Lesson Plan #2 WWII Battles with Technology Integration (Video)

Teacher Name: Shelby L. Carbaugh

Lesson Title: World War II News Reporters

Target Grade/Subject: 11th Grade / Virginia & U.S. History

Students in this class represent a diverse group of ethnic backgrounds, but socio-economically a
majority are middle clas. This lesson is designed for the College-Prep level classroom and all students
have demonstrated proficiency in Internet-based research and have a working knowledge of iMovie, all
possess a county-issued iBook. In all there are a total of 31 students, six of which have IEP's and two
English-learners.
Length: 2-3 class periods

VA SOL: VUS.11b

The student will demonstrate knowledge of World War II by b) describing and locating
the major battles and turning points of the war in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific,
including Midway, Stalingrad, the Normandy landing (D-Day), and Truman’s decision to
use the atomic bomb to force the surrender of Japan;

Essential Questions:

1. What was the overall strategy of America and its Allies in World War II?

2. How did America’s strategy during World War II reflect available resources and the geographical
scope of the conflict?

3. Why were some battles of World War II considered turning points of the war?

Objectives:

• Students will determine why the battles of Midway, Stalingrad, Normandy, El Alamein, Nagasaki
and Hiroshima became strategically important battles of World War II.

• Students will determine through Internet research the overall Allied objective of each battle and
how well that objective was met.

• Students will enhance their ability to work in teams by conducting research on each battle in
small groups assigned by the teacher.

• Students will organize, create, and edit their own video newscast and interviews created and
conducted by the group.

Tools and Resources:

“The Americans” textbook (Chapter 25)
iBooks

Preparation:

Technology/Classroom Arrangement and Management Strategies:

-Students will be allowed time in class and during Panther time to access the Internet to conduct
research.
 -Prerequisite technology skills needed by students:

-Basic working knowledge of the Internet and word processing skills

-Basic editing skills to manage creation of the video and filming of the interview

Lesson Development:

Focus and Review of previous work/knowledge:

-Students and teacher will engage in a group discussion of the previous unit. We will discuss as review
the United States becoming engaged in World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, expansion of the
military, industrial response, and rationing on the home front.

Anticipatory set:

• How did the American people follow the war and its battles?

• What was the role of a World War II reporter?

• Students will watch a brief video on the life and death of Ernie Pyle from
http://www.youtube.com/ . The video will demonstrate the role of a news reporter during WWII
and show the dangers of reporting the war and its battles from the field. The students will see the
importance of a reporter’s relationship to both the soldiers in battle and those readers at home.
The video will act as an example of the project in which they will participate in for the unit.

Instructional Activity:

• Students will be placed in groups of 4-5 and be assigned to one of the following battles and roles:

Group #1 Midway

Group #2 Iwo Jima

Group #3 Hiroshima or Nagaski

Group #4 Stalingrad

Group #5 Normandy

Group #6 El Alamein

• Each Group/Battle will have:

• Anchor - reporting on the lead story (the battle)

• Co-Anchor - reporting on the secondary story (the story at home

• On-Scene Reporter - writes and reports on a human interest story and conducts an on-the-
scene interview.

• Interviewee - the subject of the on-the-scene interview (soldier, a commander, medic,

etc…)
 • Students will research their assigned battle using the textbook “The Americans” and the Internet.
They will need to be asking the following questions while conducting their research and
interviews:

• What was the overall Allied strategy during the battle?

• Was the battle a turning point in the War?

• Was the Allied strategy in the battle affected by the availability of resources to the area
and/or the geographic location?

Guided practice and checking for understanding (student activities):

• Students will edit the video of their interview for the following information:

• Determine if their battle was indeed a turning point.

• Determine if both resources and location were addressed in the report and/or interview.

• Determine if their report explains the overall strategy and objective of the Allied forces.

• Describes the overall conditions and outcome of the battle.

Independent practice (student activities):

-Students will have time in class and during Panther time to work in their groups to ensure
their project as a whole is complete for presentation. At this point the groups will be able to edit or add
any information that could perhaps enhance or improve the project once linked together as a whole.

Closure:
-Groups will be presenting their interviews and reports of their respective battles to the class.
In this way each battle is presented to the class in a detailed manner. Each group will act as the
“subject matter experts” for their battle, therefore being responsible to their fellow classmates
and gaining ownership of the material. Also, each group will be responsible for recording and
submitting a minimum of five meaningful questions concerning their battle, questions they agree
as a group will be useful tools in evaluating that which was learned by the class from their group
presentation.

Homework:
- Students will be asked to present their groups video, as well as, those of the other groups in
the class to a parent/guardian/adult (not a fellow classmate.) They will then be asked to
administer the class-made quiz. Remind the students to explain to the observer the correct
answers to any missed question(s). Students are to record any questions that were asked by the
viewer that the student was not able to answer with the corresponding video. The appropriate
research is to be conducted in order to find the answer and both questions and answers are to be
recorded and brought to the following class meeting. This activity supports the concept of "Teach
to Learn" and enables the students to practice their skills of verbal communication.

Evaluation Procedure

Assessment of objectives:
-The videos collected from each group will act as an evaluation of each student’s level of
mastery and understanding of the material. Also, as a class we will engage in an end-of-unit
quiz made up of questions collected by the teacher from each group.

Adaptations:
-Students who have more advanced technology skills can assist in the more advanced aspects
of editing and creation of the videos. The more gifted students in each group can assist the
other students with question development and perhaps even interviewee responses, to ensure
engaging dialogue through the interview process.
Rubric:

4 – Student conducted or created a very detailed, organized, factual and professional interview and/or
article. The student produced media which answered each question put forth in the lesson in a
thoughtful, creative, and engaging way. Product matched or exceeded work submitted by the group.

3 – Student provided detailed and factual information in their interview and/or article, however did not
answer all questions put forth in the lesson. Product matched or exceeded the quality of the other
pieces submitted by the group.

2 – Student provided some factual and detailed information in their interview and/or article. The media
produced did not address or answer all questions put forth in the lesson and did little to contribute to
the group project as a whole.

1 – Student provided no factual or detailed information in their interview and/or article, therefore
answered no questions put forth in the lesson. Product did nothing to enhance the quality of the group
project as a whole.