Group Five: Understanding Mental Illness

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

• What is mental retardation? What percentage of people have mental retardation? What are adaptive skills?
  
• What causes mental retardation? How is it determined or measured?
  
• How were mentally disabled people treated differently in the 1930s versus today?
  
• What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? As a result of this legislation, what do employers need to provide for anyone who is a retarded or disabled employee? What does the public transportation system need to do to help retarded or disabled people today? What do restaurants, hotels, and retail stores need to provide to assist retarded or disabled people?

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• The Arc (formerly the National Association for Retarded Children):
  http://www.thearc.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=1647&srcid=1646
  
• The EEOC on the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html
  
• The homepage for the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
  
• The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities:
  http://www.aaidd.org/Policies/faq_mental_retardation.shtml
  
• A history of treatment (skim to 1930s) from AHRC NYC:
  http://www.ahrcnyc.org/pdf/chapter1_history.PDF
  
• American Association of Mental Retardation Fact Sheets
  http://www.aamr.org/Policies/faq_toc.shtml
  
• More facts about the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta (check out this article on eugenics for treatment in the early 20th century):
  http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560245/Eugenics.html
  
• Media Center Databases:
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm
  

Group Four: The Life of John Steinbeck

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

• What time and place did Steinbeck live in? What was Steinbeck's childhood like? What key events and people influenced his life?
  
• Describe Steinbeck's career as a writer. What are his famous novels? Where did he write his famous novels? How did Steinbeck use locations in his writing?
  
• Describe Steinbeck's adult life. How did he live? Why did he live as he did?
  
• What is Steinbeck's legacy in American literature? What important prizes or recognitions has he been awarded?
  

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• The National Steinbeck Center:
  http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html
  
• Your American literature textbook
  
• The American Writers website (and if you’re really interested, there’s a two hour video you can watch on this site!): http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/steinbeck.asp#
  
• The Nobel Prize website:
  http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta:
  http://encarta.msn.com
  
• Media Center Databases (go to Infotrac and use the Biography Resource Center for excellent Steinbeck bios; see me if you need a password, or get a bookmark from the Media Center!):
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm
  

Group Three: Migrant Workers Today

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

Note: In Period 2/1 there are only three people in the group. Combine the second and third bullet to create three topics!

• What is the history of migrant workers in the United States from the 1940s to today? Be sure to include important events, the ethnicity of various migrant labor groups, the places they lived and moved to, and the specific crops they picked.
  
• What kind of a lifestyle is it? What are typical wages, working hours, and other conditions today?
  
• Why do people choose this lifestyle?
  
• What kinds of ethical and legal concerns are associated with migrant workers today?
  

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• The article “Migrant Workers in Washington State”:
  http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mice/migartcl.html
  
• This timeline from PBS’s “NOW”:
  http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/migrants.html
  
• The New Yorker article “Nobodies” (it’s not easy reading, but it’s very, very good):
  http://www.sfalliance.org/media/New-Yorker-4-03.pdf
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta:
  http://encarta.msn.com
  
• Media Center Databases:
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm
  

Group Two: Migrant Workers and Rail Riders

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

Note: Focus on the experiences of migrant workers and rail riders in the 1930s so as not to duplicate the work of the other group.

• Who were the migrant workers and rail riders of the 1930s? What are “Okies”? How many migrant laborers were there during the Great Depression?
  
• What was the Dust Bowl and what did it have to do with migrant labor?
  
• Why did people have to move so often? What kind of a lifestyle was it?
  
• How many teenagers rode the rails during the Great Depression? What kind of a lifestyle was it and why did some people choose it?

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• Your history textbook
  
• The Library of Congress website:
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html
  
• This scanned scrapbook, available from the Library of Congress, has amazing primary source articles:
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=afcts&fileName=sb001/sb001.db&recNum=0
  
• The PBS series “Riding the Rails”:
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/
  
• Be sure to check out their timeline here:
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/timeline/index.html
  
• Also, don’t miss the “Tales from the Rails” section; you might share a specific story or two with the class:
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/sfeature/tales.html
  
• The PBS documentary Surviving the Dust Bowl:
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/
  
• The Modern American Poetry site:
  http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta:
  http://encarta.msn.com
  
• Media Center Databases:
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm
  

Group One: The Great Depression

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

• What basic background and historical context should the class know about the Great Depression? A basic timeline would be helpful. You might need to remind us a little about the 1920s to get started.
  
• What were the different causes of the Great Depression?
  
• What were the effects of the Great Depression? On everyday people? On rich people? On businesses?
  
• What finally ended the Great Depression? How did it end (gradually, suddenly, etc)?

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• Your history textbook
  
• Timeline from “Riding the Rails”:
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/timeline/
  
• Summary from “Surviving the Dust Bowl”: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX05.html
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta:
  http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761584403/
  Great_Depression_in_the_United_States.html
  
• The Modern American Poetry site:
  http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm
  
• Media Center Databases:
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm