Question/Problem 2: How did Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal change the role of government in the United States, and how did it come to the aid of individual Americans?
Description of lesson/activity
1. explain the contrasting the views of the role of government of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
2. explain how the New Deal programs affected the lives of Americans during the Depression.
3. recognize the differing responses of the administrations of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Depression.
4. analyze two primary resources to reach conclusions concerning the role of government.
5. gather information on the New Deal programs and apply their knowledge by creating a collage.
6. present their findings to the class and orally justify their examples.
7. decide and defend their position on the New Deal legislation.
2. Teacher should allow students to ask questions about the worksheet.
3. Teachers should supplement the passages with specific examples of how Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to the Depression. For example: Hoover recommended the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend money to businesses ; Roosevelt called for a four-day bank holiday to restore public confidence in the nation's banks.
4. After students complete the worksheet, "Two Views of Government," the teacher should lead a discussion on how the role of government changed with the New Deal.
5. The teacher should assign the reading of textbooks or other resources on the various agencies of the New Deal, such as the NRA, the CCC, and the AAA. Students should then be given the assignment of creating a collage that depicts the work of these agencies and how each helped individual Americans. See the accompanying "Directions: New Deal Collage" hand out for complete instructions.
While students could cut pictures out of current magazines and newspapers, the teacher should explain that while such pictures might symbolize efforts of the government in the 1930s, they cannot be an accurate, historical representation of those efforts.
6. Students should be given the "New Deal Collage Evaluation" as part of their instructions for the assignment and the teacher should use it to grade the collage.
7. To conclude the lesson, the teacher may wish to
review how President Roosevelt's New Deal changed government and the lives of many Americans.ask students whether they would have supported or opposed the New Deal if they had lived in the 1930s.
Resource 2: Two Views of Government Worksheet
Resource 3: "Directions: New Deal Collage" handout.
Resource 4: New Deal Collage Assessment Criteria
Student textbook and other available resources.