Virginia Standards of Learning: 

VUS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis, economic decision making, and responsible citizenship by

1. a)   synthesizing evidence from artifacts and primary and secondary sources to obtain information about events in Virginia and United States history;
   e)   comparing and contrasting historical, cultural, economic, and political perspectives in Virginia and United States history;
   f)   explaining how indirect cause-and-effect relationships impact people, places, and events in Virginia and United States history;
   j)   investigating and researching to develop products orally and in writing.

VUS.10  The student will apply social science skills to understand key events during the 1920s and 1930s by

1. b)   assessing and explaining the economic causes and consequences of the stock market crash of 1929;
   c)   explaining the causes of the Great Depression and its impact on the American people; 

Objective: 
Students will analyze the effects of the Great Depression on a personal level by reading primary source accounts.

Students will write a letter from the perspective of someone living in rural Virginia during the Depression and address specific hardships of the time.

Collection of Sources (interviews located below the writing prompts)

• Dorothy Shifflet Interview  (1/29/19)
• Sally Dixon Rakes Interview (5/2/19)
• Proposal of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Teaching Strategies

1. Individual, paired, or guided reading of both interviews.  Students will hold their thoughts by writing what they perceive to be challenges of the time period.
2. Talk students through the individual hardships of the Depression with their broader understanding of the time period and their previous learning using a T-Chart and class participation.
3. Group discussion of the hardships faced by the interviewees and lead discussion comparing the challenges of life in the 1930s to today.  Also lead discussion of New Deal policies intended to help Americans get back to work and focus on the Blue Ridge Parkway construction in Southwest Virginia link.
4. Using maps of the area, show students where these women lived in relation to the rest of Virgina.
5. Assist students in their independent writing from another perspective assessing their understanding of the hardship that existed during the Great Depression.