LESSON ONE
The Great Depression – Understanding the times during Of Mice and Men
Objectives: Listed on the white board
Students will be able to:
 Identify the time period and problems Americans experienced during the
Great Depression.
 Define at least three factors that lead to and/or deepened the economic
difficulties of this time period.
 Understand and define terms related to the Great Depression.
 Link the Great Depression contextual information to the coming novel
OMM.
 Evaluate how this author’s background led him to write about California
workers.
 Use prior knowledge to practice close reading and annotation skills.
Lesson Plan Type: Literacy, Cooperative Learning, Open-ended Discussion,
Technology (Laptops or phones needed)
Common Core:
RI 9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI 9-10. 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone.
RI 9-10.7: Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life
story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
SL 9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
a) Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current
discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the
discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
b) Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and
disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding
and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
SL 9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
L 9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking.
L 9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific
words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when
considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Warm Up: Prequiz – 5-10 minutes to describe the activity and take the quiz.
(Appendix A)
Word Wall:
Great Depression
Dustbowl
Black Thursday
tenants
dole
relief
bankruptcy,
foreclosure,
rationing
Migrant worker
TEACHER: “We are going to read John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men for this
unit. It is a famous story about the hardships and friendships during a difficult
period in American history. In order to better understand the background and
surroundings of these characters, it is important to understand this period of our
country. So let’s start with a short quiz (not for a grade) on what you know about
the time our characters lived.”
PREQUIZ – Appendix A
CLOSE READING ACTIVITY: 10 minutes “The Great Depression” (Appendix A)
TEACHER: “I want you to read the article and carefully annotate it. I want you to
highlight the words from the Word Wall you see. Also if you see a word or
phrase you do not understand be sure to highlight that as well. Does the article
help you understand these words through context clues? Then you will move to
your groups to answer the questions on the white board. We will stop after
question five and watch a short crash course on the Great Depression and
answer the rest of the questions.”
The students will carefully read through the article on their own using close
reading and annotation skills previously taught. Students will also be required to
highlight all words they did not know or understand. Specific words on the word
wall from this article: Great Depression, Black Thursday, Dust Bowl, tenants,
dole, relief, bankruptcy, migrant workers, foreclosure, rationing. We will define
other words the class adds at the end of the discussion. The teacher will pass
out playing cards for the group discussion.
GROUP ACTIVITY: 35 minutes
a.) Discussion 10 min; b.) Video 15 min; c.) Discussion 10 min.
TEACHER: “Go to the groups based on the card you received. Answer
questions one through five. Also define any words you did not understand.”
The students will then meet in groups of four to discuss the article and answer
questions one through five. Assuming a class of twenty-four, the ace and three
face cards in red (2 of each suit = 16) and ace and king in black suits (2 of
each suit = 8) will be distributed across the class. All four red Aces, red kings,
red queens, red jacks will group. All black Aces, black kings will group. The
following questions will be on the board or white board if available.
1.) What was the period of the Great Depression (Answer 1929-1939)
2.) Describe four things that happened to ordinary people during this
period. (Answers: lost their jobs, lost their farms, homes or
businesses, some committed suicide, were hungry and had to go on
relief or go to bread lines, participated in protests.)
3.) What kinds of protests occurred? (Answer: hunger marches, moving
back into homes, walks for farmers)
4.) What kinds of things did political and government leaders try to do to
fix this problem? Do you agree or disagree with their ideas? Did they
work? (Answer: Hoover’s desire to allow charitable non-governmental
intervention to address poverty issues; FDR’s limited initial relief
programs and finally the major deficit spending for WWII, infrastructure
and defense projects, rationing. Then, students will discuss their
agreement and disagreement with each approach and why they think
they did and did not work.)
5.) Define the words on the word wall and others your group did not
know. Students may use computers to research definitions. Each
group with be assigned specific words from word wall to define on the
board.
Questions after our Great Depression Crash course:
6.) After watching the video, what does your group think caused the Great
Depression? Do economists all agree? Economist do not agree, but
wide spread unemployment, farm failures, credit faults and bank
failures all played a role.
7.) What part did farming techniques play in food prices and farmers
ability to pay their mortgage and loans on farming equipment? What
happened as a result? Farmers were relying on credit to buy farming
equipment and had mortgages on farms. When the production
increased prices lowered leaving many unable to pay their bills and
foreclosure. Teacher will also talk about the impact of the Dust bowl
as it relates to drought and the stripped land created by new farming
techniques?
8.) What did people do to find work? They looked everywhere. Teacher
will relate it to OMM and the fact we will be looking at people who
traveled to California to work on farms and to seek jobs.
9.) Many believe that federal government intervention and World War II
help bring and end to the Great Depression. What does your group
think? The class will debate this issue.
TEACHER: “Now that you have a broad view of the Great Depression. Lets
watch a quick crash course on the causes and results. Look for more definitions
and context on for the words on the Word Wall. After we watch the video I want
you to spend another five more minutes with your group to see if you want to add
additional information to your answers. After you are finished each group will
provide the rest of the class with your responses.”
The Great Depression: Crash Course 14 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQfMWAikyU
Through both group activities the teacher will walk around and make sure all
groups are working productively and focusing on assignments. The teacher will
answer questions as needed.
FUN VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbwjS9iJ2Sw First 4 mins
Bank run: It’s a Wonderful Life
GROUP INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION AND LECTURE – 20 MINUTES
TEACHER: Let’s now discuss your answers to the questions posed to your
groups. Each group with be called on to answer questions (Answers provided by
each question)
Supplemental information while student’s provide answers:
1. No real consensus on why it happened.
2. Stock Market 1929 – correlative but not a cause
3. 1920 had a lot of consumption on credit that is not sustainable.
4. Farms had expanded and mechanized increasing production and low food
processes.
5. Those processes caused environmental conditions that exasperated the
drought conditions.
6. Massive unemployment.
7. Margin buying and financial help was not working
8. Weak banking system leading to waive of bank failures in the early 30s
9. Leading to less money in circulation, leading to deflation, leading to less
employment, leading to company foreclosure leading to more
unemployment.
10. Hoover did not infuse the economy. He saw the Depression as a global
issue caused by WWI
11. World Trade did come to a stop! We raised tariffs causing the problems to
accelerate.
12. Credit continued to be difficult to get.
13. By 1931, 2294 American banks failed, double that of 1930.
14. Hoover did not do nearly enough at the federal level and depended on the
state, local governments and private businesses. 1932 he tried to bail out
the banks but it was too late.
15. People lived in shantytowns and Hoovervilles. There were protests by
many different groups. African Americans were hit very hard.
16. The New Deal by Roosevelt infused the economy with jobs and money.
Teacher: Now that we have some context related to our novel Of Mice and Men,
lets learn a little bit about the author of the book and why he might have written
about the people of this time.
John Steinbeck Biography: 3:20 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3irviknt-fg
TEACHER:
John Steinbeck was very interested in the life and struggles of the people who
lived during this time and center much of his writing in California. Lets take look
at a map of California, which you will also find on the website. You will want to
use this map to help you understand the main characters George and Lennie’s
locations for this book. Location of OMM: California Map (Appendix A)
EXIT TICKET:
Homework: Watch these additional videos and provide at least one paragraph
on the blog and one for your journal. For the blog: Summarize what you learned
about the Stock Market Crash, The Dust Bowl, and The Great Depression. In
your journal: How do you think it would be to live during this period? What would
you do for your family to survive?
Social review of The Great Depression: 3 ½ minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8k0jJdqKP0
The 1929 Stock Market Crash: Watch from 42 seconds to end about 9 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJpLMvgUXe8
The Dust Bowl: 6 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTek7ipD4U
John Steinbeck’s writings on the Dustbowl and the move to California 1:39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqaTv8cCWeg
Read the First Chapter of Of Mice and Men