Pen pals Connect the Centuries:
What Was It Like To Live in the 1930s,
The Setting for To Kill a Mockingbird ?
This WebQuest was created by Susan Dudsic
May 2004
Introduction
Welcome to the world of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Through time travel, you are NOW living in the 1930s. Your home, neighborhood, school, activities, clothes, and social interactions are vastly different than anything you are familiar with in the 2000s. This WebQuest will take you back in time to learn what your life is like as a young person growing up in the 30s. Using what you learn, write a pen pal letter to someone living in 2004.
The Task
You are going to begin by researching the resources listed below to learn about your life in the 1930s. Using the information you gather, you (living in the 1930s) will write a rather lengthy letter to your pen-pal living in 2004. How you came to be living in the 1930s is of no consequence for this activity. Your letter will ONLY focus on the following four aspects of your life in the 1930s.
- First in your letter, describe your home and neighborhood in detail. Include lots of specific and interesting information so that the reader of your letter can visualize your environment.
- Secondly, tell about your family. What types of activities do you enjoy as a family? What is your standard of living? How do your parents make a living?
- Next, tell about your school and your friends. Describe your school, classes and teachers. Who are your friends, and what are some activities you enjoy doing together?
- Lastly, in your letter, describe what's going on in the world around you. What's happening in the nation politically and economically? Tell about popular fashions, music, radio programs, and other interesting facts.
Resources
To Kill A Mockingbird, Chapter One.
"I Remember . . . " Reminiscences of the Great Depression
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17451_18670_18793-53511--,00.html
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, some Michiganians
bartered and traded for food, clothes, shelter and services. Sharing and
"making do" became a way of life. People who lived during the
Depression have interesting stories to share about how they coped with hard
times. The following reminiscences were published in Michigan History
Magazine, January-February, 1982 (Vol. 66, No. 1).
Federal Writer's
Project: Interview Excerpts http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/exinterv.html
The Federal Writers' Project of the 1930s recorded more than 10,000 life
stories of men and woman from a variety of occupations and ethnic groups. This site
is a sampling of these interviews.
Interview: Growing Up White in the South in the 1930s http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/girl.html Like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, the three women in this interview grew up in the deep South of the 1930s. All three were members of what could be described as prominent southern families. The three women discuss many of the issues raised in To Kill a Mockingbird: how they defined a "good family" (so dear to Aunt Alexandra's heart and so baffling to Scout and Jem); poor whites in Alabama and Florida (very like the Cunninghams); their relationship with African-Americans; and the expectations and realities of those who would grow up to be proper southern "belles."
Then and Now: Prices http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00 This site compares 1930s prices with prices today. (Copy of this text attached)
The Great Depression and the New Deal http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/intro01.html
Read about the Federal Works Progress Administration started by the federal
government during the Depression.
American Cultural History: 1930-1939 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/intro01.html
This site summarizes the cultural history of the 1930s.
Highlights from the 1930s. http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/century/1930s.htm
Students from Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, New York report on the highlights from this amazing decade.
The Process
The following instructions will make completion of your task easy!
- Read the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird to familiarize yourself with the setting and characters in this novel. This preparation will help you as you begin to research life in the 1930s.
- You are going to write a four part letter in the voice of a person growing up in the 1930s. Before you begin your research, consider the sex, race, and age of the "character" that you will become as you write this letter. You must then decide on a name for your character. Also, decide to whom you are going to address your letter. You might consider writing to a friend, family member, or even to your teacher.
- Begin your research by writing the following topics on the top of four 5x8 index cards: Home and Neighborhood; Family and Standard of Living; School and Friends; and Social and Political Events in the 1930s.
- Begin exploring the resources listed above. You will find that the first three sites focus on personal interviews of people who grew up or lived in the 1930s. The last four sites focus on information concerning social and political events in the 30s.
- As you explore the sites, record facts on the appropriate card. Some tips to make notetaking more effective include printing excerpts from sites that you find useful and using highlighters to mark pertinent information. This information can then be recorded, in your own words, on your notecards.
- When you have collected information about each of the four topics, you are prepared to begin the writing process. This process begins with brainstorming and prewriting followed by the actual drafting of your letter. Remember, you are writing from the perspective of a person living in the 30s. You are explaining your life to a person living in 2004. Your letter should include enough detail and description for your reader to gain a good sense of what your life is like.
- When you have a rough draft of your letter, you will share it in two conferencing sessions, one with your teacher, and the other with a member of your class. After conferencing, you will have time to revise your letter and enter them into a word processing program.
- After your revisions, you and a classmate will work to edit your letter before final publication.
- You will be required to turn in your typed letter, your notecards, all writing drafts, notes, and highlighted copies of your research. These materials should be presented in an organized, labeled folder.
Evaluation
This WebQuest will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Did you turn in a complete, revised, edited, and typed letter?
2. Is your letter focused on the subjects described in the Task section of this WebQuest? Does your letter accurately describe facts about life in the 30s?
3. Has your letter been written using the writing process? (Brainstorming, Prewriting, Drafting, Conferencing, Revision, Editing, Publication). Does your letter show improvement from first draft to final copy?
- Is the presentation of your folder containing your letter, note cards and drafts neat and professional?
Conclusion
When you complete this WebQuest, you will be able to identify and understand the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read the novel, you will have a greater understanding of the personal, social, and political issues which are dealt with in the story.
Setting Questions for Class Discussion at the conclusion of the novel :
1. The story is set in a small town in southern Alabama during the Depression of the 1930s. What aspects of the story seem to be particular to that place and time?
2. What aspects of the story are universal, cutting across time and place?
3. In what ways are the people you know today similar to and different from those in Maycomb?
Credits
based on the WebQuest by Jill Clark and Jan Hedberg
Salt Lake City School District
the mockingbird Harper Lee
|
Then and Now: Prices |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Compare Prices During the Great Depression to Prices Today
How much did toys and clothing cost during the Great Depression of the 1930s? What would they cost today?
Look at the Then and Now: Prices table below. In the left column is a list of women's clothing, men's clothing, games and toys and household goods. In the middle column, the price of each of these items is listed based on advertisements from 1932. Look through a current copy of your local newspaper to find out what it would cost to buy the same item today. Write that amount in the right column.
Some of those 1930s prices look pretty low compared to today's costs, don't they? Why? Look at the Then and Now: Wages table. Do people earn more or less now than they did in the 1930s? How do the prices compare to the wages? How many weeks would it take to buy each of the items on the table of prices? If an item costs less than a week's wages, divide the week's wages by 40 to estimate the hourly wage and figure out how many hours it would take to earn the money to buy the item.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00..html