This week’s guest contributor is Dr. Binford. Dr. Binford and I have been working together for several years on cross-curriculum uses of young adult literature. He is Social Studies educator at Mississippi State University. He has also contributed to the blog once before when he discussed the cross-curriculum uses of Mississippi Trail, 1955. You can find his previous posting here. This week he discusses Out of the Dust, a book that has found a great deal of success in the Young Adult community. Dr. Binford’s post is a great companion to a previous post by Mary Warner.
Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, is a highly acclaimed historical novel told in sparse free form verse. The story, narrated by Billie Joe—a thirteen-year-old “redheaded, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl with a . . . hunger for playing fierce piano” (3), is an intimate recounting of her family’s experiences during the Dirty Thirties (editorial interruption: this was a new term for me. As a result, I did a quick search and found three books that might be worth reviewing. See the gallery below), specifically the years 1934 and 1935. The story is conveyed through Billie Joe’s diary entries, which are not unlike the characters and the setting—visceral and rawboned.
The literary value of this novel has been widely recognized through its Newbery Medal and, among other ways, by a survey of ALAN members, who selected it as one of the best young adult novels of the 1990s. Additionally, this story’s context can also address Common Core State Standards, such as “Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies” (Grades 6-8 Students): “Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."
The literary value of this novel has been widely recognized through its Newbery Medal and, among other ways, by a survey of ALAN members, who selected it as one of the best young adult novels of the 1990s. Additionally, this story’s context can also address Common Core State Standards, such as “Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies” (Grades 6-8 Students): “Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."
The most convenient and compelling connections between English Language Arts (ELA) and the social studies are to be found in the novel’s setting. From a literary standpoint, setting has been described as having three major components: social environment, place, and time, which parallel the social studies disciplines of sociology, geography, and history. How can the ELA teacher draw from geography, for example, or, better yet, connect with the geography teacher, in order to enrich their students’ understanding of the setting, an integral part of this story?
The first step is to unearth the geographical references embedded in this novel. The story is set in the Oklahoma Panhandle. In pre-settlement days, this 35-mile wide and 210-mile long swath in the Southern Plains was known as “No Man’s Land,” suggestive of both its political and geographic isolation. Belatedly, at the dawn of the twentieth century--and only after all the other desirable tracts of land had been chosen, settlers finally laid claim to half sections of this grassland on the western edge of Oklahoma. The state’s name, itself, is an ironic combination of two Choctaw words--okla meaning “people” and humma meaning “red”—suggestive of a people perpetually dislocated by waves of settlement.
If you can imagine Oklahoma being shaped roughly like a clinched fist with the index finger extended, Cimarron County, the location of Billie Joe’s family farm, is at the very tip of that finger. The county is bordered by New Mexico to the west, Texas to the south, Colorado to the north, and, nearby, Kansas to the northeast. Not surprisingly, the story includes over a dozen actual place locations across this multi-state region (see Out of the Dust: Social Studies Connections Table in the file below).
The first step is to unearth the geographical references embedded in this novel. The story is set in the Oklahoma Panhandle. In pre-settlement days, this 35-mile wide and 210-mile long swath in the Southern Plains was known as “No Man’s Land,” suggestive of both its political and geographic isolation. Belatedly, at the dawn of the twentieth century--and only after all the other desirable tracts of land had been chosen, settlers finally laid claim to half sections of this grassland on the western edge of Oklahoma. The state’s name, itself, is an ironic combination of two Choctaw words--okla meaning “people” and humma meaning “red”—suggestive of a people perpetually dislocated by waves of settlement.
If you can imagine Oklahoma being shaped roughly like a clinched fist with the index finger extended, Cimarron County, the location of Billie Joe’s family farm, is at the very tip of that finger. The county is bordered by New Mexico to the west, Texas to the south, Colorado to the north, and, nearby, Kansas to the northeast. Not surprisingly, the story includes over a dozen actual place locations across this multi-state region (see Out of the Dust: Social Studies Connections Table in the file below).
The second step is to understand the weather phenomenon, which casts a looming presence in the story (see also Social Studies Connection Table). Figuring most prominently, dust storms were common on the Great Plains during this period, but the U.S. government identified Cimarron County as “the geographic heart of the dust-lashed land” (Egan, 153). The “dusters” or “black blizzards,” as the storms were often called, provide several revealing and poignant moments in the novel. One such instance is Billie Joe’s perilous journey home in the midst of a duster, which metaphorically represents her search for an emotional connection with her father:
Brown earth rained down
from sky.
I could not catch my breath
the way the dust pressed on my chest
and wouldn’t stop.
The dirt blew down so thick
it scratched my eyes
and stung my tender skin,
it plugged my nose and filled inside my mouth. (143-144)
from sky.
I could not catch my breath
the way the dust pressed on my chest
and wouldn’t stop.
The dirt blew down so thick
it scratched my eyes
and stung my tender skin,
it plugged my nose and filled inside my mouth. (143-144)
In 1934, there were 56 dusters including 14 in April, one of which lasted for twelve hours. Most of the storms that year were of the severest variety with visibility less than one quarter of a mile.
In spite of concerted efforts, the dust particles that filled the air with each black blizzard also soon inhabited every nook and cranny including peoples’ lungs. These particles were extremely fine (63 microns) roughly one fourth the size of the period at the end of this sentence. As Timothy Egan has described it in The Worst Hard Times:
"The windows of houses were covered with wet sheets and blankets, the doors taped, the walls cracks stuffed with rags and newspapers. Men avoided shaking hands with each other because the electricity was so great it could knock a person down (153)."
Even with Vaseline on their noses and respiratory masks on their faces, the citizens of Cimarron County and the rest of the Dust Bowl (i.e., parts of Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma) “inhaled grit”. As the dust builds up in the lungs, it tears the air sacs and weakens the body’s resistance. Symptoms included coughing jags, body aches, shortness of breath, and nausea. Similar, but more rapid than prolonged exposure to coal dust, some of those suffering from “dust pneumonia,” particularly children, infants, and the elderly, did not survive (Egan, 153 & 173).
In spite of concerted efforts, the dust particles that filled the air with each black blizzard also soon inhabited every nook and cranny including peoples’ lungs. These particles were extremely fine (63 microns) roughly one fourth the size of the period at the end of this sentence. As Timothy Egan has described it in The Worst Hard Times:
"The windows of houses were covered with wet sheets and blankets, the doors taped, the walls cracks stuffed with rags and newspapers. Men avoided shaking hands with each other because the electricity was so great it could knock a person down (153)."
Even with Vaseline on their noses and respiratory masks on their faces, the citizens of Cimarron County and the rest of the Dust Bowl (i.e., parts of Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma) “inhaled grit”. As the dust builds up in the lungs, it tears the air sacs and weakens the body’s resistance. Symptoms included coughing jags, body aches, shortness of breath, and nausea. Similar, but more rapid than prolonged exposure to coal dust, some of those suffering from “dust pneumonia,” particularly children, infants, and the elderly, did not survive (Egan, 153 & 173).
What is less evident in the novel is the human and environmental interaction that propagated these storms. For the first three decades of the twentieth century, 5.2 million acres of the Great Plains went under plow. The “Great Plow-up,” as it has become known, occurred as wheat prices spiked due to bread shortages during and in the aftermath of the Great War. At its peak, wheat farming on the Great Plains became an object of speculative investment. Eventually, wheat surpluses resulted and prices plummeted from $2.00 to 40¢ a bushel. When the Stock Market crashed in October of 1929, wheat prices dropped even further and many farms were abandoned or foreclosed upon leaving the soil exposed (reminiscent of Billie Joe’s vulnerability with the passing of her mother) no longer protected by the native grasslands. Concurrently, years of abundant rain in the late 1920s were immediately followed by an extended drought in the early Thirties. Over tillage, lack of soil management, severe drought conditions, and high winds led to the catastrophic erosion that produced the Dust Bowl.
How might an ELA teacher (or a geography teacher working in a complementary role) maximize the learning of Out of the Dust by teaching both the novel’s geography and its setting?
Let me offer a few suggestions. Just as student begin reading Out of the Dust, you might introduce the broader geographical context using the Visual Discovery strategy to increase student interest in the book. Visual Discovery, a five-step strategy outlined by the Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, is both flexible and impactful.
How might an ELA teacher (or a geography teacher working in a complementary role) maximize the learning of Out of the Dust by teaching both the novel’s geography and its setting?
Let me offer a few suggestions. Just as student begin reading Out of the Dust, you might introduce the broader geographical context using the Visual Discovery strategy to increase student interest in the book. Visual Discovery, a five-step strategy outlined by the Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, is both flexible and impactful.
Lakin, Kansas, 1935. Credit: Green Family Collection Step One: Use powerful images (with layers of meaning) to teach key concepts, such as the one below (www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/) of three children leaving their home, with lunch and books in hand, for school. In addition, the Library of Congress offers a plethora of images from the Dust Bowl (www.loc.gov/photos/?q=dust%20bowl) including images from Cimarron County, Oklahoma.
Step Two: project the selected photograph on a large screen arranging the desks in parliamentary seating, so students are facing each other—in order to facilitate discussion—with a wide aisle in the center leading to the image.
Step Three: ask carefully sequenced and spiraling questions that lead to discovery:
Gathering Evidence: What do you see in this image? Identify key details from this photograph (e.g. three children, their clothing and attire, items they are carrying, the building they are standing next to, the lack of vegetation and the dusty haze in the background).
Interpreting the Evidence: Where was this photograph taken? When was this photograph taken? What is their relationship? Where are these children going? (For each question, have students provide at least two pieces of evidence to support their interpretation)
Making Hypotheses: Why are these children wearing scarves and goggles on their way to school? (Have students provide at least two pieces of evidence to support their hypotheses.)
Step Two: project the selected photograph on a large screen arranging the desks in parliamentary seating, so students are facing each other—in order to facilitate discussion—with a wide aisle in the center leading to the image.
Step Three: ask carefully sequenced and spiraling questions that lead to discovery:
Gathering Evidence: What do you see in this image? Identify key details from this photograph (e.g. three children, their clothing and attire, items they are carrying, the building they are standing next to, the lack of vegetation and the dusty haze in the background).
Interpreting the Evidence: Where was this photograph taken? When was this photograph taken? What is their relationship? Where are these children going? (For each question, have students provide at least two pieces of evidence to support their interpretation)
Making Hypotheses: Why are these children wearing scarves and goggles on their way to school? (Have students provide at least two pieces of evidence to support their hypotheses.)
Step Four: challenge students to read about the image and apply what they learn. As an information supplement to the photograph, students might read passages about Billie Joe’s school (8, 30, 99, & 117-124) including a description of a dust storm that occurred during the school day (37). Furthermore, the passage below, from The Worst Hard Time, might be used. It describes a duster that hit a schoolhouse in the Oklahoma Panhandle during the spring of 1932:
The sky darkened, as if the sun was blocked by an eclipse, and then--bang! bang!—like gunshot, the school windows were blown out, shattered, and the dust poured in, covering desks, the floor, faces. It was gone in a minute, leaving glass shards on the floor and the hard, tiny particles of fields . . . Some to the children could not stop crying. They went home with tears turned muddy and told their parents the school had exploded that day. (121-122)
Step Five: Have students interact with the images to demonstrate what they have learned. This final step of Visual Discovery challenges students to synthesize the information in the photography and textual sources. One engaging way to do this is through an “Act-It-Out”. Ask student triads to step into the Green family image and carry on a conversation just as if they are brother and sisters leaving home and on their way to school. Encourage them to infuse their dialogue with information they have learned from analyzing the photograph and reading the textual sources. You may want to support this process with a script or role cards (including brief talking points) or, perhaps, have the students ad lib.
The artistry of Out of the Dust is revelatory. It helps us make sense of the gales of human experience. Isn’t that one of the purposes of literature and the social studies?
The sky darkened, as if the sun was blocked by an eclipse, and then--bang! bang!—like gunshot, the school windows were blown out, shattered, and the dust poured in, covering desks, the floor, faces. It was gone in a minute, leaving glass shards on the floor and the hard, tiny particles of fields . . . Some to the children could not stop crying. They went home with tears turned muddy and told their parents the school had exploded that day. (121-122)
Step Five: Have students interact with the images to demonstrate what they have learned. This final step of Visual Discovery challenges students to synthesize the information in the photography and textual sources. One engaging way to do this is through an “Act-It-Out”. Ask student triads to step into the Green family image and carry on a conversation just as if they are brother and sisters leaving home and on their way to school. Encourage them to infuse their dialogue with information they have learned from analyzing the photograph and reading the textual sources. You may want to support this process with a script or role cards (including brief talking points) or, perhaps, have the students ad lib.
The artistry of Out of the Dust is revelatory. It helps us make sense of the gales of human experience. Isn’t that one of the purposes of literature and the social studies?
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