Design for Learning

Instructor: Ms. Sansom

Lesson Title: Despair, Dust, and Devastation
Curriculum Area: Social Studies

Grade Level: Sixth Grade

Date:
Estimated Time: 2 Days

Standards Connection: 5.) Explain causes and effects of the Great Depression on the
people of the United States.
Examples: economic failure, loss of farms, rising unemployment, building of
Hoovervilles
Identifying patterns of migration during the Great Depression
Locating on a map the area of the United States known as the Dust Bowl
Describing the importance of the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the
United States, including the New Deal alphabet agencies
Locating on a map the river systems utilized by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
(Alabama)
Learning Objective(s):
Students will reflect on the despair of the Dust Bowl by writing a letter to President
Roosevelt in the perspective of a farmer experiencing the Dust Bowl, proficient letters
will score threes in all categories.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Boys and girls, today you will be learning about how the Dust Bowl caused many people
to despair.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
To be considered proficient in their understanding of the eight main components of the
Dust Bowl, students must correctly utilize them in their letter to President Roosevelt from
the perspective of a farmer. If the students uses 6 or less components incorrectly, students
will not be considered proficient and will receive additional instruction from the teacher.
Engagement:
Teacher will begin the lesson by reading a letter from a 13-year-old boy that was
affected by the Dust Bowl to the Eleanor Roosevelt.
The teacher begins the lesson on Slide 28. The teacher asks students to get out their
guided notes and to listen carefully. Students I have something to share with you that will
set the tone for what we will be learning today. As I read think about crisis. How can you
hear crisis in the words of the writer? The teacher reads the following:
Dear Mrs. Rosevelt: I am 13 years old and will be 14 the 27 of this month. I am a victim
of a shut in. I have been sick ever since the 12 of July. And have a very lonely place to
stay. My parence's are very poor people. I cant even go to school yet with the other kids.
And doubt if I can this year. I have nothing I can do but set around and I get so lonely I
don't know what to do. And if you want to cheer me up and make me one of the happies

boys in the world just send me some money to get a cheap raido. I have got proof by the
neighbors that I am sick and have nothing to do. My parence names is Mr. + Mrs. A. J.
M. My name is F. M. I live at Kismet. Many, many thanks if you would cheer me up that
way I wouldn't spend it for nothing but a radio. It would pass my lonely time a way so
much faster. I only ask for a cheep one. F. M. Kismet, Kansas P.S. If I had any thing to do
I wouldent ask you of it. It will be highly appreached. I am in the dust bowl. We didn't
raise any crop this year. And we have to live off of the releif and theres no injoyment out
of that. But were thankful for it. My mother is sick and under the doctor's care most of the
time and my Grandma that lives with me is very poorly. And that keeps my heart broken
all the time. And nothing to amuse myself with. thanks a lot
Students, this is a letter from a 13-year-old boy that was stuck in the midst of the Dust
Bowl. Out of his deepest despair and loneliness he wrote Eleanor Roosevelt. Can anyone
remind me who Eleanor Roosevelt was? Yes! She was the first lady during the Great
Depression. Mrs. Roosevelt was very involved in politics. She actually redefined the roles
of the first lady. From listening to this letter what do you imagine drove him to write the
first lady? I mean its a pretty big deal to write the first lady of the President of the
United States? Student C? Excellent thinking! I agree, this little boy who was just a year
older than all of you are, was living in deep sadness, or what we could call DESPAIR. I
am sure by now you can guess what crisis we will be exploring today. We will be studying
how the Dust Bowl was a major crisis for many people during the Great Depression. We
will be analyzing how many people responded to the Dust Bowl. Remember when we
began our unit on the Great Depression. I lined up all these dominos on the front tables. I
had them all lined up in kind of a maze pattern. I told you all to think of the domino maze
as America in 1929. We said that the occurrence of the Great Depression were a domino
effect. One crisis led to another crisis, which led to another crisis. What crisis did we
study first where people erupted in a crazy panic? Student B? Yes! The stock exchange.
What did we learn about the stock exchange? Can someone name me the two main things
that I told you all we needed to know about the stock market? Yes Student C! We needed
to know that the Stock Market was number one: always changing, number two made up
of big corporations that people invested in to make money, and Then we learned that in
what year the rising stock market plummeted down? Yes! 1929. In 1929 the stock market
came tumbling done and investors were wiped out. How did people respond to this
crisis!? Yes! People responded in an all out panic. How did this panic transform society?
Student A? Yes! People went and pulled their money out of the bank. This is what they
called a run on banks. Because many people pulled their money out of the banks many
banks went under and failed. Society built distrust towards the financial system. Then
here we are at 1930. The stock market just plummets, thousands of people lost tons of
money. People are living in poverty and they are scared. Then the Dust Bowl hits...
(Teacher transitions to teaching)

Learning Design:
Teaching:
The teacher will begin the teaching by engaging the students in a See-ThinkWonder with pictures of the Dust Bowl. The teacher will introduce new vocabulary
terms pertaining to the Dust Bowl. The teacher will present important information
about the Dust Bowl to students. The teacher will incorporate a simulation into the
teaching where students will have to try to write with dust covered paper and
pencils and will reflect on the experience. The teacher will also have the students
explore an interactive website called What if you lived in the Dust Bowl?
Any guesses on what the Dust Bowl was? Just from hearing the name can anyone make a
guess? Good job Student C! The Dust Bowl was severe dust storms that greatly damaged
the agriculture in the prairies. That sounds pretty terrible doesnt it? You imagine that
destroyed agriculture would definitely cause a time of intense danger and difficulty? You
bet! The Dust Bowl is the epitome of a crisis. It may be hard to picture in your head what
a Dust Bowl looks like. We are going to learn more about the Dust Bowl by doing a
See-Think-Wonder activity as we view some photographs of the Dust Bowl. The teacher
passes out a See-Think-Wonder handout for the students to fill in. As we view these
pictures I would like you to fill out this chart. We are going to view each of these pictures
two times. The first time we view them I just want you to look at them. I want to examine
the pictures and make observations about them. I dont want you to write anything down
yet, just look at them. The teacher clicks through the photographs that are projected on
the Smart Board. Ok, now we are going to go through them again and I want you to write
down your observations in the first column. The teacher clicks through the photos a
second time. Ok, now I want you to take another minute to write down what thoughts
came to your mind when you viewed these pictures. You will write this part down in the
second column. Teacher pauses and allows students to think. Lastly I want you to jot
down what you wonder about. Remember, wonder means to question things. Be curious;
try to think like a detective would if they were viewing these pictures. You will write this
down in the third column Teacher allows students to wonder about the pictures. I want to
switch up pair and share time so I am going to number you off and I want you to find
your number group and share your See-Think-Wonder chart with your friends. Teacher
proceeds to number students off and they group up in different areas of the classroom to
share for about five minutes. I loved the discussion that I heard as I walked around the
classroom. I heard a lot of great questions being discussed during your share time. I
heard one group wondering how people that were living in the Dust Bowl could breath
with all of the dust and dirt. That is an excellent question. It was extremely difficult and
caused A LOT of people to get sick. Teacher refers back to the PowerPoint. Remember
this picture where the three women had the masks on. People were living in very
dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Not only was the dust unsafe it also devastated
farmers crops. It is very bad news when farmers crops are destroyed. That is like

destroying musicians instruments, or car salesmens cars. How are farmers supposed to
make a living if they dont have any crops to sell? Well, the answer is that they cant.
Think back to the letter that I read at the beginning of class. We read that the young boy
had to stay inside and both he and his mom where sick. He also mentioned something
called relief. Can anyone raise their hand and tell me what they think relief is, or
give me an example? Student B, you are correct! Relief is when an organization or the
government comes into crisis situations and helps meet the need of people that have been
affected by the tragedy. Remember how we began our unit discussing Hurricane
Katarina. New Orleans was so devastated by the hurricane that all sorts of relief teams
had to go in and help. Normally relief teams main goal is meeting the basic needs of
people, such as giving them shelter, clothes, water, and food. The areas affected by the
Dust Bowl needed this same help, so relief teams went into the Dust Bowl and helped
anyway they could. We are going to go a little deeper into FOUR main things. We are
going to study WHAT caused the Dust Bowl to occur, WHERE it occurred, how many
people responded, and how their responses transformed society. Teacher transitions to
Need To Know Vocabulary on the powerpoint. We are going to add a couple more
words to our word wall. Our first term is Dust Bowl. Read the card with me students.
The Dust Bowl was a drought in the Midwest that led to major crop damage. Take a
moment to fill that into your cloze sentences. Our next term is the New Deal. Read this
term with me, The New Deal was a group of government programs aimed to improve
conditions in America. We are going to be highlighting a few of these programs
throughout todays lesson! Take a moment to fill in the cloze sentence. The last term in
migration. This is a HUGE one for the Dust Bowl. Read it with me students.
Migration is a mass movement of people from on place to another. Students, it is very
important for you to grasp that the Dust Bowl stands as one of the worst environmental
disasters in United States history. It occurred in what is known as the Great Plains in the
southern region. The Dust Bowl began with a drought, which was not unusual for this
region of the nation. The difference this time was that native grasses had disappeared.
The grasses served a very important purpose. They anchored the soil in place. With the
absence of the grasses the wind was able to pick up the soil. Have you ever been outside
when it was super windy when you are trying to have a picnic and your napkins and
blanket kept getting swept up in the wind? This is what was happening to the soil. You
may be wondering Well ok I can understand why the soil got swept away in the wind
storms since the grasses werent there anymore but wait hold on WHY werent the
plants there anymore? What happened to them? Was anyone asking himself or herself
that question? The reason why the plants werent there anymore is because farmers had
not followed correct farming procedures and they over-farmed the land. When they did
this they lost the grasses that they needed to hold to soil in place. Wow, its crazy to me
how a mistake like this to caused such a crisis for several years. The Dust Bowl occurred
in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The teacher transitions to
Where Did the Dust Bowl Occur on the powerpoint. Now looking at this map can
anyone raise their hand and tell me which state or states where experienced the most
damage. Here is a hint students, in order for you to answer this question you need to use
the maps key! Teacher allows students to examine the map. Does anyone have an idea?
Yes, Student B! Exactly, the states that experienced the most intense damage were parts
on New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. These states were the most

heavily affected, although the dust did carry to other states, just not as badly. If you look
in your guided notes packet you will see that there is a blank map of the United States. In
just a moment I want you to get out a red and orange crayon. I want you to use the map
that is up here to color the parts of the country that was hit the worse by the Dust Bowl
RED. Then I want you to take your orange crayon and color in the states that were a
little less severe orange. Use the map that is on the Smart board as a guide. It clearly
shows which states were red and which ones are orange. Ok, you may get out your
crayons and color your maps. The Dust Bowl started with a giant storm of dust called a
black blizzard. This blizzard was an intense storm of dust. The blizzard continued
throughout the duration of the Dust Bowl. We are going to watch a very interesting video
that shows what these blizzards looked like and get some really good first hand
information from people that experienced the dust bowl. The teacher transitions to Slide
36 and plays the video Black Blizzard. The teacher will stop the video at 2 minutes and
45 seconds. Every time I watch this video I am just speechless. Is that not crazy or what.
I want to highlight some on the main things that you need to take away from the video.
Teacher transitions to Dust Bowl Video slide on the powerpoint. First of all, it is
important to note that the mass of dirt was 10,000 feet high. That is incredibly high. You
can imagine the terror when people saw that huge cloud coming towards them. The video
describes the cloud as suffocating. The clouds were packed with dirt. It was extremely
dangerous for people. The dust was consuming, it covered everything! The video
mentions that in one of these black blizzards there would be about 35 million pounds of
dirt. 350 MILLION POUNDS students. The video repeated a very important piece of
information that I just explained to you all. Can anyone tell me what that is? Yes! The
Dust Bowl occurred because of the disappearance of native grasses that held the soil in
place. The wind began to erode the soil to dust and then the wind began to pick the soil
up. I think this video does an incredible job showing just how scary and intimidating the
Dust Bowl was for people. Take a moment to talk with your table pod about what you
would be thinking in your mind if you saw a black blizzard coming towards you. The
teacher allows students to turn and talk and reflect on how they would feel if they were
caught in a dust storm. Can someone share about how they would feel if they saw a
10,000 foot storm of dust headed towards you? Yes Student A! I agree! I would feel very
scared as well. To think that this occurred for about 3 years. People were confined to
their homes: they had no money, many were sick, everything was covered in a thick layer
of dust. Now lets pause on that thought. Everything was COVERED in dust. Dust is a
little bit like glitter. It feels like you can never really get rid of it. It was very hard dare I
say impossible to keep anything clean. In order to get a small glimpse of what that was
like we are going to do a little demonstration. The teacher walks to the back table. Many
of you asked as you walked in the classroom today why there was a tarp covering the
back table. The teacher takes the tarp off the table a reveals a large bucket filled with dirt.
I have filled this large tub full of dirt. Now I have a surprise hiding in this bucket. I have
not only filled with tub with dirt but I have also filled this tub with pencils, paper,
notebooks, and chapter books. Now if we REALLY wanted to see what it was like to live
in one of these Dust Bowl states I would have put clothing items in here but I do not want
us to be tracking around dirt all day! But you should know that that IS what many people
had to deal with on a day in day out basis. Clothes covered in dust, food covered in dust,
sheets covered in dust, books covered in dust. It was an extremely trying time. The teacher

lays the tarp on the floor in a picnic blanket fashion. This is how this is going to work. I
am going to ask one table at a time to come a dig for a pencil and paper or a book. Then
you are going to find a spot on the tarp to sit down. Once everyone has gotten his or her
items you will each try to write with your dirt-covered paper and pencil for five minutes.
Then we will discuss this experience as a class. The teacher dismisses one table at a time
to come and get their items. Ok, students on the count of three we want you to begin
writing. Now you may be thinking, what in the world am I supposed to write? The
answer is you will write about dirt. You can be creative and decide what about dirt you
want to write about but your writing must have something to do with dirt. You will write
for FIVE minutes. Teacher sets timer. You may begin. The teacher allows the student to
write. Ok, time is up. Well what we that experience like? The teacher allows students to
share their thoughts for a few minutes. I love the feedback that I have been hearing from
you all. I have heard many of you say that trying to write with a dirty pencil and paper
was frustrating and you just wanted to give up! WELL, this is EXACTLY how many
people felt during this time. They simply wanted to give up. They were living in a bowl of
dirt, they couldnt keep anything clean, their lungs hurt, they were hungry, and flat out
unhappy. So students answer me this if you were living in one of these states would you
have wanted to stay. The teacher allows students to think for a minute. Student A, what
do you think? Yes, I dont blame you Student A, I would wanted to have moved away too!!
Well that is what MANY people did. Their response of despair led them to move. This
mass movement led to a TRANSFORMED society. People were fearful and felt quite
hopeless. Many people decided to move elsewhere to try to get away from the terrible
conditions of the Dust Bowl. We call the mass movement migration. A migration is a
movement of people from one place to another. Many people moved to near by states
such as California to start over. It was very difficult for people to leave their homes. But
these were desperate times. Farmers had lost everything. Their crops, livestock, and even
some lost their homes. We describe people during the Dust Bowl responding in despair.
Can someone raise your hand and tell me what despair means? Yes Student A! It means a
loss in hope. People were living in terrible conditions, they could grow anything, and
they were suffering from horrible environmental conditions. The teacher transitions to
Interactive Dust Bowl and explores the interactive Dust Bowl site with the student.
Students, I have pulled up a very neat site that gives us a good visual of life in the dusty
Great Plains. The teacher clicks on Texas County, Oklahoma. The teacher explores the
different pictures under the tab and points out important details about the pictures. Wow, I
really think this is a powerful site. It really shows the progression of despair and issues
that the farming community experienced during the Dust Bowl. We are going to unpack
the term despair more deeply now. I am going to pass each of you a graphic organizer
that has the word despair in the center. I want you to think of how people that feel
hopeless act. If you feel like there is no good future ahead and the crisis that you are in
would not end how would you act. The teacher passes the students the concept map of the
term despair. The teacher will give the students several minutes to complete the graphic
organizer. Student C, will you share one of the actions that you listened on your graphic
organizer? Wow! Student C, that is an excellent point! Yes often times when people are in
despair and they have lost hope they give up trying and become as we might say lazy.
They give into the situation they are in and stop trying to problem solve. Can I have
someone else share? Thank you Student B! People that are hopeless are very negative.

That is very true, because think of someone acts when they ARE hopeful. People that are
hopeful tend to be positive, and are good problem-solvers because they know that their
crisis situation is temporary. Many people in the Dust Bowl did not have this outlook.
Can we all agree that we have determined that the Dust Bowl was a crisis situation? It
was a time of intense danger and difficulty right? We know that many people in the Dust
Bowl responded with hopeless and despair. Now we have to look at how this all
transformed the society. First off, people had lost their good soil for farming. So now a
huge amount of people were out of work. People began to get very sick. People were
breathing in dust for YEARS. Not just a couple of days or a month but YEARS. Remember
how the young boy mentioned that he and his mom were sick? He was most likely
referring to dust pneumonia. This sickness was again, another major change in
society. Now I am going to introduce a very important person to all of you. Remember
Mrs. Roosevelt, the lady that the young boy wrote to in his letter. Well, she had a husband
and her husbands name was President Roosevelt. President Roosevelt took over the
office in 1933. This was right in the middle of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
Roosevelt transformed society in many ways throughout his time as President. Roosevelt
unlike President Hoover addressed the depression by creating a lot of agencies and
reliefs. Teacher transitions to Civilian Conservation Corps on the powerpoint. He
called these new programs the New Deal. You will hear me refer to the New Deal
many times throughout this unit. The New Deal was a large collection of government
agencies that FDR created to help America get back on track. He created the Civilian
Conservation Corps, which basically helped the soil get back to the way it was before.
President Roosevelt also communicated with the whole nation. Does anyone remember
how we said that the President achieved this? Yes Student B? Correct, through fireside
chats. We are actually going to listen to another fireside chat right now where FDR
address the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Please get out your Fireside Chat Reflection
hand out. This is going to be the third fireside chat that you have listened to so you will
be filling out the questions under the 3rd chat heading. Listen carefully to what
President Roosevelt has to say. Transition to Fireside Chat on the powerpoint. The
teacher clicks on the link to the fireside chat on the Power Point and plays the recording
on the Smart Board. Students, you have just learned a great deal about the Dust Bowl
crisis and the way that it impacted people. You have also learned how people responded
to the natural disaster and we are going to further our knowledge by studying personal
accounts from people that experienced the Dust Bowl.
Practice:
Students will get grouped into three teams. Each team will be given a personal
account of a person that experienced the Dust Bowl. As the students read they will
fill out a chart that asks them to check boxes if the account refers to: black
blizzards, relief, poverty, an overwhelming amount of dust, migration, sickness,
death, despair. This practice will give students an opportunity to solidify their
knowledge of the main components of the Dust Bowl as well as see their affects in
action.
Students this is a VERY neat activity that you are about to do. This activity is going to
give you a chance to apply what you know about the Dust Bowl. These things that

occurred in the Dust Bowl and caused such despair REALLY did happen to REAL people.
Real people like you and me lived in dust for years and lost their good farmland. It was a
very scary and sad time. The way this activity is going to work is, you will all be working
in teams. I have already divided you each into three teams. Each group will receive a
packet with three personal accounts in it and three charts. I want one person from your
group to read the personal accounts out loud one at a time. As you read you will be
looking at this chart. Teacher holds up chart for the students. This chart has 8
components of the Dust Bowl on it: black blizzards, relief, poverty, and overwhelming
amount of dust, migration, sickness, death, and despair. If you read about one of these
components in the personal account you will put a check mark in the box underneath it.
Any questions? Great! Its very simple and you will really find these very interesting.
Teacher announces the students teams. Each team claims an area of the classroom and
reads the personal accounts together and determines what components of the Dust Bowl
they mention. (Teaching transitions to assessment)
Assessment:
Students will write a letter from the perspective of a victim of the Dust Bowl.
Students will need to correctly use these 8 components in their letter: black
blizzards, relief, poverty, and overwhelming amount of dust, migration, sickness,
death, and despair.
Students now that you have gotten the opportunity to learn all about the crisis of the Dust
Bowl and read personal accounts of victims of the Dust Bowl, it is your turn to write one.
That is right! You are going to pretend that you are a farmer living in Texas during the
Dust Bowl. You will write a letter to President Roosevelt about the despair you are in.
You will use all the terms that I have posted on the board in some way throughout your
letter. This is a chance to show me that you know how these 8 components related to the
Great Depression. This is also a chance for you to be creative! Use your very best writing
skills, and remember that this is a letter so it needs to be written in a letter format. Any
questions? Ok! When you get your paper you may begin. When you are finished, turn it
into the Needs Grading basket and read quietly. Teacher passes out handout students
start writing.
Closure:
To close the lesson the teacher will read the letter from the teenage boy living
through the Dust Bowl to the class again. The teacher will pose the question: why
does the young boy want a radio so badly that he would write the first lady?
Students will discuss this question with their table pods. The teacher will allow
students to share their thoughts out loud. Then the teacher will allow the students to
fill in the third part of their culminating graphic organizer. The teacher will end by
giving the students their blog post prompt.
Students at the beginning of the lesson when I read the letter from the teenage boy that
was living through the Dust Bowl I asked you to keep in mind what he was asking Mrs.
Roosevelt for. Can anyone remember what he wrote Mrs. Roosevelt for? He asked for
something specific. Student A do you remember. That is correct. The young boy asked for

a radio. Now I need to guys to think deeply about this. Why would a young boy that is
living in a dusty destroyed farmland ask for a radio? There are MANY things that this
boy probably needed but he asks for a radio for a reason. Take a moment and discuss this
with your table pod. Teacher gives students a few minutes to think and process. Can
anyone think of what that reason was? Excellent Student C! He wants a radio so that he
can listen to FDRs fireside chat. People during the Great Depression clung to these
chats. These chats were was a voice of hope to people that were in despair. FDRs method
of problem solving was communicating hope and reassurance to Americans through the
radio. Now I would like you all to get out your culminating graphic organizer. I would
like you to take a moment to fill in part three. Teacher allows students to work.
Wonderful, Student B, would you like to share what you filled in? Exactly, people
responded to the Dust Bowl by despairing and that led people to migrate west. That mass
migration completely changed society because now the southern part of the Great Plains
was pretty empty and California was overwhelmed with people. This leads us into your
new blog post prompt. You will be responding the following question on our class blog:
Pretend that you were a teenager living in the Dust Bowl. What would you ask for in a
letter to Mrs. Roosevelt? State what it is you would ask for and tell us why. I want you to
brainstorm about this prompt for a second. You should be responding to the blog no later
than tomorrow night at 8 pm. Remember to comment on at least one friends post. Great
job today class!

Materials and Resources:

Engagement
Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt
See-Think-Wonder Handout
Dust Bowl Pictures
Teaching
Chromebook
Power Point
Cumulative Notes
Red and Orange Crayons
Video
http://www.history.com/topics/dust-bowl/videos/black-blizzard
Interactive Dust Bowl
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/interactive/

Fireside chat recording on the Dust Bowl

http://www.history.com/topics/fireside-chats/speeches/fdrs-fireside-chat-on-dustbowl?m=52af5724c3c2e&s=undefined&f=1&free=false

 Fireside Chat Journal (Attached)

Dust Bowl Demonstration (large bucket, dirt, pencils, paper, old books, trap)
Dust Bowl Demonstration Reflection
Practice
Personal account packet (attached)
Assessment
Letter
Rubric
Closure
Blog
Graphic Organizer
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
Extension: The teacher will utilize choice boards in order to enrich gifted learners and
extend their learning. The choice boards will foster independence and initiative in
students. (See attached choice board)
Accommodations: The teacher will accommodate learners by engaging them in small
group instruction. During this time of instruction the teacher will frontload vocabulary
terms. The teacher will allow students to learn the vocabulary terms with flashcards,
Frayer models, and Semantic maps prior to the lesson. The teacher will also offer
supportive videos and texts that will reinforce main concepts.