A
Newspaper of the 1920s
In order to
understand the excitement and tensions of the 1920s, students work in groups
to create a newspaper reflecting the significant events and life of the decade
in the style that news magazines have used to review the 20th
century. They use the newspapers to show cultural changes in American life in
the 1920s and the various ways people responded to these changes.
Student
Resource
American Culture in the 1920s. July
2001 http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/.
Cayton, Andrew, et al. America:
Pathways to the Present. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. 564-581.
The Lawless Decade. July 2001 http://www.paulsann.org/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html.
The
1920s Experience. July 2001 http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/.
eLibrary History
See Library for passwords and userid.
Sequence
of Activities
- Students are divided into groups of three:
each group will design and create a newspaper that presents
significant information about the decade of the 1920s. Each paper produced
by the class should include some of the following: news articles,
pictures, editorials, advertisements, classified ads, sports columns,
fashion news, and cartoons. Information from the newspaper should be
constructed as a “decade in review” and not just specify one date or
event from the 1920s. It should include various events from the decade. If
there is to be a date on the newspaper, it should be January 1, 1930. If
feasible, the students should complete much of the design and layout of
their newspaper using computer software. When photographs and other
graphics are used that are not easily reproduced, space may be blocked for
the page sections to be pasted manually on the newspaper pages.
- Each member of the group is responsible for two
assignments – one major article or editorial, and one feature
(including pictures, maps, or any other necessary graphic information). Each
article/editorial must be researched and presented by only one writer,
whereas more than one writer can do the same kind of feature. For example,
only one article can be about prohibition, but there can be two columns
about banking, as long as each contains information about different
aspects of finance, such as bank regulation or farm foreclosures.
One column may be devoted to achievement in sports, with a focus on
international events such as the Olympic games.
-
Each student in the group choose two topics from the lists below ( one topic
from each list). Other topics will
be assigned at the teacher’s discretion.
Major Articles or Editorials Morals and values, rugged individualism, religious revivals, prohibition, fads/heroes, flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, stock market rise and fall, the “Red Scare”, the Scopes Trial, the influence of the Ku Klux Klan, the impact of the automobile, crime/gangsters, or the depression on the farm caused by low crop prices and weather disasters.
-
Each group must organize their information into a
newspaper format (e.g., columns, headings, proper grammar). Each newspaper
will contain 6 pieces total – 1 article/editorial and 1 feature from
each student. The teacher may require the newspapers to be completed on
the computer with word processing software, or traditional means can be
used. Within each article or feature, each student must describe the topic
(including the causes of cultural changes and various reactions to these
changes). Also, have students include their name as a byline within the
paper, similar to the way a journalist would. This makes it easy to
identify the completed piece with its creator for assessment purposes. The
completed newspapers could be presented by the student editors or
displayed in the classroom.
Assessment
Formal
assessment of the lesson can take place by the teacher evaluation of the
written materials prepared and submitted by each student.
A specific rubric could be included that contains the various criteria
to judge the student work. For example, the completed newspaper could be
assessed by the following criteria:
Each
newspaper must include;
a
name for the newspaper (for example, the Evening Post, or A Decade
in Review).
recognizable
sections (such as news, editorial, cartoons, or sports).
headlines
and bylines for all articles and features.
appropriate
illustrations, photographs, charts, or graphs.
carefully
proofread copy (proper grammar, punctuation, etc.).
an
attractive, neat design and layout.
Application Beyond School
Through
this project students will be able to conduct investigation into the “Roaring
Twenties” and the “Great Depression” as well as other historical
periods, gathering information and presenting it in an orderly and creative
way to interest groups in the community.
Connections
Arts
In
examining the social and cultural changes of the 1920s, students explore
literature, art and music of the time.
English Language Arts
In
learning about the rise of mass culture, students explore the role of
advertisements, radio, newspapers, and other mass communications.