Frances Perkins New Deal Podcast Listening Guide | Throughline | Sub Plan

A no-prep listening guide for the NPR Throughline episode on Frances Perkins, the first woman in a U.S. presidential Cabinet and the architect of Social Security: 20 fill-in-the-blank questions in the order the episode tells the story, plus a complete answer key. Grades 9-12.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
- 20 fill-in-the-blank questions that follow the episode in the order it is told
- 3 discussion prompts for after the audio stops (open response)
- A complete answer key for the instructor
- One PDF: student pages first, answer key at the back
- US Letter, low-ink, prints two-sided, no filled backgrounds

THE EPISODE
- NPR Throughline, "The Woman Behind the New Deal" — about 49 minutes, originally aired June 5, 2025
- Streams FREE at npr.org, and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app
- The episode title and where to find it are printed on the student page, so an absent student can listen at home and hand in the same sheet

WHAT YOU NEED
- A way to play audio: one classroom speaker for a whole-group lesson, or headphones for an independent station
- Nothing else — no accounts, no logins, no student devices, no subscription

HOW TEACHERS USE IT
- A no-prep sub plan or emergency sub day — the page and the episode carry the period without you
- A listening day inside your Progressive Era, Great Depression, or New Deal unit
- Audio-comprehension practice, a tested skill that almost never gets its own lesson
- Homework, a listening station, or an early-finisher task
- Pause every few questions and the page becomes a guided discussion instead of a silent worksheet

TOPICS COVERED
- The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, March 25, 1911
- Locked exits, the collapsed fire escape, and the 146 who died
- Frances Perkins's education at Mount Holyoke and her turn to social work
- Hull House, Upton Sinclair, and Progressive Era reform
- Undercover investigation of trafficking in Philadelphia
- The New York Factory Investigating Commission and the 1915 report
- Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, and Perkins's rise in New York government
- The conditions she set before joining the Cabinet in 1933
- Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, and child labor limits
- The Harry Bridges case, the impeachment attempt, and her later years at Cornell

STANDARDS
- CCSS ELA Speaking & Listening: SL.9-10.2, SL.9-10.3, SL.11-12.2, SL.11-12.3
- These are the listening standards — integrating information from a spoken source and evaluating a speaker's reasoning and evidence. They are what this format actually assesses, which is why the guide claims them rather than a reading standard.

LEAVE A RATING
- If this saves you prep time, a quick rating where you bought it helps other teachers find it. Questions or a correction? contact@responseresources.studio

TERMS OF USE
- For single-classroom / single-teacher use. Do not redistribute or post publicly.
- (c) Response Resources. All rights reserved.