Lesson Plan Format

Your Name: Nick Olson Length of lesson: 52 minutes Title of lesson: Letters to WWI soldiers Guiding Question: How can emotions be portrayed in a letter, and how can we analyze these emotions to understand what changes are taking place during WWI? Context of Lesson: This lesson will be taking place after the students have learned about changes that are taking place in society during WWI like women working, red scare, and War Industries Board. Overview: This is an assessment that they are going to read letters to a soldier from WWI, and then create their own letters to a soldier focusing on the societal changes that are taking place during WWI. This will be followed with a lesson on the end of the war. Objectives: Students will be able to read WWI letters and create a WWI letter that describes that societal changes taking place during WWI. (MHSCE 6.2.3) Anticipated student conceptions or challenges to understanding: I expect the students have trouble reading the letters and wondering why the letters are written relatively poorly. It is a little difficult to see that the way students read show that the kids feel like they are almost a part of the war, unlike most letters that would be sent today. Materials/Evidence/Sources: Packet of letters with guiding questions. Video: http://vimeo.com/6016468 Assessment: I will be collecting the letters, if they dont finish in class it will be due for homework. Instructional Sequence: 1. Will begin with the beginning will be a review of what they learned the day before. They will be told to turn to their person next to them and discuss what they learned about domestic life yesterday. Will then pull popsicle sticks to have 2 students share. 2. After they do this will explain that many people during wartime write letters to the soldiers for morale boosters, and also that soldiers write home to stay in contact. Soldiers like to know what is going on at home, and look forward to returning. 3. Will start a clip that is a voice over of someone reading a letter written from a soldier writing home. I will tell them to imagine themselves receiving a letter possibly like this from a family member(tell them not to focus on the fact that it is written to his girlfriend). 4. Will read the intro paragraph with popcorn reading, and then explain that these are primary documents that were going to look at. Also point out that the letters are dated November 7. Tell

them that this is 4 days before the war actually ends. So after this lesson we will be looking at the end of the war and all of the results of WWI. 5. After the reading, I will partner them up with the people next to them and have them read the letters that kids wrote to the soldier. 6. With their partners they will be looking at three letters, and answer the guiding questions. 7. They will then individually write their own letter that they would write to Irven as a family member.

Partner Primary Source Analysis

Directions: You will work with a partner to carefully read and analyze World War I primary sources and complete the coordinating activities. Then individually write a letter to the soldier as a family member.

Step 1: Carefully review ALL the primary source materials. Step 2: Answer the primary source analysis questions in your own words.
Step 3(Individual): Now you will be a family member of Irven Armstrong(his wife, cousin, mom, dad, brother, sister or any other family relation you want). Like these kids you will write a letter to Irven, but yours must be more insightful by including societal changes that are taking place around you today(1918). Use your packet on domestic life, and propaganda handouts to help you. Be as specific as possible, Irven has been gone for a long time and wants to know EVERYTHING you could tell him.

Primary Source Analysis Questions:

1. Describe the three most important things students wanted to communicate to Sergeant Armstrong. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2. Reading these documents, how might you know they are from a different time period? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3. How did the attitude of students towards U.S. participation in World War I impact their writing? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 4. How do the attitudes of the students in these letters differ from students attitudes today concerning the Iraq War? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 5. Find two pieces of evidence in the second letter that shows the student glorifying and idolizing the war. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Indianapolis, Ind., Dear Mr. Armstrong, Nov. 7, 1918

__________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Your loving _________________,

These letters were written by middle school students in response to a letter from Irven Armstrong, the former history teacher serving in the U.S. Army in France. They were likely part of a class assignment, because they were all written on the same date, November 7th, 1918. Irven Armstrongs letter unfortunately no longer exists. Its content, however, can be partially reconstructed based on the student responses. The student letters give us a glimpse of the life on the home front during World War I and reflect the tremendous wave of patriotic fervor sweeping across the nation in the fall of 1918. While they are clearly proud of Sergeant Armstrongs contribution to the war effort, the students appear to take even greater pride in describing their own efforts to assist the men and boys over there. The letters to Sergeant Armstrong also expose race relations in the United States at this time. Irven Armstrong was an African American, the son of a former slave. When the United States entered the war in April 1917, no black men were allowed in the Marines, Coast Guard or Air Force. They could serve in the Navy, but only as messman or kitchen workers. The Army allowed African American volunteers or draftees, but assigned them to segregated units. Indianapolis, Ind., Dear Mr. Armstrong, Nov. 7, 1918

We, as pupils of School No. 17 were very glad to hear from you and to know that you are in France, helping to make the world safe for democracy. You soldiers are not the only ones fighting for this cause, but we here in America are backing you and thousands of other soldiers and officers. One proof for this is that a fourth Liberty Loan drive was started on the twenty-eighth of September and lasted until October the nineteenth. Of course Marion County went over the top, or Indiana as a whole. Most every pupil of School Seventeen is a member of the Thrift Army with the exception of just a few new comers from different other schools. We have a service flag in the school, but you will hear more about it after it is dedicated. About the first of September there was a War Exhibit in the city and everything was immensely interesting. There were bullets from four different kinds of cannons from the smallest to the largest sizes. Also there were time fuses, instruments to protect the nose, Red Cross, War Literature, medals of honor, war shoes, boots and everything that helps to make an exhibition worthwhile. There are many other letters being written to you so I will not make mine too lengthy. Will close for this time.

Indianapolis, Ind., Dear Mr. Armstrong, Nov. 7, 1918

I am a pupil of No. 17 school. You were at once time my teacher. The letter you wrote the pupils of this school was received. I enjoyed listening to it being read to us by Miss Walker. All of the school children are doing everything they can to help the men and boys who have gone over there. We still have our Air Plane races and each child does all he can to see that his room gets in the lead. We are bringing peach seeds to school to be used in making carbon for gas masks. A Liberty Loan drive began here Oct. 28th and from the way the papers read the colored people did their bit. We children are buying Thrift Stamps and War Stamps. The teachers still give us our buttons to show where we rank in the Thrift Army. I am corporal now but by the time this letter reaches you I hope to be Sergt. There has been an epidemic of Influenza here and the schools, churches and all places of amusement were closed for four weeks. During the last week fewer cases were reported to everything opened up again and we are back in school. I was a victim of the Influenza but I am alright now.

Indianapolis, Ind., Dear Mr. Armstrong, Nov. 7, 1918

I was very glad to hear from you and to hear of the interesting places that you have seen. Now I will try to tell you of some of the things that we are doing. We are still buying Thrift Stamps. We are bringing peach seeds, apricot seeds and plum seeds to school. This is so carbon, to make gas masks for the soldiers. WE are trying to do our bit. The fourth Liberty Loan Bond is out now. Every one is being urged to buy one. The purpose of this bond is to help the soldiers during the winter.