The Perfect Storm

The topic of the lesson is the Dust Bowl and what caused the devastation to the southern Great Plains. Students will use prior knowledge of the Middle West region, science, math (data analysis) and reading skills to try to figure out the causes of the Dust Bowl. This lesson is being used to bridge the gap between our study of the Middle West region and the Southwest region. Major themes include agriculture and the effects of drought and over farming.

Historical Background

The first day of the lesson will focus on the years leading to the Dust Bowl. The data from chart #1 focuses on wheat production for the entire US from 1910-1930. We will also take a look at the characteristics of buffalo grass, the plant native to the Great Plains, to understand the adaptations made by the plant to survive the sometimes harsh conditions in the Great Plains. We will also study an average temperature map and average rainfall map of the US to ascertain the climate of the Great Plains.

The conclusion we will (hopefully) draw from the first day of the lesson is that the native plant of the Great Plains is a durable, drought resistant breed of grass. The climate is dry, with average summer temperatures in the 70s and 80s. The farming of wheat is encouraged by World War I and the prospect of attracting more settlers to the region. The production of wheat skyrockets during the period of the First World War and the price jumps soon after. This sets the scene for day two.

Day two will focus on the types and agents of erosion. We will examine photographs of the Dust Bowl, compare wheat production from 1910-1930 to the production from 1931-1950, and analyze the lyrics to three of Woody Guthrie’s “Dust Bowl Ballads” to gain perspective into the mindset of those who lived through this horrific period.

The conclusion being aimed for by the end of the second day is that the Great Depression, severe drought, and the wind storms of the Great Plains combined to create an ecological disaster of mammoth proportions. It destroyed farms, shattered lives, and displaced many Americans.

Lesson Objective

Essential questions: (a) How fit are the Great Plains for agriculture? (b) How much farming is too much farming?

Students will be able to use data analysis (math), knowledge of plants and erosion (science), and nonfiction reading comprehension in combination with historical thinking skills to gain a keener understanding of the causes of the Dust Bowl.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Day 1
  2. Analyze the quote of the day by Brian Brett. “Farming is a profession of hope.”
  3. Pass out response sheets to each student and give an envelope of sources to each table.
  4. Each table uses the sources in their envelope to answer the questions for their group.
  5. Group 1 is focusing on the characteristics of buffalo grass. Group 2 is focusing on the climate of the Great Plains. Group 3 is using historical thinking skills to connect wheat production with World War I.
  6. Each group will report their findings to the whole class. After going over each section of questions, we will try to connect the three groups by forming a conclusion. The conclusion will reflect the botanical explanation for why buffalo grass was able to thrive in the region, the effect of climate on the agriculture of the region, and the demand for wheat and the growth of agriculture from 1910-1930.
  7. Day 2
  8. Analyze the quote of the day from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. “Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes.”
  9. Pass out the second response sheet. Group 1 is focusing on photographs from the Dust Bowl. They will use historical thinking skills to understand the photos and connect to erosion. Group 2 will compare wheat production from 1910-1930 to the production from 1931-1950. Historical thinking skills and data analysis are used. Group 3 will use historical thinking skills by reading the lyrics to three of Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads.
  10. Each group will report their findings to the whole class, in the same fashion as Day 1. We will develop a Day 2 conclusion.
  11. Students will develop a Dust Bowl conclusion (both days) and record on the response sheet for a class work grade (summative assessment; quiz).

Assessment

Students will summarize the Dust Bowl period using materials from group work and class discussions. The question will be framed as an explanation to someone who knows nothing about the time period.

4 = Student summarizes the Dust Bowl period with an identifiable beginning, middle, and end AND includes science and math (data), in their summary.

3 = Student summarizes the Dust Bowl period with an identifiable beginning, middle, and end AND includes one of the two subject areas (science, math [data]) in their summary.

2 = Student summarizes the Dust Bowl period with little framework and/or detail AND includes one of the two subject areas (science, math [data]) in their summary.

1 = Student summarizes the Dust Bowl with little or no detail and does not include any of the subject areas.

Differentiation

The level of teacher direction and assistance will be the only major difference. Some lower level readers may struggle with the information on buffalo grass from Day 1 and the song lyrics from Day 2. Most of the other sources are accessible to all.

References

“Food Will Win the War,” ca. 1917, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/inline-2col-float/content-images/09522_4.jpg (accessed March 30, 2013).

“Immigrants’ guide to the most fertile lands of Kansas,” Union Pacific Railway Company (1880), accessed from Kansas Memory, Kansas Historical Foundation, http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/1445 (accessed March 30, 2013).

“Modern American Poetry: About the Dust Bowl,” http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm (accessed March 30, 2013).

Roger Witherspoon, “The Dust Bowl: America’s Greatest Ecological Disaster,” (image in blog), http://witherspoontnp.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/school-clothes-lakin-kansas-1935.jpg (accessed March 30, 2013).

United States Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service. Wheat: Supply and disappearance, United States, 1910/11-2005/06 (20 December 2011), http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/wheat-data.aspx#25377 (accessed March 30, 2013).

Woody Guthrie, “Dust Bowl Ballads,” (music and song lyrics), Smithsonian Folkways, http://www.folkways.si.edu/woody-guthrie/dust-bowl-ballads/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian (accessed August, 28, 2013).

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