DAYS OF DUST
A. PURPOSE: To discover the relevance about mankind’s relationship with the land during this pivotal
time period and the environmental, economical, social, and artistic implications that resulted.
B. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and
agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s, particularly in 1934 and 1936.
The phenomenon was caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop
rotation, fallow fields, cover crops or other techniques to prevent wind erosion. Deep plowing of the
virgin topsoil of the Great Plains had displaced the natural deep-rooted grasses that normally kept the
soil in place and trapped moisture even during periods of drought and high winds.
During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the soil in place, it dried, turned to
dust, and blew away eastward and southward in large dark clouds. At times, the clouds blackened the
sky, reaching all the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. Much of the soil
ended up deposited in the Atlantic Ocean, carried by prevailing winds, which were in part created by the
dry and bare soil conditions. These immense dust storms—given names such as "black blizzards" and
"black rollers"—often reduced visibility to a few feet (a meter or less). The Dust Bowl affected
100,000,000 acres (400,000 km2), centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent
parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Millions of acres of farmland were damaged, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave
their homes; many of these families (often known as "Okies", since so many came from Oklahoma)
migrated to California and other states, where they found economic conditions little better during the
Great Depression than those they had left. Owning no land, many became migrant workers who traveled
from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages. Author John Steinbeck later wrote
The Grapes of Wrath, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Of Mice and Men, about such people.
Timothy Egan allows today’s readers a virtual experience of The Worst Hard Times (click link) while
exploring the stamina, impact, and legacy of “the great untold story of the Greatest Generation.” Their
story of survival during a drastically changing landscape, which greatly impacted the nation, has
influenced generations even unto today. The influence comes from the relationship between the people
and the land. Egan believes in a unified existence with respect towards a place. He states “ It scares
them because of the forced intimacy with a place that gives nothing back to a stranger, a place where the
land and its weather – probably the most violent and extreme on earth—demand only one thing:
humility” (1-2).
the+worst+hard+time.jpgbookrevues.blogspot.com
dbmapfinal.jpgdustbowlechoes.blogspot.com
USAdustM.JPGmcclungsworld.com
C. OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to relate to the living historians that experienced the Great
Depression and Dust Bowl days while researching the long-lasting effects that permeate to today and
reflect upon the past mistakes in order avoid them for tomorrow.
D. PROCEDURE: Students will work in small groups and develop a multi-media project that will
explore 1 of 6 topics of study that will be presented to their peers and applicable educational groups.
E. RESULTS: Students will showcase their research findings with a comparison over historical times;
must include relevant statistics for chosen topic along with images, interviews, video clips, etc. in a
well-organized format
F. LESSON GROUPS: Each Group will focus upon one of the following topics.
Each topic has associated hyperlinks that may be used for background information, ideas, or launching
points for further study. Students may utilize additional resources than those listed below.
I.
EARTH
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/DustBowl/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-04-09-dust-bowl_N.htm
http://www.buzzbox.com/topic/dust-bowl/
II.
WIND
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html
III.
FIRE
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/dustbowl-transcript/
IV.
WATER
http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/DroughtintheDustBowlYears.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/dustbowlandaftermath.html
V.
WOMEN/CHILDREN
http://voices.yahoo.com/women-american-dust-bowl-6161510.html
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm
http://royblizzard.hubpages.com/hub/The-Dust-Bowl-and-an-Undiagnosed-Illness
http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/downloads/pdfs/Resource_Guide_Chapters/PictAmer_Resource_Book_
Chapter_18B.pdf
VI.
MUSIC/LITERATURE
http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/americanhistory/secondary/lessons/lessons_std08/gray_d15.html
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.lt.016
F. OTHER RESOURCES
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2CB9A0583C22EA8E&feature=view_all
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/
AC website links http://www.actx.edu/index.php?module=article&id=406
Dr. Dirt (Clay Robinson) http://www.doctordirt.org/home
TCEQ http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/
USDA Yearbook of Agriculture http://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2012am/webprogram/Paper74557.html
G. RUBRIC TO INCLUDE
Point value
Sections covered within topic
Comparison over historical times—then and now
Must include images, interviews, video clips, statistics, relevant information for topic of study
Must be organized and presented in 10-15 min (or longer as warranted)
Must cite sources utilized
Must be grammatically correct
Must include all group members names and their effort(s) in project
CATEGORY
Presentation
4
Well-rehearsed
with smooth
delivery that
holds audience
attention.
Requirements
All requirements
are met and
exceeded.
Organization
Content is well
organized using
headings or
bulleted lists to
group related
material.
Attractiveness
Makes excellent
use of font, color,
graphics, effects,
etc. to enhance
the presentation.
Sources
Source
information
collected for all
graphics, facts
and quotes. All
documented in
desired format.
No misspellings
or grammatical
errors.
Source
information
collected for all
graphics, facts
and quotes. Most
documented in
desired format.
Three or fewer
misspellings
and/or
mechanical
errors.
The workload is
divided and
shared equally by
all team
members.
The workload is
divided and
shared fairly by
all team
members, though
workloads may
vary from person
to person.
Mechanics
Workload
3
Rehearsed with
fairly smooth
delivery that
holds audience
attention most of
the time.
All requirements
are met.
2
Delivery not
smooth, but able
to maintain
interest of the
audience most of
the time.
One requirement
was not
completely met.
1
Delivery not
smooth and
audience
attention often
lost.
Uses headings or
bulleted lists to
organize, but the
overall
organization of
topics appears
flawed.
Makes good use
of font, color,
graphics, effects,
etc. to enhance to
presentation.
Content is
logically
organized for the
most part.
There was no
clear or logical
organizational
structure, just lots
of facts.
Makes use of
font, color,
graphics, effects,
etc. but
occasionally
these detract from
the presentation
content.
Source
information
collected for
graphics, facts
and quotes, but
not documented
in desired format.
Four misspellings
and/or
grammatical
errors.
Use of font,
color, graphics,
effects etc. but
these often
distract from the
presentation
content.
The workload
was divided, but
one person in the
group is viewed
as not doing
his/her fair share
of the work.
The workload
was not divided
OR several
people in the
group are viewed
as not doing their
fair share of the
work.
More than one
requirement was
not completely
met.
Very little or no
source
information was
collected.
More than 4
errors in spelling
or grammar.
Points
Earned
Originality
Product shows a
large amount of
original thought.
Ideas are creative
and inventive.
Product shows
some original
thought. Work
shows new ideas
and insights.
Uses other
people\'s ideas
(giving them
credit), but there
is little evidence
of original
thinking.
Uses other
people\'s ideas,
but does not give
them credit.
Total Score
Date Created: Jul 18, 2012 01:09 pm (CDT)