Lesson Plan

Emily Zann

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Title: Vietnam Forms of Protest

Number of Class Periods: 2

Essential Questions:
● In what ways did Americans protest the Vietnam War? How did this evolve?
● How did the government respond to the anti-war protests?

State of Michigan Content Standards:

8.1.2 Foreign Policy during the Cold War – Compare the causes and consequences of
the setbacks and successes of the American policy of containing the Soviet Union,
including:

○ U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the foreign and domestic

consequences of the war

Learning Objectives:
● Students will be able to list different ways Americans protested the Vietnam
War and how these evolved from small group protests to nation wide music
● Students will be able to describe how the government responded to large scale
anti-war protests

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Diagnostic/Formative Assessments:
● Nearpod responses (collaboration boards/multiple choice questions)

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences (Procedure)

Instructional Strategy:
Forms of Protest Nearpod
● Timeline slide: the Vietnam War
● Sound Smart: Vietnam War Protests | History
○ Recap of what we know
● Lessons from the 1968 Democratic Convention: Under the Shadow of Protests| Retro
 Report
○ Collab board: What can we learn from the results at the 1969 democractic
convention?
● Kent State Massacre
○ Multiple choice question, “What govt action were the students at kent state
protesting? (expansion of war into cambodia) “
○ Collab board: How did the govt respond after the massacre? Were they
sympathetic?
● Protest music

Music activity
○ There are 6 songs in this activity- all made in protest to the vietnam war
○ After listening to the song, pick two lyrics to analyze. What do you think this lyric
means? What message are they trying to convey?
● Modeling: Whole group example
○ Fortunate son
■ Title: Fortunate Son (1969)
■ Artist: Creedence Clearwater
○ “Pick one lyric that sticks out to you and why? What is the artist trying to
convey?”
○ Meaning and significance: What do you think inspired this song?
● Songs #1-6
○ For each song on collab boards:
■ Pick two lyrics that stand out to you the most. What do these lyrics mean?
What message is the artist trying to convey? Explain both.
■ Spend some time researching this song and the artist to find out the
inspiration. The inspiration for this song could be a specific story that
happened to the artist or an event during the Vietnam War. Explain the
meaning in full sentences.
○ Artist: Buffalo Springfield
■ Title: For What It’s Worth
○ Artist: Bob Dylan
■ Title: Masters of War
○ Artist: Jimmy Cliff
■ Title: Vietnam
○ Artist: Bob Segar
■ Title: 2+2=?
○ Artist: Edwin Starr
■ Title: War
○ Artist: Marvin Gaye
■ Title: What’s going on
● Collab boards:
○ Why would people choose music as a form of protest? Do you believe it is
effective?
○ What forms of protest do we see today? In what ways is this similar or different to
the Vietnam era?
 Other Important Information

Materials:
● Forms of protest nearpod
● Forms of protest slides