Jana P.

Leonard
Lesson Plan
Agencies of the New Deal

Lesson Plan Outline

Introduction

Lesson topic: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal

Length of Lesson: (anticipated duration 90 minutes)

VA Standards of Learning:

USII.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the social, economic, and

technological changes of the early twentieth century by

d) identifying the causes of the Great Depression, its impact on Americans, and the

major features of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Cognitive Objectives

1. Students will identify and define the major programs of FDR’s New Deal.

2. Students will explain how these programs were supposed to address the problems of the

Great Depression.

Materials/Technology and Advanced Preparation

1. Computer w/projector and internet access;

2. Audio excerpts from FDR’s First Inaugural Address: (www.hpol.org/fdr/inaug/) from

3:35 – 4:17, then 8:20 – 12:15 of recording.

3. Powerpoint on New Deal Programs (attached);

4. Alphabet Soup worksheet (attached);

5. Basket with acronyms on slips of paper;

6. 8” x 8” squares of poster board.

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Lesson Plan
Agencies of the New Deal

Teaching and Learning Sequence

Introduction/Anticipatory Set –

o Teacher will ‘warm up’ the class by asking them to describe the conditions of the Great

Depression (reviewing prior knowledge) – what was the employment situation, the

banking situation, the foreclosure/homeless situation.

o Teacher will introduce FDR’s first inaugural address asking the students to pay attention

to what Roosevelt identifies as the problems faced (3:35 – 4:17) and what will be

necessary to resolve these problems (8:20-12:15). Teacher will play the audio excerpts

of Roosevelt’s first inaugural address.

o After the address, Teacher will ask students to identify the problems Roosevelt identified

and the steps he says are necessary to get the country out of the depression.

o Teacher will place responses on the board in three columns (for relief, recovery and

reform).

o Teacher will pass out the ‘Alphabet Soup’ chart.

Lesson Development

o Teacher uses power point presentation while explaining to students the concepts of

relief, recovery and reform (the ‘Three R’s’).

o Teacher writes these as headings to the columns on the board.

o With the assistance of the power point presentation, teacher identifies the new deal

programs and agencies.

o During the presentation, students will fill in some of the ‘Alphabet Soup’ chart.

o After the lecture, Teacher will go around the room asking students to identify the

agency/program by its acronym and true name as set forth on the chart.

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Lesson Plan
Agencies of the New Deal

o Teacher will ask what the agency/program was designed to do. During this time,

teacher will observe whether students are making the appropriate notations on their

sheets.

o Teacher will then ask the students to identify whether they think the agency/program is

designed to provide relief, to assist in recovery, or to reform the system and why – noting

that some agencies/programs may have more than one purpose.

Closure

o Beginning in the front corner of the room the teacher will ask the first student to stand

next to the second.

o The teacher will draw acronyms from a basket, the student who identifies the

agency/program correctly will move to stand next to the third student, where process will

be repeated until someone makes it to the end of the classroom (‘round robin’).

Homework

o Teacher will then pass the basket of acronyms around the room asking each student to

draw one acronym from the basket. Teacher will also pass out 8” x 8” squares of poster

board to each student.

o Teacher will explain that, for homework, each student is to design a square that best

symbolizes the agency whose acronym the student has drawn. The design may be

done in marker, crayon, colored pencil, pencil, with construction paper or any other

media the student wishes to use.

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Lesson Plan
Agencies of the New Deal

o On the back of each square student is to write their name, the acronym of the agency

chosen, the true name of the agency chosen, the purpose of the agency, and whether

the agency exists (in some form) today. These blocks will later be used as game pieces

for review games.

o Teacher will write this assignment on the blackboard and remind students to write the

assignment in their agenda books.

Assessment

Formative – During the course of the lesson, teacher will gauge students’ understanding of the

material based on the note taking on the worksheet as well as responses to questions.

Summative – Students will be asked in the following class to identify the agency/program their

quilt square identifies and why the design created reflects this agency as well as whether the

agency exists today. Questions concerning the major new deal programs will appear on the unit

test.

References

Adams, D. and Goldbard, A. (1995). New Deal Cultural Programs: Experiments in Cultural

Democracy. Downloaded from http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html.

Appleby, J., Brinkley, A., and McPherson, J. (2005). The American Journey Reconstruction to

the Present. Backlick, OH: Glencoe McGraw Hill.

Bryan, J. The Great Depression and New Deal. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

Retrieved

from www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/4/98.04.04.x.html.

Citizendium. New Deal-Timelines. Downloaded from

www.en.citizendium.org/wiki/New_Deal/Timelines.

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Lesson Plan
Agencies of the New Deal

Cohen, A. (2009 ) Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created

Modern America. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

Farm Credit Administration: History of the FCA and FCS. Downloaded from

http://www.fca.gov/about/history/historyFCA_FCS.html.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Downloaded from

www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu.

Hoch, B. (7/22/2005). The Three Rs: Relief, Recovery and Reform through New Deal

Programs. Downloaded from http://theomahaproject.org.

Kangas, S. (1997), The Great Depression: Its Causes and Cure. Liberalism Resurgent.

Downloaded from http://www.THE_GREAT_DEPRESSION.htm.

National Labor Relations Board: National Labor Relations Board Overview. Downloaded from

www.nlrb.gov

Nehls, K. and Burney, C. (12/6/2005). The Effect of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, downloaded

from http://www.theomahaproject.org.

University of Washington Libraries. Essay: The Federal Emergency Management Relief

Administration (FERA). Downloaded from

http://content.lib.washington.edu/feraweb/essay.html.

US Department of Labor. Downloaded from http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm.