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 filled-in. 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/1920simages01.html

The class will discuss how these images relate to

modern AmericaLesson 10 NCSS standards met – I, II, VIII.

Lesson 11 – Unit Review

Pass out a review guide for the unit testAllow 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.