A.
PURPOSE:
To discover the relevance about mankind’s relationship with the land during this pivotal time period and the environmental, economical, social, and artistic implications that resulted.
B.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s, particularly in 1934 and 1936.
The phenomenon was caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops or other techniques to prevent wind erosion. Deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains had displaced the natural deep-rooted grasses that normally kept the soil in place and trapped moisture even during periods of drought and high winds.
During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the soil in place, it dried, turned to dust, and blew away eastward and southward in large dark clouds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky, reaching all the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. Much of the soil ended up deposited in the Atlantic Ocean, carried by prevailing winds, which were in part created by the dry and bare soil conditions. These immense dust storms—given names such as "black blizzards" and
"black rollers"—often reduced visibility to a few feet (a meter or less). The Dust Bowl affected
100,000,000 acres (400,000 km2), centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Millions of acres of farmland were damaged, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes; many of these families (often known as "Okies", since so many came from Oklahoma) migrated to California and other states, where they found economic conditions little better during the
Great Depression than those they had left. Owning no land, many became migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages. Author John Steinbeck later wrote
The Grapes of Wrath, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Of Mice and Men, about such people.
Timothy Egan allows today’s readers a virtual experience of The Worst Hard Times
(click link) while exploring the stamina, impact, and legacy of “the great untold story of the Greatest Generation.” Their story of survival during a drastically changing landscape, which greatly impacted the nation, has influenced generations even unto today. The influence comes from the relationship between the people and the land. Egan believes in a unified existence with respect towards a place. He states “ It scares them because of the forced intimacy with a place that gives nothing back to a stranger, a place where the land and its weather – probably the most violent and extreme on earth—demand only one thing: humility” (1-2).

the+worst+hard+time.jpg
bookrevues.blogspot.com dbmapfinal.jpg
dustbowlechoes.blogspot.com
USAdustM.JPG
mcclungsworld.com
C. OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to relate to the living historians that experienced the Great
Depression and Dust Bowl days while researching the long-lasting effects that permeate to today and reflect upon the past mistakes in order avoid them for tomorrow.
D.
PROCEDURE: Students will work in small groups and develop a multi-media project that will explore 1 of 6 topics of study that will be presented to their peers and applicable educational groups.
E.
RESULTS: Students will showcase their research findings with a comparison over historical times; must include relevant statistics for chosen topic along with images, interviews, video clips, etc. in a well-organized format

F. LESSON GROUPS: Each Group will focus upon one of the following topics.
Each topic has associated hyperlinks that may be used for background information, ideas, or launching points for further study. Students may utilize additional resources than those listed below.
I.
EARTH http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/DustBowl/ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-04-09-dust-bowl_N.htm
http://www.buzzbox.com/topic/dust-bowl/
II.
WIND http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html
III.
FIRE http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/dustbowl-transcript/
IV.
WATER http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/DroughtintheDustBowlYears.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/dustbowlandaftermath.html
V.
WOMEN/CHILDREN http://voices.yahoo.com/women-american-dust-bowl-6161510.html
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm
http://royblizzard.hubpages.com/hub/The-Dust-Bowl-and-an-Undiagnosed-Illness http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/downloads/pdfs/Resource_Guide_Chapters/PictAmer_Resource_Book_
Chapter_18B.pdf
VI.
MUSIC/LITERATURE http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/americanhistory/secondary/lessons/lessons_std08/gray_d15.html
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.lt.016
F.
OTHER RESOURCES http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2CB9A0583C22EA8E&feature=view_all http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/
AC website links http://www.actx.edu/index.php?module=article&id=406
Dr. Dirt (Clay Robinson) http://www.doctordirt.org/home
TCEQ http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/
USDA Yearbook of Agriculture http://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2012am/webprogram/Paper74557.html
G.
RUBRIC TO INCLUDE
Point value
Sections covered within topic
Comparison over historical times—then and now
Must include images, interviews, video clips, statistics, relevant information for topic of study
Must be organized and presented in 10-15 min (or longer as warranted)
Must cite sources utilized
Must be grammatically correct
Must include all group members names and their effort(s) in project

CATEGORY
Presentation
4
Well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.
3
Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time.
All requirements are met.
2
Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.
One requirement was not completely met.
1
Delivery not smooth and audience attention often lost.
Requirements All requirements are met and exceeded.
More than one requirement was not completely met.
Organization Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material.
Attractiveness Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.
Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.
Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.
Content is logically organized for the most part.
Sources
Mechanics
Workload
Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All documented in desired format.
No misspellings or grammatical errors.
The workload is divided and shared equally by all team members.
Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. Most documented in desired format.
Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.
The workload is divided and shared fairly by all team members, though workloads may vary from person to person.
There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.
Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.
Source information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, but not documented in desired format.
Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.
Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.
Very little or no source information was collected.
More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.
The workload was divided, but one person in the group is viewed as not doing his/her fair share of the work.
The workload was not divided
OR several people in the group are viewed as not doing their fair share of the work.
Points
Earned

Originality Product shows a large amount of original thought.
Ideas are creative and inventive.
Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.
Uses other people\'s ideas
(giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.
Uses other people\'s ideas, but does not give them credit.
Total Score
Date Created: Jul 18, 2012 01:09 pm (CDT)