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 Introduction |
Standards |
Objectives |
Assessment |
Resources |
W.W.I brought great changes across the planet.
It was labeled the "war to end all wars." In four short
years, the Europe that existed since the sixteenth century came crashing down, destroyed by social and political revolutions.
American Troops were rushed to France
to fill the gaps left by nearly three years
of war. Letters home from the front
paint a realistic picture of the soldiers'
struggles during World War I.
1.
The students will be able to interpret, modify
and
express conclusions based on the data
provided
and researched.
2.
Students will be able to consider the war
from
different perspectives in a journal
activity
and appraise the actions and outcomes
of
the various groups represented.
3.
The students will work both collaboratively
and
independently. In groups the students
will
practice becoming effective communicators
utilizing
practiced social skills. In their
independent
work, the students will be able to
apply
their newly acquired knowledge while
connecting
these ideas to past instruction.
Introductory Activity
The students will,
as a class, watch clips from the movie, "All Quiet on Western Front." Students
will take notes on what they see in the film and how they feel about it.
After viewing the clips the students can pair/share their ideas. The teacher
will then introduce the creation of the Three Entry Diary.
Each day the student will make a one page entry into a diary. Day
one the students will write from the
point of view of a soldier fighting in the trenches. On day two the students
will talk about the chlorine gas the Germans used and choose the point
of view of either 1) a soldier who survived a gas attack or 2) a German
soldier using the gas and the reasons for its use. On the third day the
students will write a diary entry either from the viewpoint of a passenger
on the Lusitania or as the German captain of the U-boat.
Entries must be written in the first person and must include their thoughts
on what is happening in the war. A post assessment test will be given at
the end of the period to test for new knowledge.
The students will be assessed on a Writing Rubric Because the final product is a three page written diary, the students will be provided with a rubric guideline. This Writing Rubric will help the students understand what is to be expected of them. Twenty two students took the both the pre-test and the post-test. Statistics on these tests are under Results.
Resources
& Supplementary Materials
Introductory
Activity
The film
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is shown to the students.
Enabling Activity
Internet sites
http://members.aol.com/~bry1976/lusi.htm,
http://www.ibiscom.com/gas.htm
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/turner
America's role in World War I was an important one. President Woodrow Wilson promised to keep America "out of the war;" however, that promise was broken when Germany's aggressive U-boat campaign ruled the high seas. Vowing that the "world must be made safe for democracy," President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers on April 6, 1917.
California
State Standards:
World History, Culture,
and Geography: the Modern World
10.5 Students analyze the causes and the course of the First World War.
a) Understand the nature of the war and its human costs (military and civilian)
on all sides of the conflict.
Student Activities
The student activities
include daily visits to the Internet to investigate the topic of the day.
The students may pair up and visit the various web sites together. The
activities include a lesson on the sinking of the Lusitania and German
U-boat naval warfare, a lesson on the conditions in the war zones (trench
warfare), and on the horrible effects of the poisonous gases. The culminating
activity is a three entry written diary.
Day 1
Students investigate
World
War I "Trench Warfare." The students will first pair up
and visit the web site http://collections.ic.gc.ca/turner
to investigate the various photos of the war conditions. The students should
be encouraged to share with their partners the type of emotions they feel
as they look at the war photos. Students investigate the Internet for primary
sources such as "Letters of Harold Chapin," an English soldier working
in a hospital, and those of an American soldier writing from aboard
a ship bound for Europe and from the trenches. From these sources the students
learn about the men that were drafted into the war and the conditions they
faced in the trenches. Students are then given StudentActivity1
Students
will independently read through the handout and then write their first
diary entry.
Day 2
Students investigate
"Poison Gas: Clouds of Death." The students again pair up and
visit the web site http://www.ibiscom.com/gas.htm
They may explore
various pages within the web site and again encourage the students to talk
about and share what they see. The students then receive StudentActivity2
.
Students independently
read through the handout and then write their second diary entry.
Day 3
Students investigate
"Sinking
of the Lusitania."
This lesson includes
a handout from Lt. Comdr. Walter Schwiegeer, a German U-boat captain. The
students will analyze what a U-boat is and how the German navy patrolled
the Atlantic Ocean. The site to visit is http://members.aol.com/~bry1976/lusi.htmThe
students will also learn about the passenger liner Lusitania. Students
will then receive StudentActivity3
They will read through the handout and then make their final entry in their
three day diary.
Results and Assessment data
Culminating
Activity
This activity includes having the students present
their finished work. After reviewing the written rubric again for any changes,
the students will read one of their diary entries aloud to the class.
Web lesson Final
Presentation
Gardena High
School
Gardena,
Ca
Susan Stenzel
- sstenzel@lausd.k12.ca.us
Last Revised:
6/30/01