 – Foreign Affairs
 Show a PowerPoint lesson discussing the
foreign affairs of the time.
 Pass out the printed version of the PowerPoint
for all of the students to add any additional notes
they would like to add.
 PowerPoint will cover American feelings after
World War I, creation of the Soviet Union, Latin
America relations, and Disarmament.
Lesson 4 continued
Use Google Earth (Assuming it’s already
downloaded) on the computer to bring up
satilite images of the USSR and Latin
America so the students can get an idea
as to where they are located compared to
America.
Breifly discuss the cultures of the Soviet
Union people and Latin Americans so
students can see differences in cultures.
Lesson 4 continued
Assess the students learning by allowing
them to take home and complete a
worksheet that covers the PowerPoint and
the discussion of the USSR and Latin
America.
The students may use the printed out
PowerPoint and any notes they took.
Lesson 4 NCSS standards met: I, III, IX, X
Lesson 5 – Economic Boom
 Have the students read passages from two of
the supplemental readings prior to class.
Supplemental #2 (The Twenties in America:
Politics and History by Niall Palmer)
Supplemental #3 (Focus on U.S. History by
Kathy Sammis).
 Place students into groups. Give each group a
piece of poster board and a marker. Have each
group write out what they believe are the major
reasons for the economic boom based on the
assigned readings.
Lesson 5 continued
Have each group get in front of the class
and present their poster board. This will be
how they are assessed for the day.
After each group presentation, discuss
with the class some of the points that they
may have missed. Tie in how this era of
economic boom compares with other
boom eras in US history.
Lesson 5 NCSS standards met: II, VII
Lesson 6 – Political cartoons from the
time period
 On the overhead, I would show six to eight
(depending on time) political cartoons.\
 I would show a political cartoon and have the
students write down what they think the cartoon
means
 After asking a few students what they thought, I
Would explain what the political cartoon is
suppose to mean. The students would write the
real meaning down too.
 The students would be graded on whether or not
they completed the work.
 Lesson 6 NCSS standards met: V, X
Lesson 7 – The ripple effect of cars
Have the students read supplemental
reading #4 (a reading that I made for
them).
Use the computer and projector to show
students cars, gas stations, assembly
lines, roads, construction crews, and other
images that relate to the ripple effect of
cars in the twenties. (google.com then
image search for these pictures).
Lesson 7 continued
 On the board, create a concept map for the
ripple effect of cars. Have cars in the middle and
the ripple effects of the car surrounding it.
Complete this with the help of the class. Have
the entire class copy this concept map down on
notebook paper.
 Assess the students on their work on the
concept map.
 Lesson 7 NCSS standard met: I, II, VII, VII
Lesson 8 – computer lab view of the
twenties
 Have the Students visit the following website ,
http://www.authentichistory.com/1920s.html
 Give the students a worksheet that they must fill
out when visiting the website. The worksheet will
ask vague short answer questions that the
students should have no problem filling out as
long as they try.
 Lesson 8 NCSS standards met – I, II, V, VIII
Lesson 9 - Prohibition
Have students read a section out of their
text book and a passage from
supplemental reading #5 (Prohibition:
Thirteen Years that Changed America by
Edward Behr).
Pass out notes to the class that are almost
fully filled in. Go over the notes discussing
prohibitions and the readings and have the
students fill in the rest.
Lesson 9 continued
As a class, watch some clips from the
movie The Untouchables.
Hold a class discussion on how the
scenes we saw in the movie related to the
readings we read earlier on prohibition.
Lesson 9 NCSS standards met – I, V, VI,
VIII
Lesson 10 – new inventions/pop. culture
Have students read assign reading from
textbook.
Give students a worksheet to complete
using the textbook.
Use document camera to show the
students images of the inventions and
popular culture of the roaring twenties.
Discuss how these inventions have led to
the America that we live in now.
Lesson 10 continued
 The teacher will also use the computer and
projector to project computer images of the
twenties.
 These images will be taken from the following
website,
http://www.authentichistory.com/1920s/general/192
0simages01.html
The class will discuss how these images relate to
modern America
Lesson 10 NCSS standards met – I, II, VIII
.
Lesson 11 – Unit Review
Pass out a review guide for the unit test
Allow the students an entire class period
to go over the packet and ask any
questions they may have.
Go over the packet at the end of class so
the students have the correct answers to
study from for their test
Lesson 12 - Unit Test
Pass out Unit test covering all the lessons
that we covered.
The test will comprise of several multiple
choice questions, some matching, two
questions using political cartoons, three
short answer questions, and an essay
encompassing the entire unit.
Teacher References
 #1 notes taken in college courses.
 #2 American Decades 1920 – 1929 by Judith S.
Baughman
 #3 The Roaring Twenties by R. Conrad Stein
 #4 That Jazz!: An Idiosyncratic Social History of
the American Twenties by Ethan Mordden
 #5 The Twenties: Fords, Flappers, & Fanatics
By George Edwin Mowry
Student References
#1 The Roaring Twenties by David
Pietrusza
#2 The Twenties in America: Politics and
History by Niall Palmer
#3 Focus on U.S. History by Kathy
Sammis
#4 (a reading that I made for the class).
#5 Prohibition: Thirteen Years that
Changed America by Edward Behr
Intervention/Adaptation for Students with
Special/Individual needs
I differentiate my teaching through-out the
unit. I provided visual aids, movies,
partially filled in notes, class discussions,
readings, concept maps, and many other
different types of teaching styles.
I will allow extra time for these students if
needed.
I will modify the tests for these students if
needed.
Reflection
I have no reflection for this Unit since I am
not actually teaching it.