By
Dr. Don Roberts
Pittsburgh Middle Gifted Center

In one of the introductory session of this seminar, "The Lost Generation," the literature professor remarked that Americans lack an historical imagination. The remark hit home because I teach history and could accept the truth of his generalization. I would go even further with this caveat, history teachers must recognize the importance of developing this sense of the past in their students. If it does not happen, American children will not recognize patterns from the past that will have consequences in their future. Interpretations of literature as well as historical events suffer from a limited understanding of the past.

The guiding principle behind this unit on the 1920’s is that teachers need to stimulate the historical imagination of students. My experience as a teacher has lead me to believe that this is easily accomplished when students become personally involved in learning about the past. When independent research is conducted and the results become part of a creative group presentation, middle school students are likely to think about what they are studying and remember it better. I also firmly believe that historical imagination once stimulated has the capacity to spark creativity and long term learning.

The first step, I believe, in developing this historical perspective is simply to learn about the events of the past. Critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques, currently at the forefront of educational reform, must rest upon knowledge of content. The various interpretations of the past depend upon knowing the complexities of daily life as well as the impact of larger national issues. Students tend to remember historical events best when they are made vivid. Historical imagination will be encouraged by creative activities which call upon applying knowledge of the 1920’s to specific assignments. In this curriculum I will use the "You Are There" approach I remember from an early television program that was popular during the 1950’s. Students will be required to do research on events of the 1920’s and then dramatize what they have learned by entering into the decade as an historical personality or as a witness to significant events. Students also will create a newspaper for the decade with different groups working on individual years of the decade. Because television was not commercially available in the 1920’s, the "You Are There" program will be a radio show. Student research will be guided by a requirement to blend several aspects of life in the 1920’s into their ultimate classroom presentation. The teacher will provide the framework and content guidance while the students do the research and create the dramatic presentation.

While this curriculum unit was written specifically for Social Studies teachers in the middle schools, some of the handouts could be used by Language Arts teachers who are doing a unit on the Harlem Renaissance or the Lost Generation writers. Also, high school history teachers might make good use of activities dealing with specific episodes in American history during the decade.

Philosophically, can a ten year period (the 1920’s) be separated from the decades before and after, pronounced as a separate entity, and then studied as a unique phenomenon? Is it possible to take a slice of time and treat it as unique? Strictly speaking, the answer must be no. It is impossible. Historical and literary trends start, evolve and then either transform or end. There is not a formula that requires it all to occur within a ten year time period. Yet, for convenience sake we act as if it does. We view decades separately and give them an all encompassing name: the Roaring 20’s, the Fabulous 50’s, the Fly 90’s, Why do we use stereotypes to describe complex, multifaceted periods of time? Simply because they help us organize information.

When the information is hard to contain under the umbrella of a single title, we invent several to describe the decade. The 1920’s have been called the Lost Generation, the Age of the Flapper, the Jazz Age, and the Roaring Twenties. All attempt to identify a common theme, and all fail. Not everyone in the 1920’s was a lost intellectual, a thoroughly "Modern Milly," a jazz aficionado, or an exuberant bon vivant. Of course, they were all present along with the unemployed, the disadvantaged coal miner, the struggling farmer, the religious fundamentalist, the agnostic, the atheist. Occasionally, they would openly clash in a public arena such as the Scopes "Monkey Trial" but more often they did not interact; they simply coexisted.

The obvious conclusion that can be made about the 1920’s is that there was so much going on that simple descriptive phrases may illuminate certain aspects of the time period, but do not definitively categorize it. Students of the Twenties need to approach the subject from many angles. They must come to appreciate that a reconstruction of this decade requires a wide angle lens. This curriculum unit will use that approach. Students will be assigned research tasks that require them to work individually as well as collaboratively in groups to create a representative sample of life in the Twenties.

The Core Curriculum Frameworks, used by Pittsburgh teachers as they create lessons, are divided into nine broad areas of content standards. Two of those areas (Communications and Citizenship) are directly tied to this curriculum, "The 1920’s and Historical Imagination." Since students are to use Social Studies activities to learn about a wide variety of topics in the 1920’s by doing research, the Citizenship Content Standards apply. As they complete these activities and write a script for a radio broadcast as well as write news and feature stories for a newspaper, they will address Communications Standards. The creative "You Are There" approach they will use in their imaginary journey back in time to the 1920’s is part of both the Citizenship and Communications Standards. Appendix D contains a list of the specific content standards within these two broad areas of standards that apply to the work that students will do in this curriculum unit.

The Pittsburgh Teachers Institute seminar, "The Lost Generation" was a valuable personal experience because it made me more aware than ever of the complexity of life during the 1920’s. The impact of the Great War upon the sensibilities of a post war generation of intellectuals influenced their often ironic and detached literary observations. The 1920’s were unique because they were sandwiched between a political and economic disaster, the war and the depression. Although Americans would quickly shift their attention to other topics, the twenties are attractive to me as a Social Studies teacher. This vivid details of this decade provides an opportunity to grab student attention and hold on. So much was happening, and much of it exciting. There is a lot of material to feed the historical imagination. Students today can, I think, become fascinated with the complexity of American culture during the 1920’s. What they learn may contribute to nourishing an on-going interest in history. The activities in this curriculum hopefully combine historical research with creative expression. Ideally, students who research and write a script for a "You Are There" radio program and create an historical newspaper will become immersed in the 1920’s. They may even see parallels in the unfolding events of the 21st Century.

"The 1920’s and Historical Imagination" has been written to accommodate the typical middle school teaching situation of a Social Studies teacher in the city schools. It should be noted that I teach at the Pittsburgh Middle Gifted Center which is a unique educational facility. I intend to adapt this curriculum to use there, but wrote the curriculum unit so it can be used elsewhere as well. For example, at the Middle Gifted Center, the students can not be given homework assignments, and meet for one hour classes. Also, they choose which classes they will take each semester. I will adapt this curriculum to meet the requirements of my particular situation, but it was written for the Social Studies and Language Arts teachers in all Pittsburgh schools. In the past I have offered a semester class on Twentieth Century America. Students in that class are asked to select a particular decade for purposes of research. I hope to incorporate this curriculum into that class, but it could either stand alone or be infused into any American History class or American Literature class within the city schools.

"America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration; ...not surgery but serenity."

1 Warren G. Harding

If Charles Dickens had been writing about America in the 1920’s, not France in the 1790’s, he could have still introduced his novel with the words, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times... ." The 1920’s represents a time when a post war generation of disillusioned young people confronted the waning but still entrenched values of the Victorian Age held by the older generation. The result of that clash was a decade of profound change in what was both acceptable and valued by mainstream society. Americans living then experienced both the best and the worst of times as our nation transitioned into the Depression of the 1930’s from the war years of the late teens. While this was happening, the family structure was beginning to loosen.

In the present day of rush and hurry, there is little time for home example. To the over-busy or gaily fashionable, home might as well be a railroad station, and members of a family passengers who see each other only for a few hurried minutes before taking trains in opposite directions.

2 Emily Post

It was into this atmosphere that the 20’s began to roar, flappers danced, and Americans, in ever increasing numbers got into their Model T’s and roamed the newly created highways and by-ways in search of the ever elusive American Dream.

The topics in this curriculum will vary widely because I will view the 1920’s as a mosaic. The different pieces may fit together to form a pattern, but what does it mean? While this ten year period may be best remembered by names such as the Lost Generation, the Jazz Age, the Age of the Flapper, and the Roaring ‘20’s, it can not be that simple. Life isn’t like that. Students need to know as much as possible about the time period and draw their own conclusions. I would like students using this curriculum to gain a greater understanding of more than surface images. I want them to know why the 1920’s were lost, jazzy, dancing and roaring. Why do all of these descriptors apply? What was so special about this ten year period, often called the "Modern Age."?

The very complexity of this decade makes it a potential gold mine to attract student interest. This ten year period offers both challenges and excitement. Students will find that the historical characters from that period were somewhat puzzling. They were so much like us, but not quite, They had been dealt a different set of cards. They were living lives with a 1920’s mind set. In a widely quoted remark attributed to Gertrude Stein, she said, "You are all a lost generation." 3

F. Scott Fitzgerald anticipated the decade with a novel, This Side of Paradise, published in 1920. In this acclaimed novel he succinctly summarized his generation’s approach to life:

"Here was...a new generation, dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success, grown up to find all gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in men shaken."

4 F. Scott Fitzgerald

Students following this curriculum will explore that mental attitude as they research and then present their findings to classmates. A college essay written by a woman in the 1920’s neatly summarized a contemporary viewpoint that places the decade into historical perspective.

"Nature, war, prohibition, feminism, new fashions in dress, imitation of our elders, automobiles, radios, free money, the industrial era, and indulgent parents have had their hand in producing the younger generation of today. But don’t forget that we are not the only people living our own lives. Our parents are also having a fairly good time, and they are living much the same sort of lives as we are. We are the children of crusaders who were always in a stew over something. If it wasn’t women’s rights, it was the war. So we feel justified in calling upon the older generation to take a look at us, not as individuals who have chosen their destiny, but as the products of that destiny. If we are not what we should be, we are not wholly to blame."

5 Anonymous College Student

Americans during the 1920’s lived in a society that has been described as both revolutionary and reactionary. That is additional testimony supporting the notion that the times were, indeed, complex. Perhaps, the best way to view these years is to note that the reactionary response to extra- ordinary events could produce truly revolutionary ideas. A good example of this is the attempt to legislate an end to war in the Kellogg—Briand Pact of 1928 (a revolutionary idea) which, of course, was a response to the calamity known then as the Great War and later as World War I.

In this curriculum two other events that produced noteworthy responses in the 1920’s, the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments, are investigated. Prohibition had a profound impact upon the 1920’s and contributed to the rise of organized crime under Al Capone. The response to the Eighteenth Amendment was curious, and Al Capone was quick to capitalize upon it. In a remark attributed to him, Scarface said, "They call Capone a bootlegger. Yes, It’s bootleg while it’s on the trucks, but when your host at the club, in the locker room, or on the Gold Coast hands it to you on a silver platter, it’s hospitality." 6 Social drinking did not decline. For many, in fact, it became even more fashionable while the transportation and sale of booze to criminal gangs was widely deplored. Strange times, indeed. Chicago, headquarters for Capone and his gang, became infamous as a city held captive by organized crime during the 1920’s. In 1925 a Brooklyn newspaper reworded the National Anthem to read:

And the pistols’ red glare
Bombs bursting in air
Give proof through the night
That Chicago’s still there.

7 Richard N. Current

In spite of the outrage against organized crime, prohibition was not taken seriously by many Americans who used it as an opportunity to make money. Ordinary citizens made Bathtub Gin and sold it for a profit. Speakeasies were popular social gathering spots, and everyone knew that the police could not possibly arrest everyone who was drinking. The jails could not hold them all.

Mother’s in the kitchen
Washing out the jugs;
Sister’s in the pantry
Bottling the suds;
Father’s in the cellar

Mixing up the hops;
Johnny’s on the front porch
Watching for the cops.

8 Bill Lawrence

The right of women to vote impacted upon the social and political fabric of America as women made extraordinary strides toward gaining greater freedom and equality. The Nineteenth Amend-ment, the goal of American women since they first organized at the Senecca Falls Convention in 1848, contributed to the social ferment associated with the 1920’s. Many women were no longer meekly conforming to the stereotypical roles their mothers had played. They now had the vote, and they were beginning to seriously challenge those who felt they were merely decorative. The flapper puzzled many who saw her as a new breed..

She takes a man’s point of view as her mother never could...She will never make you a hatband or knit you a necktie, but she’ll drive you from the station...in her own little sports can. She’ll don knickers and go skiing with you; or, if it happens to be summer time, swimming; she’ll dive as well as you, perhaps better; she’ll dance as long as you care to; and she’ll take everything you say the way you mean it, not getting "sore" as her older sister did....She may quote to you; not Indian love lyrics, but something about the peace conference or theology.

9 Mary Beth Norton

The long term impact of these two amendments was very different.The Eighteenth Amendment, dismissed as a failure, would be repealed by the Nineteenth Amendment in 1932. The Nine- teenth Amendment would come to occupy an honored place in American history as something that should have been done much sooner.

This curriculum will have three educational focal points: 1) Social Studies activities to teach basic information about the decade; 2) writing and acting opportunities to demonstrate an understanding of the key events and personalities of the decade; and 3) selected reading experiences to foster greater awareness of the viewpoints held by writers of "The Lost Generation." The over riding goal of the curriculum is to make students more aware of a ten year time period that continues to attract attention from historians and literary critics. These three focal points will be interconnected in the research students do using the Internet and library resources. Students will be given possible topics for research and classroom dramatizations. These topics will attempt to cover political, economic, social, and literary topics.

These include:

1. Three Presidents (Harding, Coolidge and Hoover) and how they ruled

2. America’s Fascination with Radio in the 1920’s

3. An American Role Model, Charles A. Lindbergh

4. Athletic Heroes of the 1920’s: Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, Gene Tunney, Sonja Henie, Helen Wills, DizzyDean, Lou Gehrig, Babe Didrikson

5. Movie Stars: Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Al Jolson, Lillian Gish, Greda Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentine, Paul Robeson, Laurel and Hardy

6. Lost Generation Writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, T.S. Elliot, Ezra Pound, Eugene O’Neill, Maxwell Anderson

7. The 18th Amendment, Prohibition and Al Capone

8. The 19th Amendment and the Flapper

9. William Jennings Bryan v. Clarence Darrow (the Scopes Trial)

10. The Stock Market Crash of 1929

11. Famous Women: Amelia Earhart, Jeanette Rankin, Carrie Chapman Catt, Annie Oakley,

12. Notorious Criminals: Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Leopold and Loeb

13. Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bessie Smith, Scott Joplin, W.E.B. Dubois, Claude McKay

14. Crazes: Mah-Jongg, Marathon Dances, the Charleston, Flagpole Sitting, Ouija Boards, Crossword Puzzles, Tut (mania)

The Social Studies activities will stress teaching the nuts and bolts of the time period. Students will be given a time line of events from the 1920’s and then be required to answer specific questions to test their understanding of the decade. This will help provide the background for understanding how the various pieces of the historic and cultural mosaic fit together. They will also be given specific excerpts from the literature of the 1920’s and be required to respond to these. Students also will be given the opportunity to create a front page of a commemorative newspaper reporting highlights of the decade. An acceptable alternative to this would be to create a newspaper of the day following a significant historical event. In either case the newspaper could include a political cartoon, an editorial, advertisements, and straight news stories. Then students will be given the opportunity to pick one or more of these topics for more in-depth research. They will do research individually, but will work in cooperative groups to determine what needs to be researched, and how that research will be used. They will be required to make some choices about what they will present to the class, and how they will present it. The one requirement is that they use a "You Are There" format.

Students may recreate a scene from history by going back in time to interview the participants. They may choose to play the role of a modern day person who has taken time travel back to witness one of the first "Talkie, " movies and talk to contemporaries who were seeing "The Jazz Singer" for the first time. They may want to go to Dayton, Tennessee to watch a day in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Others in their research group would then take on the parts of William Jennings Bryant, Clarence Darrow and John Scopes. They may want to recreate a nightclub where Flappers danced the Charleston and then talked to a reporter about how the "modern girl" sees life differently than their Victorian mothers and grandmothers. They could interview each of the three, very different, Presidents during the decade. They might want to research the lives of several literary giants and then stage a press conference where Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald answer questions about the Lost Generation. By using the "You Are There" format the life and times of the 20’s will become more vivid, real, and memorable.

A culminating activity will be to pull all the various activities together into a radio broadcast called, "You Are There." Since it is an imaginary broadcast, the students may alter the limits of time and space. This broadcast is to cover the entire decade, and focus upon events just as if they were happening at the time of the broadcast. The events need to be arranged in chronological order so the audience will be able to follow them more easily. No two broadcasts will be the same because each group of students was given the option of selecting different events on the handouts, and the handouts will become the research basis for the broadcasts.

Students who have been divided into groups of four or five will now pool the information from their research and completed worksheets (see Appendix A). They will write a script for a 15-minute radio show that recreates events and personalities during the 1920’s. Each of these broadcasts will be performed for the class. While students may use as many sources as possible, the broadcasts must utilize the information on the worksheets.

How this is done will depend upon the creativity of the students writing the script. For example, Handout # 3, "Personalities of the Decade," has sports figures and movie stars. The script might have Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglass Fairbanks discussing the creation of a new movie studio, United Artists, or it might have Charlie Chaplin being interviewed about why his character, the Tramp, is so popular. Babe Ruth might be talking about his career as a baseball player. It is totally up to the students to decide how the information from Worksheet # 3 is to be utilized.

The same holds true for the other worksheets. The Lost Generation writers (Worksheet # 4) could be a segment of the radio broadcast devoted to literature. Students acting the part of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein could be debating why the writers of the 1920’s may be characterized as "lost." On the other hand, it might be an interview of a single writer where the basic facts about his//her life figure prominently in the broadcast.

The fads/crazes of the 1920’s (handout #5) might be incorporated into the broadcast as an advertisement for a particular brand of Ouija Boards or Mah-Jongg. It could be a simple news story about one of the marathon dance contests or someone establishing a record as a flagpole sitter. A second advertisement could use the work done in Handout # 6 (Advertisements in the 1920’s). The basic information completed at the bottom of the handout could easily be used in a commercial along with the slogan created for the product.

The editorials written as part of Handout # 13 could easily become an editorial for the station producing the broadcast. Opinions about the 18^th and 19^th Amendments (Prohibition, and Women’s Suffrage, respectively) were openly debated during the 1920’s so this could become a point/counterpoint type exchange on the radio broadcast. A debate on the merits of either prohibition or women’s suffrage would certainly be a lively exchange.

Students could easily use the information about the newsmakers of the decade that was researched in Handout #7 (Saints and Sinners of the 1920’s). The exploits of Al Capone captivated the radio audiences of the 1920’s. A significant portion of the news broadcast could be a crime roundup type feature. Of course, there was a lot of attention paid to the heroes as well. Charles A. Lindburgh and Amelia Earhart fascinated the public. They could be portrayed giving an interview after a famous solo flight.

The Scopes "Monkey" Trial riveted the attention of the nation on Dalton, Tennessee during the summer of 1925. Radio audiences were eager to find out what would happen when William Jennings Bryant and Clarence Darrow clashed in the debate between Darwinism and Creationism. The information collected in Worksheet # 8 could form the basis of a story on the trial and its importance. The Harlem Renaissance (Handout # 9) represents the opportunity for the students to vary the pace of their broadcast with a poetry reading or the recording of a musical number from one of the creative geniuses of this artistic period.

Hard news stories, human-interest stories, hero worship, crime, and culture will all play a part in this broadcast along with commercial messages that reflected the growing importance of consumerism in the 1920’s. The original "You Are There" program of the 1950’s always included this line, "Except You Are There." It was an attempt to let the viewer think that it was an accurate recreation of events with one exception. You, an unobtrusive observer, were there to witness the events. In this radio broadcast, hopefully, the listener will get a sense of real people reporting real events to a radio audience of real people in the 1920’s.

1. Warren G. Harding, Speech on May 15, 1920, quoted in Jack Allan, USA History with Documents, Vol 2 ( New York: American Book Company, 1971) p. 224.

2. "Excerpt from Emily Post’s Etiquette, 1922" Cited in Document 3, Jackdaw’s "America Enters the Modern Age," (Amawalk, New York: Jackdaws Publications, 2000).

3. Attributed by Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, 1926.

4. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise ( New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920) p. 255.

5. Anonymous, quoted in "Viewpoints of History," Norman K. Risjord and Terry L. Haywood, A History of the U.S. from 1877, Vol. 2 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Publishers, 1979), p. 234.

6. Walter LaFeber and Richard Polenberg, The American Century, 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1979), p. 152.

7. Richard N. Current, et. al. American History, 6th ed.(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983), p. 754.

8. Bill Lawrence, "Prohibition: the Noble Experiment," Fascinating Facts from American History (Portland, Maine: J. Weston Walch, Publisher, 1982), p. 166.

9. Mary Beth Norton, et. al. A People and a Nation, 5th ed. Vol. 2, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998), p. 684.

 

 

Jack Allen, USA With Documents, Vol. 2 (New York: American Book Company, 1971).

This middle school history book combines a traditional account of American history with a wide range of documents. There are many thought provoking questions with each document cited.

Richard N. Current, et. al., American History, 6th ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983).

A college level history textbook that provides useful background coverage of the 1920s.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920).

His first widely acclaimed novel that portrays life in a prep school, Princeton University, and then in the larger world during the First World War and immediately after.

Walter LaFeber and Richard Polenberg, The American Century 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1979).

Excellent coverage of American history after 1890.

Bill Lawrence, Fascinating Facts from American History (Portland, Maine: J. Weston Walch, Publisher, 1982).

Teachers can use the unusual facts and interesting information about personalities and events of the 1920s to capture student interest in the time period.

Mary Beth Norton, et. al. A People and a Nation, 5th ed., Vol. 2 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998).

Well written historical account of American history after 1865.

Emily Post, Etiquette, Cited in Document 3, Jackdaw’s "American Enters the Modern Age," (Amawalk, New York: Jackdaws Publications, 2000).

Jackdaws Publications creates teaching materials such as this one for Social Studies teachers. It has a wide variety of classroom activities on the 1920s.

Norman Risjord and Terry L Haywood, A History of the U.S. from 1877, Vol 2 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Publishers, 1979).

This middle school history book provides traditional coverage of American history. Teachers will find the "SideNotes to History" and "Bird’s Eye View" features especially helpful in capturing student attention.

 

Materials for Classroom Use

Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1931).

William G. Bailey, Americans in Paris, 1900-1930: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).

Same S. Baskett, "Beyond Native Grounds: American Literary Expatriation." Centennial Review, 1987 31(2): 192-211.

Steven Biel, Independent Intellectuals in the United States, 1910-1945 (New York: New York University Press, 1992).

Daniel H. Borus, These United States: Portraits of America from the 1920s (Ithaca: Cornell, 1992).

Lawrence R. Broer and John D. Walther, eds. Dancing Fools and Weary Blues: The Great Escape of the Twenties (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1990).

Paul A. Carter, Another Part of the Twenties (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977).

Marc Dolan, Modern Lives: A Cultural Rereading of the "Lost Generation." West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1996).

Marc Dolan, "The (Hi)story of Their Lives: Mythic Autobiographies and the ‘Lost Generation’" Journal of American Studies, 1993 27(1): 35-56.

Lynn Dumenil, Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920’s (New York: Hill & Wang, 1995).

Hugh D. Ford, Published in Paris: American and British Writers, Printers and Publishers in Paris, 1920-1939 (New York: MacMillian, 1975).

Howard Greenfield, Gertrude Stein, A Biography (New York: Crown Publishers, 1973).

David Kennedy, Thomas A. Bailey and Mel Piehl, The Brief American Pageant, 3rd ed., Vol II (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Co., 1993).

Gerald J. Kennedy, Imagining Paris: Exile, Writing, and American Idenity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).

Jeffrey Meyers, Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography (New York: Harper Collins, 1994).

George Mowry, The Urban Nation, 1920-1960 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1965).

James S. Olson, Historical Dictionary of the 1920’s: From World War I to the New Deal, 1919-1933 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988).

Donald Pizer, American Expatriate Writing and the Paris movement: Modernism and Place (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996).

Michael S.Reynolds, Hemingway, the Paris Years (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1989).

Michael S. Reynolds, The Sun Also Rises: A Novel of the Twenties (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988).

Karen L. Rood, ed., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 4 American Writers in Paris, 1920-1939 (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1980).

George Soule, Prosperity Decade: From War to Depression (New York: Harper, 1968).

St. James Reference Guide to English Literature: 20th Century Fiction (Chicago: St. James Press, 1985).

Linda Wagner-Martin, New Essays on The Sun Also Rises (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

Ben Yagoda, "American Writers in Paris," Horizon , 1980 23(11): 26-31.

The sources cited above include a variety of sources on the 1920s (bibliographies, biographies, monographs, articles and essay collections). When the teacher is presenting this curriculum unit to students, it would be helpful to gather these sources together from the school library. Inter-school library loan from Library Services is available. The sources above focus upon the Lost Generation writers.

Kristi Anderson, After Suffrage: Women in Partisan & Electoral Politics Before the New Deal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).

John Baxter, Sixty Years of Hollywood (South Brunswick: A.S. Barnes, 1973).

Edward Behr, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America (New York: Arcade Pub., Distribution by Lilttle, Brown and Co., 1996).

Paula S. Fass, The Dammed and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s (London: Oxford University Press, 1979).

Ray Ginger, Six Days or Forever? Tennessee V. John Thomas Scopes (London: Oxford University Press, 1974).

Jacqueline Herald, Fashions of a Decade: The 1920’s (Facts on File, 1991).

Wells Twombly 200 Years of Sport in America: A Pageant of a Nation at Play (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976).

Steven Watson, The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture 1920-1930 (New York: Pantheon, 1995).

Each of the sources above deal with one of the prominent issues during the decade. The 18th Amendment (Prohibition), 19th Amendment (suffrage), popular culture (Hollywood stars), the glorification of youth, fashions, sports heroes, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Scopes Trial are all topics that students will need to research. Each of these sources offer insights that youthful readers will appreciate when preparing for classroom presentations.

What is not available in the school library should be obtained through Library Services.

 

Appendix A

PLEASE NOTE: The handouts in Appendix A are to be completed by each team of students. They will use the information to create the "You Are There" radio broadcast.

Handout #1: A Timeline of the 1920’s

Name____________________________ Group___________ Date_______________________________

Directions: Using your history book as well as other sources from the library and the Internet, arrange the following events into a time line of events. To do this you will have to find out when each event happened. Then, you will need to construct the time line using a ruler, plain white paper, and magic markers.

If you want to illustrate the time line with some drawing, you may find images of the decade at www.askjeeves.com or www.googgle.com.

You must find at least four events from each category.

1. Political Events: Coolidge Reelected President, President Harding Elected President, President Harding Dies, Washington Naval Disarmament Conference, the Kellogg-Briand Pact Is Signed, Teapot Dome Scandal Revealed to Public, Sacco and Vanzetti Executed, the 19th Amendment Is Ratified

2. The Arts: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is published, F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gadsby is published, William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury is published, George Gershwin’s "American in Paris" is first performed, Aaron Copeland’s "First Symphony" is performed, Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt is published.

3. Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes published his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes won literary awards from Opportunity; the Cotton Club opened; Marcus Garvey founded the African Orthodox Church; Paul Robeson starred in Euguene O’Neill’s "All God’s Chillun Got Wings; W.E.B. Du Bois’s Darkwater was published.

4. Science and Technology: First Synthetic Vitamin Is Created, Vitamin D Is Discovered, First Neon Sign Ad in New York City, First Commercial Transatlantic Telephone Service,

First Radar Experiments, Cellophane Invented, First Talking Pictures (Movies), First Transcontinental Airmail Service.

5. National Heroes: Charles Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic, Rudolph Valentine Dies, Charlie Chaplin Stars in the "Gold Rush," Amelia Earhart Flies Solo Across the Atlantic, Gertrude Ederle Swims the English Channel, Al Jolson Stars in "The Jazz Singer,"

1. Give your timeline a distinctive name. You can use one of the phrases often associated with the 1920’s. For example, you can title it, "The Roaring 20’s," "The Jazz Age," "The Age of the Flapper," etc. or select a title that will cover all the events that you have picked for your timeline. For example, you might call it, "The 1920’s: A Time of Change," or "The Extraordinary 20’s," etc.

2. Neatness counts so be sure to measure the length of your timeline and then divide it into ten segments (one for each year).

3. Make your timeline colorful by cutting out letters from colored paper, using magic markers, colored pencils and/or crayons.

4. Draw some pictures to illustrate the events on your timeline. You may get images from the Internet to reinforce the information you have placed on the timeline.

5. Remember, do all your work in pencil first. Then, cover the pencil lines with magic marker, crayons, etc. Erase any extra lines.

 

 

Handout # 2: Questions About Events on the Timeline

1. Who founded the African Orthodox Church?_________________________________

2. What was the ethnic background of Sacco and Vanzetti? __________________________

3. Who wrote The Great Gadsby?____________________________________________

4. Who was elected President of the U.S. first, Coolidge or Harding?________________

5. Who was the star of the movie, "Gold Rush."________________________________

6. What did the 19th Amendment establish? _________________________________

7. Where was the first neon sign advertisement?________________________________

8. What body of water did Gertrude Ederly swim for the first time? ________________

9. Who wrote The Waste Land? ____________________________________________

10. Which vitamin was discovered during the 1920’s? ____________________________

11. Who was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic ?_________________________

12. Who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic? _______________________

13. In what year was the Kellogg-Brian Pact signed? _____________________________

14. What was created first, the first synthetic vitamin or cellophane? ________________

15. Who starred in "The Jazz Singer, Rudolph Valentino or Al Jolson? ______________________________________________

16. Who composed "An American in Paris" George Gershwin or Aaron Copeland?

______________________________________________________

17. What was Langston Hughes’ first book of poetry? ____________________________

18. In what city was the Naval Disarmament Conference held? _____________________

19. Who was the black actor who starred in "All God’s Chillun Got Wings"?

______________________________________________

 

Handout # 3: Personalities of the Decade

Name Group Date_____________

Directions: Select a famous personality from the 1920’s to learn more about. Then, use your history textbook, library resources and the Internet. Remember, www.doghill.com is a great place to start locating information on the Internet. You will need to state your research question in the space by the word, "fetch." Start with the person’s name. Either pick one of the names below, or get the teacher’s approval for someone else. Once you have made your selection, answer the ten questions below on a separate piece of paper. Reading a book about the person will help.

Sports Figures: Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, Gene Tunney, Sonja Henie, Helen Wills, Dizzy Dean, Lou Gehrig, Babe Didrikson.

Movie Stars: Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Al Jolson. Lillian Gish, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentine, Paul Robeson, Laurel and Hardy.

1. When and where was he/she born?

2. Was he/she an only child, or were there other siblings?

3. What were the parents like?

4. Did this person marry? If so, to whom? More than one marriage?

5. How would you describe this person’s childhood (happy or unhappy and why?).

6. What did this person do that first made him/her well known?

7. What were some of the highlights of this person’s career?

8. What is the most surprising thing you discovered about this person?

9. What is this person most remember for and why?

10. What are three words that would best describe this 1920’s personality?

Handout #4: Lost Generation Writers:

Name____________________________ Group_______ Date________________

Directions: What the writers of the 1920’s wrote about life during that decade tells us a lot about what life was like then. Do some research on each of the writers listed below. Name at least two things each author wrote during the 1920’s, and then select one writer to describe in greater detail.

Lost Generation Writers

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald: ___________________________________________________________

2. Gertrude Stein: ______________________________________________________________

3. Sinclair Lewis: ______________________________________________________________

4. Ernest Hemmingway: _________________________________________________________

5. John Dos Pasos: _____________________________________________________________

6. T.S. Elliot: ______________________________________________________________

7. Exra Pound: _________________________________________________________________

8. Eugene O’Neil: ______________________________________________________________

9. Maxwell Anderson: ___________________________________________________________

10. The Author I Selected:_____________________________________________________

A. When and where was he/she born?___________________________________

B. Where was he/she educated? _______________________________________

C. Did the author ever win any literary prizes? If he/she did, what was the prize and when was it awarded? ______________________________________________________________________________

D. Read the first chapter of any of your author’s books, and summarize what the story was about in that chapter. If you picked a poet, name one of the poems and tell what it was about, in your own words. Do this on composition paper.

 

 

Handout # 5: Fads/Crazes of the 1920’s

Name___________________________ Group_______ Date_________________

Directions: Research these fads of the 1920s. Then, write a short description of each.

1. Mah-Jongg:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Marathon Dances:___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

3. the Charleston:_______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4. Flagpole Sitting:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Ouija Boards:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Crossword Puzzles:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. King Tut(mania):_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Handout # 6: Advertisements in the 1920’s

Name____________________________ Group_______ Date____________________

Directions: Advertisments became a significant feature of the business and consumer world of the 1920’s. Many products competed for the attention of the buyer. What consumers could not afford to pay for in full, they bought in monthly installments. Automobiles, record players, radios, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners were, perhaps, at the top of the list. You also could advertise a movie and the movie stars in that film.

. Create a full page newspaper advertisement for a product.

. Make it authentic by using a real product from the 1920’s.

. Give your product a special sale price.

. Create a slogan. For example, you could say, " Don’t Be Bored, Drive a Ford."

. Do Internet research. Find pictures of consumer products used in the 1920’s.

. You can research to find names of popular movies during the decade to advertise.

. Use a large sheet of paper or a poster board, magic markers, and crayons.

1. Name of the product:______________________________________________________

2. Price of the product:_______________________________________________________

3. Slogan:______________________________________________________________

4. Installment payment plan:__________________________________________________

5. What emotions will you use to attract the attention of the consumer? It will make you happy; it will save you a lot of work, it will make you popular, it will make you respected by others, etc. ____________________________________________________________________________

Handout # 7: Saints and Sinners of the 1920’s

Name____________________________Group_______Date__________________________

Directions: There were well known role models during the 1920’s that many Americans of all ages admired, and there were criminals who were feared and hated. This assignment is to look at both categories of public figures. Either make a poster focused on one of the saints or sinners, or do a combination poster, Saints and Sinners of the Decade. Make sure you know why they were admired or hated before you start the poster. In other words, do research.

Use the Internet (www.askjeeves.com or www.dogpile.com)or any search engine such as AltaVista, Google., or yahoo. Select the saints and sinners from the list below or get the teacher’s approval for others.

Saints: President Coolidge, Charles A. Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Jeanette Rankin, Carrie Chapman Catt, Annie Oakley; Sinners: Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Leopold and Loeb.

1. The person I am researching is _________________________________________________.

2. Why is this person so well known? ______________________________________________

3. A summary of this person’s accomplishments or crimes is recorded below.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Handout # 8: The Scopes Trial

Name____________________________ Group_______Date__________________

Directions: The attention of the nation was focused upon Dayton, Tennessee during the summer of 1925. A teacher was on trial for breaking a Tennessee law. The questions below involve the key players in that trial and the issues involved. Use your history book, library resources and the Internet to find out as much as you can about who they were, and what the issues were.

Identify the Following:

1 John T. Scopes _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. William Jennings Bryan

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Clarence Darrow

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Book of Genesis (Fundamentalism)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. The American Civil Liberties Union

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (Creationism)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Handout # 9: The Harlem Renaissance

Directions: The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to a period of creative expression that took place from the end of World War I until the mid-1930’s in Harlem. African-American writers produced poetry, fiction, drama, essay, and plays while musicians took jazz to even higher levels of musical creativity.

1. In this assignment you are to select a writer or musician prominent during the Harlem Renaissance.

2. Then, you are to create a public announcement of the reading of a literary work, or the playing of a musical composition.

3. The announcement must be historically accurate. It can refer to what the artist has done before as well as what the audience can expect from attending the performance.

4. If you chose a musician, the venue can be the Cotton Club that opened in the fall of 1923.

5. If you chose a literary figure, the venue can be a public hall or theater.

6. You must do research on the person you selected. Use the Internet, library books, and/or your history book. You may want to start with www.askjeeves.com or www.dogpile.com or www.altavista.com .Begin with a search for Harlem Renaissance.

Make your public announcement colorful. The idea is to make people aware that this

person is going to perform, and make the public want to come to see the person and hear the performance.

7. Put a date on the performance that could be historically correct. In other words, if it is Louis Armstrong playing some particular music, that music would have to be written by that time. If it is Langston Hughes reading from his first published book of poem, The Weary Blues, it would have to be 1926 or later.

8. Use poster board, or a large sheet of paper. Make a rough sketch first, and then a final copy.

 

 

Appendix B

PLEASE NOTE: THE ASSIGNMENTS IN THIS APPENDIX CALL FOR A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT QUOTES ABOUT THE DECADE, OR POETRY.

Handout # 10:

First Research/Writing Assignment

Directions: Respond to one of the following quotes. Write a 300 word essay either defending the statement or opposing it. To do this you will have to do some research on the subject of the quote (Henry Ford or President Coolidge). Both were influential leaders in areas of great importance during the 1920’s, politics and business, respectively.You will need to go to the library to get books and/or use the Internet. Once again, www.dogpile.com or www.google.com or any other search engine should prove helpful.

"Late in the life of the first Henry Ford, a boy named John Dahlinger...had a discussion with the old man about education and found himself frustrated by Ford’s very narrow view of what schooling should be. "But, sir, Dahlinger told Ford, "these are different times, this is the modern age and—" Ford cut him off. "Young man," he said, "I invented the modern age."

David Halberstam, American Heritage, October/November, 1986, p.49.

 

Quote# 2:

"In what manner he (President Coolidge) would have performed himself if the holy angels had shoved the Depression forward a couple of years—this we can only guess, and one man’s hazard is as good an another’s. My own is that he would have responded to bad times precisely as he responded to good ones—that is, by pulling down the blinds, stretching his legs upon his desk, and snoozing away the lazy afternoons...He slept more than any other President, whether by day or by night. Nero fiddled, by Coolidge only snored....There were no thrills while he reigned, but neither were there any headaches. He had no ideas, and he was not a nuisance."

H.L. Mencken, "Obituary for Calvin Coolidge," published in April, 1933.

 

Second Research/Writing Assignment

Directions: Below you will find a famous literary quote about the generation of young adults who were living during the 1920’s. Write answers to two questions about this quote.

"Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken. ..."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, p. 255.

 

Do some research on the personal life of the author of this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Then review the history of the United States during the decade preceding the 1920’s. Use what you learn to answer this question:

1. Do you think Fitzgerald was pointing out strength or weakness in his generation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Rewrite this quote and insert personal beliefs about your generation.

Handout 11: Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance

Directions: Langston Hughes was an outstanding poet of the Harlem Renaissance. His poem, "I, Too", published in 1925, was written in response to Walt Whitman’s, "I Sing America." In 1926, "The Weary Blues" was published to critical success. Read both poems, silently and then orally. Use lines from both poems to respond to the three questions. Answer on composition paper.

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes.
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes,
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen."

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am American.

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lennox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway….
He did a lazy sway….
To the tune O’ Those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
"Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on de shelf."
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords than he sang some more—
"I got de Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got de Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed.
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

Questions:

1 What was Langston Hughes’ message to White America?

2. Why is "renaissance" a good word to describe what Langston Hughes thought had to happen in America?

3. Why do you suppose that Hughes wrote a poem called, "Weary Blues"?

Handout # 12: "Wall Street Blues"

Directions: You will be required to do two things in the first part of this assignment. First, you will read the words to a popular song at the end of the decade. Then, you will define the meaning of some of the words in the song and summarize its meaning.

WALL STREET BLUES

Words by Margaret Gregory and W.C. Handy, music by W.C. Handy, 1929

I can sing the blues from the bottom of my heart,
I cab sing the blues from the bottom of my heart,
All my profits gone ‘fore I even got a start.|
Never had the blues like the blues I’m blue with now,
Never had the blues like the blues I’, blue with now,
Oh what I recall of the street called Wall and how!
Wailing Wall, Oh, Jerusalem!
There’s one in New York, too,
Where I got a-whaling
Now I’m ailin’
Wailin’ cause I’m blue.
Patter:
Margin callin’ brokers, miles of ticker tape,
Got a many poor old sap-head wearin’ crepe,
Wailin’ Wall Street, I just can’t enthuse,
Boo-hoo-hoo-in’, I’ve got the Wall Street Blues.
Blues:
More margin, I can’t meet this call,
No more margin, now he’s got it all.
Oh Wall Street you’ve got me depressed,
Down-hearted, you can guess the rest,
River’s East end, graveyard’s at the west.

1. Define the terms used in this song: Wall Stree, margin call, broker’s call, ticker tape, wearing crepe, Wailing Wall.

2.Write a paragraph that summarizes the desperate message in this song.

Directions: In the second part of the assignment, you will write a poem or rap about the 1920’s. Give it a title, like "I’ve Got the 1920’s Blues," or one of the descriptive titles for the decade, "The Lost Generation," The Roaring Twenties," "The Age of the Flapper," or any other title you think would allow you to mention important things that happened during the decade.

Pre-Writing Activities:

1. Do some brainstorming. Make a list of at least ten things you may use in the poem/rap.





2. Organize your ideas in several webs/clusters. You need to put one of your ideas in the center of each circle. Then draw lines coming out from that circle with details that describe the idea. These graphic organizers should help you think about what you want to say.



3. Be sure to have at least 10 lines in your poem or rap.

Appendix C

PLEASE NOTE: THE TWO ASSIGNMENTS IN THIS APPENDIX ARE TO BE USED WHEN CREATING NEWSPAPERS OF THE DECADE.

Handout # 13: The 18th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution

Name____________________________Group_______Date_______________________

Directions: During the 1920’s two Constitutional Amendments went into effect. Both had a big impact upon life in the United States. The 18th outlawed drinking alcoholic beverages and the 19th established women’s suffrage (voting). Do the following:

1) Write an editorial either in favor of one of these amendments or against one of these amendments.

2) Draw a political cartoon showing what impact one of these amendments had upon life in the United States. Use this drawing to reinforce the opinion you expressed in the editorial. You may use stick figures with balloons encircling their spoken words. Use a plain piece of white paper for this.

EDITORIAL TITLE:_____________________________________________________________
Handout # 14: Newspapers of the Decade

Directions: The teacher should divide the class so that there are two or three students in each of ten groups. Each group will create a newspaper chronicling the events of a particular year in the decade. Each group will:

. Do research on the events of the assigned year. You may use your history textbooks, library resources, and the Internet.

. Keep your research notes and give them to the teacher for credit.

. Write at least ten stories for the front page of a newspaper. Since it is only the front page, not every story will be a complete story. Some will be continued to another page, and you won’t have to finish the story.

. Give your newspaper a name, and put it in large letters at the top of the page. Also, include the year so everyone knows what time period you are writing about.

                    . These stories are to cover the events of the entire year.

. Decide which story should be the lead story as the most significant event of that year.

. Vary the presentation of the news stories. You may have two columns as well as single column stories.

. You may draw a political cartoon about a significant event of the decade. For example, it could be critical of the government’s handling of the problems associated with the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in the 1940’s, the Red Scare of the 1950’s, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Kennedy in the 1960’s, or any other topic of significance during your decade.

. You may write an editorial expressing your group’s opinion about a news story of your year.

. You could have an advertisement for a product or products that were popular sale items during your year.

. All of these yearly newspapers should be displayed on a bulletin board. It will be a good visual display of the news during the 1920’s.

 

 

 

Appendix D

Pittsburgh Public School Content Standards

Communications Standards:

. All students use effective research and information management skills, including locating primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies. (Number 1)

. All students respond orally and in writing to information and ideas gained by reading narrative and informational texts and use the information and ideas to make decisions and solve problems. (Number 3)

. All students write for a variety of purposes, including narrating, inform, and persuade, in all subject areas. (Number 4)

. All students analyze and make critical judgments about all forms of communication, separating fact from opinion, recognizing propaganda, stereotypes and statements of boas, recognizing inconsistencies and judging the validity of evidence. (Number 5)

. All students compose and make oral presentations for each academic area of study that is designed to persuade, inform or describe. (Number 8)

Citizenship Standards:

. All students demonstrate an understanding of major events, cultures, groups and individuals in the historical development of Pennsylvania, the United States and other nations, and describe themes and patterns of historical development. (Number 1)

. All students demonstrate their skills of communicating, negotiating and cooperating with others. (Number 7)

. All students demonstrate that they can work effectively with others. (Number 8).

When students do research in their school libraries and on the Internet to complete the nine handouts in Appendix A and then report their findings to the class, they are addressing both CO 1 and CO 3. Students responding orally and in writing to the poetry and prose in Appendix B are meeting Communications Standards 3, 4, 5, and 8. Students completing the newspaper assignments in Appendix C are addressing the CO Standards 4 and 5. The editorial opinion they express as they analyze the 18^th and 19^th Amendments in an editorial is to inform and persuade (CO 4) while the compilation of a newspaper involves analyzing and making critical judgments and judging the validity of evidence (CO 5). When students compose and make an oral presentation of their group research in the "You Are There" radio broadcast, they are informing the audience of their classmates (CO 8).

While students within a group do individual research, they must communicate, negotiate, and cooperate with others in their group (C 7). Each group composed of four or five students must produce a joint project. To do this they must work effectively with others (C8). The bedrock of the entire curriculum rests upon students learning and then demonstrating an understanding of the historical development of our nation (C1).