2019

Validated Practices
Project
PAUL POOLE
 The Validated Practices Project is an artifact that assesses InTASC Standard #6, which

deals with assessment to prove and improve student learning. For this project I had to select a

group of students to teach a specific skill to, assess their knowledge of this skill, create and

implement three lessons that taught this skill while still delivering the content for their class, and

finally deliver another assessment to assess and analyze their growth with the skill. This

assessment helped me to not only help students hone a skill, but also to learn where I struggle

with assessment and adapting to assessment data.

The first step to the Validated Practices Process was to select a group of students to test

and give my lessons to. I gave my assessments to all my classes in order to keep the instruction

the same for all classes, feeling that all of my classes could benefit from better political cartoon

analysis. I selected my 3A class due to a previously identified struggle with vocabulary. Student

three specifically I had observed gaps in their vocabulary knowledge. In many lessons they had

asked for clarification on many terms that 11th graders are expected to already know. I felt that

by helping student three and other students learn new analysis skills I felt that I could help them

to better work with context clues to assist with gaps in their vocabulary knowledge. 3A was also

one of my higher achieving classes, and I figured that they would excel in learning a new skill

when directly taught lessons on that skill.

Every class I taught at Edgewood High had trouble with attendance. 3A was one of my

classes that was better about attendance which was why I chose them. However, 3A was not

without attendance issues. We had many, some of which even resulted in never receiving a pre

assessment or post assessment from some students. Specifically, student 16 and student 20 were

absent frequently due to long term suspension and other reasons. However out of all my classes,

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3A was the class I was able to collect the most pre and post assessments from, which I had

predicted and was part of the reason I selected them.

The next step was to select my content objective to teach my students. I decided to go

with skills surrounding analyzing political cartoons. I chose the specific skills of creating an

understanding of an event as discussed in national standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-

12.9, and analyzing an author’s point of view as discussed in standards CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RH.11-12.8 which is to evaluate an author’s claim, and CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RH.11-12.6 which is to evaluate other points of view on the same event. Analyzing

political cartoons was also my mentor’s Specific Learning Objective, which I found out after

selecting political cartoons as my skill to assess but only further confirmed that it was a skill my

students needed to learn.

I chose creating an understanding of an event in order to help my students better use

visuals in order to make up for some of their gaps in vocabulary knowledge when it comes to

interpreting visuals. Interpreting visuals, especially political cartoons, was a skill that was

present on all assessments for their curriculum, so it not only was a skill that would benefit them

long term, but short term as well for their social studies exams. I chose the skill of analyzing

point of view, because that was another skill that students seemed to struggle with. Throughout

my time at Edgewood, students continually were unable to think of events in the context that the

occurred in. I felt that helping them to learn point of view throughout political cartoons would

help them to better understand points of view they came across and contextualize them within

their time period.

The next step was to create my pre and post assessments. When creating them I had to

look ahead at what content I would be teaching and find political cartoons to match that content.

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For my pre assessment, I went with a cartoon that dealt with immigration restriction and

intolerance in the 1920’s. This I felt would be a good content check for a lesson I had already

taught, as well as a good indicator of how students handled political cartoons. For my post

assessment, I looked ahead to what I would be teaching when I gave my post assessment and

selected a cartoon on the causes of the great depression. I selected both cartoons I did because

they contained many elements to analyze, and also contained clear points of view, the first being

that immigration should be restricted and the second being that there was no one cause of the

great depression.

I distributed the pre assessment as an opening to my lesson on the Scopes/Monkey trial,

which came very shortly after my lesson on intolerance. I combined the analysis with a matching

quiz on intolerance in the 1920’s in order to test both the skill of analysis and their knowledge of

intolerance in the 1920’s. The only issue I experienced during this phase was the absence of

students. In every class I had students absent who then needed to make up their quiz and pre

assessment, some of which never completed the quiz and pre assessment. These students that

never completed a pre assessment were students 18, 23, and two others who I did not receive pre

or post assessments from. All other students were able to make up their pre assessment at a later

date.

After I gave my pre assessment I looked over the data and based my lessons on what I

found. I found that students were fairly good at making inferences based on the elements they

saw in the cartoon, but most failed to connect the cartoon to the content at hand. I also found that

students were fairly good at connecting the author’s point of view and giving an opposing point

of view. Due to these findings I chose to focus on the skill of connecting elements from the

cartoon to the event it is describing. I changed the post assessment to not use the point of view

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question as well, but decided to still use the angle of point of view to help them analyze elements

in the cartoon and connect them to the content, specifically in my first lesson which dealt with

the Scopes trial.

My first lesson was on the Harlem Renaissance. It was incredibly difficult to find a

political cartoon on this subject, so instead I opted to use a cartoon on the Scopes/Monkey trial as

my drill in order to review the content from the previous day while also teaching students about

how point of view is shown in cartoons. Students also struggled with the content from the Scopes

Trial, which is why I felt that going over the content in this style would be beneficial to students

understanding.

For their drill students were asked to analyze a political cartoon that showed that the

author felt that Tennessee was in the wrong for outlawing evolution in schools. Students faired

very well with this cartoon and determining that the author was against the Scopes decision,

showing me that they did have the skills in identifying point of view. Students still however

struggled with the identification of some items and how they connected to the content. For

example, they struggled to make the connection between the candle extinguisher and the flame

which represented knowledge. So, while students were able to pick out a point of view based on

the title and some elements, they still struggled to make connections to content.

My next lesson was on the consumer culture of the 1920’s, which was very easy to find a

good political cartoon for. I opted for one that heavily connected to the content at hand and

would help students transition to our lesson on consumer culture. Students had learned about the

industrial revolution before, but I felt the need to review since it was taught two units ago. The

cartoon used the scenario of a medical checkup to explain how President Calvin Coolidge treated

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the economy. I liked this representation a lot because I felt that it was a situation all students had

been in before and would help them to connect the cartoon to the content.

Students needed some prompting with this cartoon, but once they had a general idea of

what was significant they excelled in their analysis. This I feel was helpful to show students that

all elements of political cartoons are significant. Students at first believed that the fact that the

man labeled “American Business” was very healthy looking was of no significance. Once I

asked how he looked, students were able to connect him looking healthy to what a doctor does

when you are healthy at your checkup. The doctor doing nothing helped to explain why the

government took such a hands-off approach to the economy in the 1920’s. I felt this cartoon

helped students to see both how all elements in political cartoons should be analyzed and how

their messages can help them to create a picture of the event.

My last lesson was on the causes of the great depression, and I decided to hone in on the

skill of creating an understanding of an event. I selected a cartoon that depicted the bubble on

credit in a way that was easy for students to understand. This I felt would be a tough concept to

understand, but because of how well the lesson went the previous day I was confident in my

students’ ability to piece together an understanding of the event from the cartoon.

My students were very shy with answers for this cartoon which I believe was due to the

concept of economic bubbles being relatively new and difficult. However, once students began

to answer they came up with all the correct ideas about how the bubble works. They were able to

connect that wall street was inflating the economy by allowing people to buy stocks on credit

which was exactly what I wanted them to extract from this cartoon.

I gave my post assessment at the end of the causes of the Great Depression lesson due to

time constraints with my rotation at Edgewood ending. I knew by then however that students had

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improved their analysis skills based on the discussion of cartoons in the previous lessons. The

biggest issue with the post assessment was once again that many of my students were absent for

their post assessment, only this time they were unable to make up the assessment due to my

rotation at Edgewood ending.

Students overall improved on their post assessment scores. Students overall improved by

10% from the pre assessment to their post assessment. The students that improved were students

1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, all of which improved in the areas of connecting elements of

the cartoon to the content at hand. Many of these students also improved on their use of point of

view, which many students worked well with before but had benefitted from extra exposure in

lesson 1. There were two students whose scores improved because they did not take the pre

assessment which defaulted to a zero. These students were student 18 and student 23. Student 18

performed poorly on the post assessment. This I contribute to their frequent lateness which

caused them to miss many of the parts of lessons that dealt with political cartoons. Student 23

performed very well on the post assessment, which signaled to me that they had learned a lot

during the lessons and most likely were skilled in cartoon analysis before the lessons.

There were a few students who either did not improve or did worse on their post

assessment. These students were student 2, 3, 5, 9, 13, and 14. Students 5, 13, and 14 all received

the same scores on their pre assessments as their post assessments. These students for the most

part improved on connection of content to elements, but lost points in the other two areas. The

other students who did worse on the post assessment than the pre assessment seemed to struggle

with the content itself. They seemed to be less knowledgeable about the causes of the great

depression and therefore it was more difficult for them to connect that content to the elements of

the cartoon. Either that or they did not explain themselves well.

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 Lesson implementation overall helped to improve scores on the question on connecting

elements of the cartoon to the event or content that the cartoon was depicting due to the focus for

all three lessons on this skill. The other skills that were not directly taught such as using elements

to determine point of view did not improve, which was due to those skills not being taught

directly in the lessons. While the analysis may have helped expose students to using other skills

more, unless they were directly taught a skill there was very little impact on their ability with that

skill.

The implementation of my lessons was also all discussion based, which I believe could

have caused some of the drops in post assessment scores observed. All three of the analyses we

performed in the lessons I taught were based in picking out elements and discussing them, and

while this was a great way to really dive into the meaning of elements in cartoons, it presents two

potential problems. The first is that the assessment was written, meaning that they were not

directly practicing writing about political cartoons or describing the elements in writing. This

could have caused a drop in scores due to students not being familiar with the assessment format.

The other issue with this style of lesson was that I was only able to see the progress of students

who directly participated. While I gave students time to discuss with one another and walked

around the room to check in on students, there was never a written component that would allow

me to check all students’ responses. Because of this there were some students who may not have

been benefiting from the style of implementation for these lessons.

There are a few things I would change about this process if I were to go through it with

the same objective but for a different class. The first of thses would be to do a written lesson on

the second day to keep students used to writing about political cartoons. This will also help with

assessing their progress as they go through the discussions and will help to engage my students

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who do not like to participate. The second think I would change would be to use the first day to

go over specific symbols and meanings of things. This would be a very good early lesson to help

students learn some symbols that they would see throughout the year. For example, many

students did not know who the caricature of Uncle Sam was. I would also include a cheat sheet

of these symbols and the general meanings of things in cartoons. This I feel would help them

when analyzing the cartoons in class, and may help them to recall the meanings of symbols when

they see them in the assessments. Lastly I would have focused on the skill of connecting

elements to the author’s point of view more. While I am glad that my students improved with

connecting elements to content, by the last day fatigue over learning the same skill had set in and

students were frustrated, saying that they were tired of political cartoons. I think focusing on

other ways of using cartoons could have helped the process to not be as repetitive.

I learned a lot about my students through this process. I first and foremost learned how

deep some of the gaps in their content knowledge were. I was shocked when students did not

know who Uncle Sam was or the definition or propaganda, things that the curriculum expects

them to know. This was my reasoning for wanting to include a cheat sheet that included some of

these symbols or terms so they would be able to better access the content. While my students

were very good at analyzing and picking out meaning from elements of cartoons, they still

struggled to connect it to the content at hand, which could be due to some of their gaps in content

and vocabulary knowledge. My students do however much prefer discussion based analysis to

written analysis and come up with more complete answers when placed in a discussion. Lastly

and most importantly, I learned how quickly fatigue can set in when teaching the same skill the

same way every day. I think that if we had time doing one analysis per week over a period of

time would have increased student achievement on the post assessment due to them not being

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fatigued and genuinely doing their best instead of being tired of political cartoons and simply just

wanting to be done with them, which I know was the case in my 3B class who was very vocal

about their displeasure in studying political cartoons every class.

The experience of the Validated Practices Project also gave me a lot to reflect on as a

new teacher. I learned that I struggle with coming up with assessments that are different in order

to assess the same skill. My students needed variation in their lessons, and I wish after analyzing

the data that I would have varied my lessons more. Even teaching the same skill in a different

way one time would have made a difference in my opinion, or at least spreading out the lessons

more. However, I did take away that I am good at reading my students. Throughout the process

of the Validated Practices Project I felt that my students had improved their abilities in

connecting elements of cartoons to the context of the cartoon, and the data showed that I was

right by most of my students making improvements in their scores from pre to post assessment.

This has helped me to trust my instinct and knowledge of my students more which has been a

huge help in my second rotation.

The Validated Practices Project was very good exposure to working with data and using

it to improve instruction. I learned a lot from analyzing the data I gathered from my students,

specifically that I should vary my lessons that address similar concepts so as to not fatigue them,

and that I should trust my instincts more often so long as the data backs them up. Not only did I

learn a lot, but the data shows that my students improved their skills in analyzing political

cartoons, meaning I accomplished my objective for the project. However there is always room

for improvement, and this project showed me exactly where I should focus when planning and

implementing lessons.

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Student Observational Data Achievement Data

1 Works diligently, quiet, provides intelligent thoughts, 83%

helpful
2 Needs help focusing, quiet, participates 61%
3 Trouble with vocabulary, works well with others, provides 82%
intelligent thoughts, works at a slower pace
4 Participates, provides intelligent thoughts, works well with 85%
others
5 Needs help focusing, works well alone, often late to class, 67%
works at a slower pace
6 Works diligently alone, provides intelligent thoughts 80%
7 Quiet, works diligently alone, needs to be prompted to 83%
participate
8 Quiet, needs to be prompted to participate, needs help 60%
focusing
9 Quiet, does excellent work, works diligently alone 74%
10 Works well alone and in groups, follows instructions well, 66%
participates often
11 Works well alone and in groups, follows instructions well, 67%
provides intelligent thoughts
12 Participates, provides intelligent thoughts, works well with 84%
others
13 Quiet, works well with others, needs help focusing 75%
14 Absent frequently, provides intelligent thoughts 45%
15 Participates, provides intelligent thoughts, works well with 80%
others
16 Absent frequently, works well with others, suspended long 60%
term
17 Quiet, works well with others, needs help focusing 72%
18 Late frequently, needs help focusing, provides intelligent 52%
thoughts
19 Participates often, works well with others, needs help 66%
focusing
20 Absent frequently, has trouble with writing, provides 29%
intelligent thoughts, suspended long term
21 Quiet, does excellent work, works well with others 86%
22 Needs to be prompted to participate, does not follow 58%
instructions,
23 Needs to be prompted to participate, 43%

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 Validated Practices Project Alignment Table
District, State, and/ or Objectives Assessment Activities
National Standards Items from Pre-
and Post-
assessments
Lesson 1 5.2.4.g Students will Students will Evaluating Drill this day
analyze the shift of examine the political was to analyze a
African American Great Migration cartoons in order political cartoon
demographics from the and the Harlem to determine on the Scopes
rural South to the Renaissance in point of view Trial (our
urban/industrial north order to previous
and west during the understand how lesson).
Great Migration and the the migration of Students
consequences of the African specifically had
migration on regions. Americans to determine
created a more which point of
CCSS.ELA- pluralistic view from the
LITERACY.RH.11-12.6 society in the trial the cartoon
Evaluate authors' north depicted by
differing points of view analyzing the
on the same historical Students will be different
event or issue by able to examine elements of the
assessing the authors' elements fo a cartoon.
claims, reasoning, and political cartoon
evidence. determine point
of view of an
author
Lesson 2 5.2.4.i Students will Students will Examining Students were
analyze the consumer analyze the elements of a asked to analyze
culture of the 1920s, consumer culture political cartoon a political
such as the growth of of the 1920’s in and using them cartoon that
advertising, the impact order to predict to construct an describes
of the automobile how it will lead understanding of content they
industry, mail order to an economic the event or have not learned
catalogues, and recession. issue depicted. yet. Using
department stores. analysis skills
Students will be students were
CCSS.ELA- able to examine able to describe
LITERACY.RH.11-12.9 elements of a the situation
Integrate information political cartoon being depicted
from diverse sources, in order to using only
both primary and construct an elements they
secondary, into a understanding of found in the
coherent understanding an event cartoon and
of an idea or event, common
knowledge.

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 noting discrepancies
among sources.
Lesson 3 5.2.4.j Students will Students will Examining Students were
examine the economic analyze the elements of a asked to analyze
characteristics of the causes of the political cartoon a political
1920s that led to the great depression and using them cartoon that
stock market crash of in order to to construct an describes both
1929 and to the Great connect them to understanding of content and
Depression, such as the one another the event or concepts they
unequal distribution of through cause issue depicted. have not learned
income, buying on and effect yet. Students
credit, buying stocks on had to use the
margin, inflated real Students will be elements in the
estate prices and able to examine cartoon to
overproduction in elements of a discern what is
industry and agriculture. political cartoon happening to the
in order to economy
CCSS.ELA- construct an leading up to
LITERACY.RH.11-12.9 understanding of the great
Integrate information an event depression.
from diverse sources,
both primary and
secondary, into a
coherent understanding
of an idea or event,
noting discrepancies
among sources.

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 Unit 5: Between the Wars

Name: Paul Poole, Towson University Date: 3/12/19

CLASS DESCRIPTION:
3A: 25 Students, diverse racial mix, quieter,
4A: 23 Students, diverse racial mix, many behavior issues, need more scaffolding
2B: 28 Students, diverse racial mix, high energy (unless first period), group work is a bad idea
3B: 26 Students, diverse racial mix, very social, high energy

Unit: 5: Between the Wars

Lesson: The Harlem Renaissance
Time: 81 mins

ALIGNMENT:
Standard Objective Assessment Activity

5.2.4.g Students will Students will examine the Harlem Renaissance Drill: political
analyze the shift of Great Migration and the Review cartoon
African American Harlem Renaissance in analysis
order to understand how
demographics from the
the migration of African Great
rural South to the Americans created a Migration
urban/industrial north more pluralistic society in Map
and west during the the north
Great Migration and Exploring
the consequences of the Students will be able to Harlem
migration on regions. examine elements fo a
political cartoon
determine point of view
of an author

MATERIALS:
Student Materials Required: Harlem Renaissance Resources, Worksheets, pencil,

Technology Required: Promethean Board, Activinspire flipchart, Device to play video

LESSON PROCEDURE:

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Opening Activity- Drill and Objective
Time Allotted: 10 mins
Where: Class Drill Sheets

Drill Question: Which argument from the scopes trial does the following political cartoon
show?

Objective: Students will examine the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance in order to
understand how the migration of African Americans created a more pluralistic society in the
north

Transition: Keeping with our themes of change vs. a return to form as far as isolation between
the wars goes, today we will be discussing another change that also brought along much
controversy, the Harlem Renaissance

Adaptations: Hard to see text on screen typed larger with arrows so students can better read the
cartoon

Activity 1 – Great Migration Map analysis

Time Allotted: 20
Where: Board

Students will be shown a map of the Great Migration, which they have seen before, and will be
asked to explain what is occurring based on the map. Students should know that it is a mass
migration of African Americans from the rural south to cities. Students will then answer how
they believe the people already living in cities will react.

Next students will be shown a map of Manhattan and will be asked the question: “Why did
African Americans choose to move to Harlem instead of other district.” This also should not be
a new concept as we have talked about living near similar people before with immigration in
regard to Chinatown, little Italy, etc.

Transition: So now that we know why this occurs, let’s take a look at the impact this migration
leaves on the culture of the cities.

Adaptations:

Activity 2 – Exploring Harlem

Time Allotted: 40 mins
Where: Worksheet

Students will visit stations to learn about cultural impacts of the Harlem Renaissance including
political, musical, art, and literature. Students will have 8 minutes at each station.

Transition: Last I want to see you apply this new knowledge and show me that you know what
the impact was by writing a review of one of the many figures we have examined today.

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Adaptations:

Activity – Closure Harlem Renaissance Review

Time Allotted: 10 mins
Where: Worksheet

Students will write a review on one of the figures we have examined, stating what they did as
well as their lasting impact.

Transition: Please pack up your things, turn in your worksheets, and have a good day.

Adaptations:

Assessment: Harlem Renaissance Review

Homework: none

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 Unit 5: Between the Wars

Name: Paul Poole, Towson University Date: 3/14/19, 3/15/19

CLASS DESCRIPTION:
3A: 25 Students, diverse racial mix, quieter,
4A: 23 Students, diverse racial mix, many behavior issues, need more scaffolding
2B: 28 Students, diverse racial mix, high energy (unless first period), group work is a bad idea
3B: 26 Students, diverse racial mix, very social, high energy

Unit: 5: Between the Wars

Lesson: Consumer Culture
Time: 81 mins

ALIGNMENT:
Standard Objective Assessment Activity

5.2.4.i Students will analyze the Students will analyze the Prediction Consumeris
consumer culture of the 1920s, consumer culture of the Closure m
such as the growth of 1920’s in order to predict
advertising, the impact of the how it will lead to an Analysis of Independent
automobile industry, mail order economic recession. political reading on
catalogues, and department cartoon and credit in the
stores. Students will be able to quote 1920s
examine elements of a
11.1 Students will demonstrate political cartoon in order to Analysis of
an understanding of the construct an understanding political
factors that led to the growth of an event cartoon and
of consumerism and mass quote
production during the 1920s
and how these factors
influenced other facets of
societal change during this
period.

MATERIALS:
Student Materials Required: Consumerism worksheet, magazine ad worksheet/rubric, document
sets,

Technology Required: Promethean Board, Activinspire flipchart,

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LESSON PROCEDURE:
Opening Activity- Drill and Objective
Time Allotted: 10-15mins
Where: Class Drill Sheets

Drill Question:
1. What is mass production?
ER: Henry Ford, making a lot of something, making things for less money
2. How does mass production improve life?
ER: More goods, stuff costs less, more jobs, more free time

Objective: Students will analyze the consumer culture of the 1920’s in order to predict how it will
lead to an economic recession.

Transition: With mass production follows more goods, more free time, and in the 1920’s more
money to purchase goods with. How did this era come to be however?

Adaptations: rephrase and repeat the question, students should have an idea but you may have
to pry for it. Remind them that they learned this in unit 3.
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity 1 – Quote/Political Cartoon

Time Allotted: 10mins
Where: Worksheet

Students will analyze a quote and a political cartoon from President Calvin Coolidge in order to
understand the role lassiez-faire capitalism played in the boom of the U.S. economy in the 1920’s.

Students will be given 2 minutes to analyze the quote and cartoon, then 2 minutes to discuss with
a partner, after which the teacher will ask for what students believe is going on in the
cartoon/quote.

The big takeaway should be that like when you go to the doctor and nothing is wrong with you
they do nothing, and Coolidge does the same thing with the economy.

Students will also receive the definition of consumerism/consumer culture

Transition: Now that we have an idea about what creates the boom of the 1920’s, let’s take a
look at some of the benefits that society encounters thanks to capitalism and mass production.

Adaptations:
3A:
4A: Crack down on chatter during the 2 minutes of independent writing time

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2B: make sure students discuss
3B: Same as 4A, make sure discussion is on task

Activity 2 – Consumer Culture

Time Allotted: 20mins
Where: Worksheet

Students will work independently to inquire information on different developments of

consumerism and then create 1920’s magazine ads to show their understanding of the culture, as
well as one of the main four inventions, cars, movies, radio, and spectator sports.

Students will be given 20 minutes to look through the four readings and advertisements in order
to answer the questions on their work sheets.

Transition: in the 1920’s we begin to have a ton of new inventions and hobbies, but where will
every day people get the money for these hobbies?

Adaptations: reiterate that this is individual work many times and crack down on talking early
on.
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity 3 – The Fall

Time Allotted: 15 mins
Where: Worksheet

Students will read independently about credit in the 1920’s and use this information to pick out
key vocabulary such as: Credit, Interest, The Stock Market, The Dow Jones Industrial Average,
Speculation and Buying on margin. After they have defined these terms, they will use them and
the information in their reading to determine the dangers of credit as it was used in the 1920’s.

Transition: Now that we understand some of the dangers of credit during the 1920’s, for a closure
I would like you to predict what happens next in the timeline of the U.S., and use evidence from
today’s lesson to back those predictions up.

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity – Closure
Time Allotted: 20mins

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Where: Closure Sheet

Students will use their newly acquired knowledge to create their own advertisement from the
1920’s. They will do so on one of the four products discussed today. The ad will include a catchy
title/slogan, a picture of the product, and an article discussing the importance of that product to
the 1920’s.

Transition: Turn in your advertisements, and have a great day!

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Assessment: magazine article, prediction closure

Homework: Finish unfinished work

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 Unit 5: Between the Wars

Name: Paul Poole, Towson University Date: 3/18/19, 3/19/19

CLASS DESCRIPTION:
3A: 25 Students, diverse racial mix, quieter,
4A: 23 Students, diverse racial mix, many behavior issues, need more scaffolding
2B: 28 Students, diverse racial mix, high energy (unless first period), group work is a bad idea
3B: 26 Students, diverse racial mix, very social, high energy

Unit: 5: Between the Wars

Lesson: Causes of the Great Depression
Time: 81 mins

ALIGNMENT:
Standard Objective Assessment Activity

5.2.4.j Students will examine the Students will analyze Great Gallery Walk
economic characteristics of the the causes of the great Depression
1920s that led to the stock depression in order to Connections
connect them to one Organizer
market crash of 1929 and to the
another through cause
Great Depression, such as the and effect Political
unequal distribution of income, Cartoon
buying on credit, buying stocks Students will be able to Analysis
on margin, inflated real estate examine elements of a
prices and overproduction in political cartoon in order VPP Post
industry and agriculture. to construct an Assessment
understanding of an
event

MATERIALS:
Student Materials Required:

Technology Required: Promethean Board, Activinspire flipchart,

LESSON PROCEDURE:
Opening Activity- Drill and Objective
Time Allotted: 10-15mins
Where: Class Drill Sheets

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Drill Question:
1. What do these Charts show?

ER: Unequal Wealth Distribution, rich people have more money than poor people
combined, 65% of people making under $1000 a year

Objective: Students will analyze the causes of the great depression in order to connect them to
one another through cause and effect

Transition: So this is just one of the many causes of the Great Depression, which we should know
is the next big event in American History. But what exactly caused the Great Depression

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity 1 – Discussion of Bubbles/Economy Cycle

Time Allotted: 10mins
Where: Worksheets, Diagrams on the Board

The teacher will go over how economic bubbles work, as well as the economic boom/bust cycle
using a political cartoon and a graph. Students will follow along on a guided notes sheet. On the
sheet students will label the boom/bust cycle, as well as define key terms such as: Peak,
Recession, Expansion, Contraction, Bubble, Recovery

Transition: Now that we know what occurs during the Great Depression, let’s take a look at the
factors that caused the bubble on credit to swell and burst.

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Adaptations: Note Sheet with visuals as well as places to define key terms for all students
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity 2 – Gallery Walk

Time Allotted: 30mins
Where: Worksheets, printouts around the room

Students will have 15 minutes to go around the room and learn about the different causes of the
Great Depression, after which they will go over them as a class. As a class we will discuss the
effects of the causes while listing them on the board.

Transition:

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity 3 – Connecting the Causes

Time Allotted: 10mins
Where: Worksheets, printouts around the room

Students will label the connections between causes of the great depression

Transition: For our last thing today, I just want you to analyze this political cartoon. This should
look familiar to you all. You will have till the end of class to complete your analysis.

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Activity – Closure (VPP Post Assessment)

Time Allotted: 15mins
Where: Handout

Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze political cartoons by analyzing a political
cartoon about the great depression.

Students will first take note of 4 things they see, then note 4 things they know about what they
see, and then what their inferences are.

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Students will then use that information to answer the following questions in an essay format:
1. Using the symbols in the cartoon, describe the situation being illustrated.
2. Explain the relationship between the cartoonist’s message and the Great Depression
3. Select two of the characters depicted and explain how they relate to one another

The teacher will collect the Political Cartoon analysis, as well as the Great Depression
Connections sheet

Transition: Please hand in the Connections Sheet and you Political Cartoon Analysis on your
way out.

Adaptations:
3A:
4A:
2B:
3B:

Assessment: Great Depression Connections Organizer

Homework: None

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 ASSESSMENT DATA COLLECTION
Basic Listing Of Official Data
IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING

Teacher: Paul Poole Year: 2019

School: Edgewood High School Semester: Spring
U.S.
Grade: 11 Subject: History

POSSIBLE POSSIBLE CHANGE

POINTS ON POINTS ON
STUDENT ID POINTS ON PERCENT POINTS ON PERCENT PRE TO
PRE- POST-
CODE PRE- SCORE POST- SCORE POST +
ASSESSEMENT ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENT or -

1 9 3 33% 9 4 44% 11%

2 9 4 44% 9 2 22% -22%
3 9 7 78% 9 6 67% -11%
4 9 3 33% 9 5 56% 22%
5 9 6 67% 9 6 67% 0%
6 9 2 22% 9 7 78% 56%
7 9 8 89% 9 9 100% 11%
8 9 3 33% 9 5 56% 22%
9 9 6 67% 9 6 67% 0%
10 9 6 67% 9 7 78% 11%
11 9 2 22% 9 3 33% 11%
12 9 3 33% 9 7 78% 44%
13 9 4 44% 9 4 44% 0%
14 9 6 67% 9 6 67% 0%
15 9 5 56% 9 6 67% 11%
16 9 3 33% 9 4 44% 11%
17 9 3 33% 9 7 78% 44%
18 9 0 0% 9 2 22% 22%
19 9 4 44% 9 0 0% -44%
20 9 3 33% 9 0 0% -33%
21 9 2 22% 9 0 0% -22%
22 9 1 11% 9 0 0% -11%
23 9 0 0% 9 9 100% 100%
Class
4.11 41% 5.33 51% 10%
Average

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