Welcome to Semester 2 of your 11th Grade US History course.
This is our new learning target:
LT1: I
can assess the social, political, economic and military conflicts that faced
“the Greatest Generation.”
Sooooo... there's a lot going on in this target, so let's do a little predictive Q&A here!
Q1: What the heck is the "Greatest Generation," Mr. Galanis?!
A1: Well, that's a term coined by a famous journalist named Tom Brokaw to describe a specific generation of Americans. Those people who lived through the Great Depression as children, and then grew up to be sent to fight in World War II.
Q2: Well, so what, why do I care about them?
A2: Well, this is my grandparents generation, so I guess your great grandparents generation. A lot of the times when, in popular culture, we talk about "the good old days" we're talking about this generation's lifetime. Their experiences can help us understand and contextualize a lot of aspects of our own lives, the implications and seriousness, and horror of war, sacrifice, what it means to be American, as well as point out some of the not-so-great things that happened in our country in this era.
Q3: So what are we going to be doing?
A3 This target is divided into subtargets. Compared to last year, I'm shortening this target, so I'm going to be doing a lot of revision. This is in part because A) this target was way too long last year, and B) because of that our Civil Rights and Women's Lib targets were way too short, so there's that.
I plan on there being at least one roundtable assessment in this target, as well as a few on demand writing assignments to continue to get at our skills targets.
Q4: How long is it?
A4: As it's planned now, we're looking to see this target extending from now until the first week of March. This might seem like a long time but it isn't really. It's already practically February, AND we have a vacation in February!
Q5 Well, what are some of the things we're learning about in this target?
A5 The Great Depression, The New Deal, The home front and the front lines during WWII (focusing on PEOPLE, we won't be doing a comprehensive study of the war, sorry WWII buffs), considering the idea of "the good old days."
IN CLASS TODAY (after reading everything I typed above this....)
Watch this video about the BOOM of the 20s (this would have actually fit in our last target, but it wasn't what I decided to focus on. We do need to have an idea of this stuff though in order for this next target to make sense). In your notebook, put this into your notes under "The ROARING ECONOMY OF THE 1920s!" (Warning: the video does sort of just end, I know)
I can't decide if this is terrible or good. Probably both. Don't ask me if I know these dudes. I definitely don't. Watch this video and then the video from our friend John Green (remember, CC is your friend)! Take notes under the heading "THE GREAT DEPRESSION"
Once you've finished watching all three of these videos, respond to the following question in about a page! (can be typed or written)
How did America change from the roaring 20s into the 1930s (i.e. what was it like in the ROARING 20s vs. the GREAT DEPRESSION)? Why did the Great Depression happen?
"The 1930s was an era in US History known as the Great Depression. This era followed the "Roaring 20s" when the nation's economy was booming"
