El Education: Faces of the Depression

This book was created by 5th graders in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as part of a learning expedition on the Great Depression. Students learned about the Depression though several different sources: in addition to standard historical research, they also read a historical fiction novel Esperanza Rising, studied the photography of Dorothea Lange, and interviewed local people from the Fitchburg Senior Center who lived through the Great Depression. Students wrote up the interviews in third-person format and included photos, expressive drawings, and historical background about the time period.