Work and Play in South Carolina

• Discuss with the class what it means to make an inference. Also discuss with the class what a primary source is.
• Discuss with the class how photographs can tell you a great deal even without captions, and that sometimes you can make inferences from what you see in the photos.
• Explain to the students that they will be split into groups and each group will be given 2 photographs and a “Making Inferences with Photographs” sheet. Explain the directions before splitting them into groups.
• Split students into groups of 4-5 students to look at the photographs and make inferences. Do not tell them what the photographs are of. They are to fill out the front and back of the handout together as a group.
• Give the groups about 7-8 minutes to complete the “Making Inferences with Photographs” sheet together.
• Once the timer has gone off, come back together for a whole class discussion.
• Create a chart on the board like the one on the handout including a section for people, objects, and activities seen in the photograph. Let each group share a person, object, and activity that they saw and include these on a class chart. After creating the class chart, look at the words and guide students to make an inference about what all of these pictures could be related to. (They should come up with the fact that the pictures all have to do with building/construction of something.)
• Ask students how many have ever been to a South Carolina State Park? (I asked mine about local state parks – Poinsett State Park, Myrtle Beach State Park, etc.) Explain to them that many of the state parks in South Carolina were created during the Depression.
• Discuss the Great Depression with the students including President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Explain to them why the Civilian Conservation Corps was created during this time. 
• Look at FDR’s sketched plan for the Civilian Conservation Corps (see Tools section above) and the different departments he put in charge of it. Ask students why they think each of these different departments was involved with the CCC. 
• Explain to students that through these photographs we are able to learn about what kinds of things the CCC did for recreation in our state. This is a pictorial history of men creating state parks for us. 
• To sum up the lesson, find out what other lingering questions students still have about the pictures and discuss them.

Historical Background Notes
In 1929, the stock market crash led to the Great Depression.  During this time, most people were without money and without employment.  Many young men found themselves on the streets and were unable to take care of their families.  This affected all states in the United States (U.S.) including South Carolina.  “In the early 1930s, at least 17 counties in South Carolina had an unemployment rate of over 30%” (http://www.palmettohistory.org/exhibits/ccc.htm).  In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) put into place the New Deal which was a plan to help the struggling economy of the United States.  He put this plan into action shortly after taking the oath of office as President. 

Part of the New Deal was the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  President Roosevelt created this group to give employment to many of the young men who found themselves jobless during this terrible time.  This group, known as the CCC, would be responsible for preservation of land and forests, pest control, construction of dams, and construction of recreational facilities.  According to FDR’s original plan for the CCC, he chose different departments to be in charge of different aspects of the CCC.  For instance, the Department of Labor was in charge of selecting enrollees into the program.  The Army was in charge of constructing camps for the workers to live in, providing medical care at these camps, and moving enrollees to and from the worker camps.  The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior were in charge of choosing camp sites for the state parks.  President Roosevelt was very specific in designing his plan and was determined to find work for these unemployed young men during the Great Depression (CCC Packet).

The enrollees in the CCC were usually between the ages of 17-24.  They were usually men who were unemployed and depending on welfare for survival.  Their enrollment in the CCC created a job for them and provided them with money that they could send back home to their families.  In fact they were required to send a certain percentage of money each month back home to their wives and children.  These men made about $1.00 per day for their labor, and originally they were required to send home $25.00 per month.  In 1940, the plan changed some, and it required that the men send some money home, keep some for themselves, and also deposit some into a government savings account (CCC packet). 

Another thing that the CCC provided for these young men was education.  Many of these men did not have much education past elementary school, and being enrolled in this program gave them the opportunity to get a higher education.  Classes at many different levels were offered, and also vocational classes (typing, landscaping, mechanics, etc.) were options for these young men (http://www.palmettohistory.org/exhibits/ccc.htm). 

In South Carolina, the CCC was responsible for many improvements.  According to the packet of information about the CCC written by the South Carolina Department of Archives & History, the CCC built 18 state parks in South Carolina, including Poinsett State Park, Myrtle Beach State Park, and Cheraw State Park.  They also checked soil erosion and employed about 49,000 young men.  This program really helped to boost the economy of South Carolina because of the increased wages of men living in the state.  The men were now able to purchase land and put money back into the economy.

In 1941, the CCC began to disband because the economy was steadily getting better.  By 1942, the CCC had officially disbanded. Not only did this program give jobs to the many unemployed young men during the Depression, it also did many great things for our country as a whole, as well as South Carolina.

Reflecting on Teaching the Lesson
Overall I thought that the lesson went pretty well. I taught it to a 5th grade class rather than my 4th grade class because I did not want to confuse my students by detouring to a completely different time period. It was a little challenging to teach a class that was not my own, but fortunately I knew most oftbe students from the previous year. I didn't tell the class what the lesson was going to be about because I wanted to use the photographs to get them thinking and making inferences. As the kids worked in groups to look at the photographs and fill out the handout, they were really getting into it. They wanted to know what the photographs were of and what the people were doing. I also thought that coming back together as a class and making a class list ofpeople, objects, and activities seen in the lesson was good because not every group had the same pictures. This class list allowed them to really think about the photographs and begin predicting what the lesson was going to be about. There were a few things about the lesson that I would want to change. First, I wish I had had more time to teach it I had to teach it during my planning period, and that only gave me about 30 uninterrupted minutes ofteaching. I really needed about 15-20 more minutes to really get into the content with them. Also, when I do another lesson like this, I will put the students into smaller groups. They were in groups offive, and there were too many kids in the group for them to really get to study the photographs. I also would like to give each group at least 3 photographs instead ofjust 2. I think the more photographs they look at, the more inferences they can make. I didn't want to overwhelm them since they are not used to working with primary sources, so that is why I chose two. Now, however, I realize that using 3 or 4 would have given them a better reference to use in making inferences.I learned a great deal from doing this lesson. I learned that there are ways that I can incorporate primary source documents into my instruction (even though I teach younger children), and I learned that giving the students enough time to work with the documents is a key component in the lesson's overall effectiveness. I can't wait to use more primary sources with my children. 

Examples of student work
http://teachingushistory.org/pdfs/StudentWork_000.pdf
http://teachingushistory.org/pdfs/StudentWork2.pdf
http://teachingushistory.org/pdfs/StudentWork3.pdf

Since this lesson was taught in isolation rather than part of a whole unit, I created an “exit slip” type of assessment. This would be a quick way for me to check to see if the students understood what we discussed in the lesson. If I was teaching this as part of a whole unit, I would include questions on my overall assessment dealing with the CCC.
(Exit Slip can be found with resources)