Lesson Plan: Colloquium III "Creating a Nation"

Susan Greer
Quitman High School
Quitman, Mississippi

UNIT IN WHICH THE LESSON WILL/COULD BE INCLUDED:
World War I; World War II; Women’s History Month (This lesson would be a way to demonstrate a common thread that exists in all periods of American history.)

MISSISSIPPI CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK COMPETENCY, Eleventh Grade:
1: Explain how geography, economics, and politics have influenced the historical development of the United States in the global community.
(b) Explain the emergence of modern America from a domestic perspective

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

How does historical evidence show:
how revolutionary was the American Revolution in terms of the rights of women of the time?

the ways that women have gone beyond the traditional gender roles as assigned by society during the major wars in which the United States has participated?

HISTORICAL CONTENT OF LESSON
People: Women in general (some famous, some everyday people)
Events: Wars that the United States have been involved in from the Revolutionary War to the recent Iraqi conflict.
Places: Any place in America, during any time of conflict.
Key terms, dates, etc.: Colonial/Revolutionary War period, Frontier period Civil War period The Wild West period, World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, Iraqi Conflict

HISTORICAL CONCEPTS AND THEMES:
Values, beliefs, political ideas, and institutions;
Patterns of social and political interaction

HISTORICAL SKILLS/PROCESS:
Finding and analyzing primary sources; relating past to present; explaining cause and effect; evaluating primary sources from Internet sources

TEACHER RESOURCES

Web sites
www.undelete.org/military/timeline1.html

http://search.eb.com/women/ind_womenweb.html

www.radcliffe.edu/schles/newsevnt/exhibits/war/warbib.htm

Books/Periodicals

The Americans

McDougall Little, pub. (Textbook, any edition)

Herstory: A History of Women in America.

Mary Beth Norton, Liberty’s Daughters

STUDENT RESOURCES:

Media/Technology:
Internet sources previously listed
Relevant features on women’s history from the History Channel

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Students will be divided into small groups and given a specific war or period of conflict to research. Using library resources, primary documents, videos, and Internet sites (see above), each group will explain the common culture at the beginning of the conflict, specific contributions made by women during the conflict, and ways the roles and expectations of women changed as a result of their involvement either directly or indirectly in the conflict. Each group will provide at least one sample of a primary source detailing one woman’s (whether famous or not) struggles during the conflict. Each group will give some type of presentation to the class as part of their group assessment. The presentation style will be decided by the group members based on their individual talents.