South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Runaways Past and Present (Grade 10)

Master Teacher

Shelley Somers

Time Allotment

One 90-minute class

Overview

Using video and the Internet, students will compare runaway teenagers of the 1930s with runaways today.

Subject Matter

Language Arts

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Define the term "hobo";
Collect data about hoboes and runaways;
Draw conclusions based upon their data collection.

South Carolina Standards

Visit the SC Standards Web site

Grade 10- II.F- The student will recognize and demonstrate qualities of effective communication.

Grade 10- IV.A- The student will develop a variety of writings.

Grade 10- V.D- The student will assimilate and synthesize information from various sources and convey it clearly to others.

Grade 10- V.B- The student will use a variety of sources to facilitate learning.

Media Components

Video

Riding the Rails tells the story of 250,000 teenagers who left their homes and hopped freight trains during the Great Depression. It combines the memories of witnesses with archival footage and newsreel interviews. Part of the PBS series, The American Experience, this program can be ordered through PBS Shop.

Web Sites

Hobo Association is a site looking a hobo signs and symbols.

American Memory is a primary source of photos from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Students will have to complete a search in order to access photos from the Great Depression. Instruct students to type in photos of the great depression. A list of pictures will appear, and students should select a photo that complements their paragraph.

National Runaway Service. This site features a video on runaways.

Materials

Riding the Rails video
Hobo Signs handout
Hobo History handout
Why They Ran handout
Why They Run Today handout

Prep for Teachers

Make a copy of each handout for every student.
Bookmark sites at Portaportal.com, a Web-based bookmarking utility that lets you store links to your favorite Web sites online.
Prepare a graphic organizer for use in the Introductory Activity. (Note to Teacher: I use "The Big Question," which is found in 50 Graphic Organizers, published by Scholastic. If you wish to create your own, the central question is "What is a hobo?" Who? How? Why? Where" When" follow from there.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video elements, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Explain to students that they will be looking at hobo signs. Distribute the Hobo Signs handout. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to guess the meanings.

Step 2: Instruct students to access Hobo Association Web site to check and complete the Hobo Signs handout. Discuss the meaning of "hobo" and the importance of the signs.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Distribute Hobo History handout and graphic organizer. Tell students to complete as much of the organizer as they can.

Step 2: Using the organizer as a Focus for Media Interaction, show clip from Riding the Rails. BEGIN after FBI warning and play until the talking stops, music starts, and the camera shows pictures of letters and postcards from runaways. Now tell students to complete their organizers.

Step 3: Then, using the information on the organizer, have students write an eight-sentence paragraph entitled "What is a Hobo?" and hyperlink it to an American Memory picture

Step 4: Using the questions on the Why They Ran handout as their Focus for Media Interaction, students will watch a film clip found at http://nrscrisisline.org/ OnTheStreetLarge.mov and take notes. BEGIN clip with film title and end after John speaks. Replay each person speaking as needed.

Step 5: Using the questions on the Why They Run Today handout as a Focus for Media Interaction, tell students again to access the National Runaway Service video at http://nrscrisisline.org/ OnTheStreetLarge.mov on their computers. As they watch the interviews with today's teenagers, they are to complete the handout.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Using the results of their viewing, instruct students to create a "Reasons for Running" spreadsheet displaying the reasons teens of both generations ran away.

The "Reason for Running" spreadsheet can be created in Microsoft Excel. Tell students to list all of the names of the runaways, Depression era as well as today's teenagers, on the right side of the sheet. Across the top, students use reasons they have collected during the lesson to create column headings. An "X" is placed in the box under the headings that apply to each person viewed. The discussion that follows will focus on the common reasons for running. Emphasize that the times have changed a great deal since the Depression (technology, fashion, careers, finances), yet teenagers of both eras run away for basically the same reasons.

Step 2: Lead the students in a whole group discussion of their results to end the period.

Assessment

The students' "What Is a Hobo?" paragraphs and their spreadsheets are the Assessments for this lesson.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Math: Create a pie chart of homeless.

Art: Create a collage of primary source photos.

Geography: Map train routes.

Community Connections

Research train routes in Beaufort.
Find primary source photos of Beaufort during the Depression and create a now/then poster.

Student Materials

computer
disc
handouts