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  • "Playing the Blame Game"
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  • Student Timeline Worksheet: Group Two
  • Student Timeline Worksheet: Group Three
  • Student Timeline Worksheet: Group Four
• Additional Lesson Ideas
  • How a Major Hurricane Impacts a City
  • Is Your Community Prepared for a Natural Disaster?
  • In the First Person
  • Literature Connection: Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Lesson Plan

"Playing the Blame Game"

Lesson Objectives:

Students will become familiar with:

• The response of federal, state and local officials to the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
• The preparations that were made in advance of the storm
• Hurricane Katrina's impact on the nation

Materials Needed:

Internet access
Student Worksheets

Time Needed:

5 minutes for large group discussion
10-15 minutes for research "Katrina: What Happened When"
15 minutes for groups to answer the discussion questions
20 minutes for group presentations

Procedure:

Step 1:

• Write on the board or overhead "What do we know about Hurricane Katrina?"
• Ask the students to write down five things that they know about Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
• Ask students to share one or two answers and conduct a large group discussion focusing on the problems that Hurricane Katrina caused.
• Explain that many local, state and federal office holders have been criticized for their failure to help hurricane victims and this criticism is being called a "blame game."

Step 2:

• Divide the class into four groups and distribute copies of the four worksheets "Hurricane Katrina and the Blame Game."
• Assign each group a section of "Katrina: What Happened When."
• Students will evaluate the impact that people and agencies had on New Orleans.
• Students will report their findings to the class.

Step 3:

For homework, ask the students to write a two or three paragraph letter to the editor, for their school or local newspaper, that gives their opinion of "What Went Wrong?" Alternatively, students can draw an editorial cartoon that answers the question "What went wrong?"

Method of Assessment:

• Completion of note-taking assignments
• Participation in group presentation
• Completion of homework