Dust Bowl Children

Visions in the Dust:
A Child's Perspective of the Dust Bowl

Jan King and Rena Nisbet

Overview

Much of history is interpreted from an adult point of view. This unit seeks to help students gain an understanding of Dust Bowl history through the eyes of a child. Using Karen Hesse's Newbery Award winning Out of the Dust as an introduction to this aspect of the Great Depression, students will have the opportunity to identify with the personal experiences of youth in the 1930's. In addition, students will examine primary source material of the period to correlate the fictional text with actual visual, auditory, and manuscript accounts as found in the American Memory collections.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this unit, students will be able to:

examine primary source materials to gain knowledge of the Dust Bowl
use historical fiction to understand the human aspect of the Dust Bowl experience
relate primary source materials from the American Memory Collection to passages, characters, and events from the novel
develop research skills and strategies, such as key word searches, for finding information

Time Required

This unit is divided into two lessons.

Lesson One: Picture the Story (4-5 days)
Lesson Two: Sights and Sounds (2-3 days) (coming soon...)

Recommended Grade Level

While this unit is designed for grades 6 - 8, it may be adapted for upper elementary students.

Curriculum Fit

This lesson is appropriate for use in American history and language arts classes or a combination of the two.

Resources Used

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI
Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection
Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust

Extension Suggestions

(later...)

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Contacts for this lesson are Jan King (taghms@hotmail.com) and Rena Nisbet (rnisbet@hotmail.com).

Created July 1999.