New Deal Debate Lesson: Was the New Deal a Success or a Failure?
This was the final lesson from my Great Depression Unit. It was a great review about the New Deal and helped prepare the students for their DBQ test the following day. The positive results of the lesson helped shape my teaching philosophy and my inquiry-based approach in the classroom. Students were very excited about the lesson and were well engaged throughout. In fact, they were still debating the topic as they left the classroom. In contrast to my original plan of making the debate more like a structured academic controversy in which each side lists their evidence and then comes to a consensus at the end, I followed the natural inclination of the class, which was to debate their side and try to "win" before they came to a consensus. This made the debate more exciting. It is interesting to note, that some groups could not come to a consensus. They explained their inability to agree during the debriefing part of the lesson. Most groups came to the conclusion that the New Deal was successful in some ways (in terms of relief and reform) but not in other ways. Having students see the issue in gray terms, rather than black and white was one of the intended goals of the lesson. Please see the lesson plan below for more information. The resources were taken from the Stanford Education Group.
This was the final lesson from my Great Depression Unit. It was a great review about the New Deal and helped prepare the students for their DBQ test the following day. The positive results of the lesson helped shape my teaching philosophy and my inquiry-based approach in the classroom. Students were very excited about the lesson and were well engaged throughout. In fact, they were still debating the topic as they left the classroom. In contrast to my original plan of making the debate more like a structured academic controversy in which each side lists their evidence and then comes to a consensus at the end, I followed the natural inclination of the class, which was to debate their side and try to "win" before they came to a consensus. This made the debate more exciting. It is interesting to note, that some groups could not come to a consensus. They explained their inability to agree during the debriefing part of the lesson. Most groups came to the conclusion that the New Deal was successful in some ways (in terms of relief and reform) but not in other ways. Having students see the issue in gray terms, rather than black and white was one of the intended goals of the lesson. Please see the lesson plan below for more information. The resources were taken from the Stanford Education Group.