1. Life on the Home Front
1.1. Students will be able to identify issues that arose at the Homefront that can still be seen in our country today.
1.1.1. Assessment: The gallery walk at the beginning of class is an informal formative assessment that allows the teacher to learn how students view the images and identify any background knowledge students may have on the topic. The class activity is a formal formative assessments that allows the teacher to monitor the progress of students and clearly see who is on track to meeting the objective and who requires more support. The lesson closure is an informal summative assessment. The teacher will be asking groups of students how the reading has helped them to identify problems that existed during the 1940s and continue to exist today. Students are using prior knowledge and knowledge gained from the lesson to contribute to the discussion and answer the teacher’s questions.The gallery walk at the beginning of class is an informal formative assessment that allows the teacher to learn how students view the images and identify any background knowledge students may have on the topic.The class activity is a formal formative assessments that allows the teacher to monitor the progress of students and clearly see who is on track to meeting the objective and who requires more support. The lesson closure is an informal summative assessment. The teacher will be asking groups of students how the reading has helped them to identify problems that existed during the 1940s and continue to exist today. Students are using prior knowledge and knowledge gained from the lesson to contribute to the discussion and answer the teacher’s questions.
1.1.1.1. Student Engagement: After the gallery walk and the discussion, students will be assigned a number between 1-10. Since there are roughly 30 students in the class, there will be students working in 10 groups of 3. In their groups, students will decide who reads which of the 3 sub-sections. Students in a group should all be reading three different sub-sections on their own. Before silent reading begins, students will be given a graphic organizer that requires them to list any challenges and issues found in their sub-section on one half of the page. On the other half, students will list any positive aspects or legislation that arose from their sub-section. After reading and filling out the graphic organizer, students will share what they have found with their group of 3. Students will then be asked to think of any issues that are still relevant in our society.
1.1.1.2. Content Delivery: Students will be using The Americans textbook, written by McDougall & Littell, to read one sub-section of Chapter 17, Section 4. Chapter 9, Section 4 of the textbook is divided into sub-sections such as opportunity and adjustments (pgs. (590-592), discrimination and reaction (592-593), and the internment of Japanese Americans (pgs. 594-595). Students will be given graphic organizers to complete the activity.
2. Dropping the Atomic Bomb
2.1. Students will be able to understand the situation that leaders were faced with toward the end of the Second World War and how dropping the bombs felt like the only choice.
2.1.1. Before the activity, the teacher will provide background information on the status of the war during the summer of 1945. Germany and Italy had already surrendered and Japan was continuously losing island after island. The teacher will explain how military leaders were worried about planning an invasion of the main island of Japan due to the heavy losses that the US would face. Once students have an idea of the situation, the activity can begin.
2.1.1.1. Content Delivery: The class discussions during the beginning and middle of the lesson are informal formative assessments. The class activity where students are analyzing documents and establishing an opinion works as a formal formative assessment. The discussion at the end of the lesson is an informal summative assessment.
2.1.1.2. Student Engagement: After the introduction activity, students will be given several documents that demonstrate arguments for and against the use of atomic weapons against Japan. The arguments, on both sides, use moral reasoning to persuade readers into agreeing with their stance. Students will read documents from both sides in order to come to a decision of their own. Students will share their opinions in group discussions. After a few minutes of group work, a class discussion will take place to review the documents and allow students to share their choice of whether or not they would drop the atomic bombs. Each student will have the opportunity to share their decision and why.
3. The U.S. Entering the War
3.1. Students will develop an understanding of the reasons why the United States entered the war.
3.1.1. Assessment: The summative assessment for this lesson involves students writing an exit slip to answer the following question: Do you think that the United States could have avoided entering the war? Support your opinion using evidence from your notes.
3.1.1.1. Content Delivery: Utilizing a slideshow, students will take notes on factors that caused the US to enter the war. Images will be included and brief pauses to discuss events will occur throughout the lecture.
3.1.1.2. Student Engagement: Students will work in their previously assigned groups and focus on a cause for the US entering the war. They will use a combination of the textbook and a chromebook to find additional facts on the event. A link where students can find a timeline of important foreign policy decisions leading up to the war, will be provided to the class.
4. The Internment of Japanese Americans
4.1. Students will develop an understanding of how life was like for Japanese Americans placed in internment camps.
4.1.1. Assessment: This lesson utilizes informal formative assessments to test prior knowledge of internment camps and of analyzing primary sources. Asking the students questions and viewing their written responses allows me to assess student progress.
4.1.1.1. Student Engagement: After watching the video, students will answer questions about the newsreel that allow students to think about the purpose of the video and how they could have persuaded the audience at the time to support the internment camps. Students will share their answers in a class discussion. Students will then receive two documents about Japanese internment and answer the same questions again. The vocabulary words will be found in the documents; the definitions will be displayed on the projector.
4.1.1.2. Content Delivery: As a class, we will review a timeline of important events that affected the internment of Japanese Americans and other major events of the war. Students will then be shown a newsreel from 1942 that explains the reasons for Japanese internment.