CADRE Lesson Planning Guide
Here are some things to consider as you design your lesson plan:
What is the main idea that you want to teach?
For example, do you want students to be able to describe the process of splinting a broken arm,
create a sprite object in a graphic design program, or safely use a chef ’s knife? Try to keep the focus
tight so that your lesson doesn’t instead become a unit.
How can you “hook” students at the start of your lesson, focusing their attention so that they are
ready to learn? Start by thinking about your main idea. What aspect of it could be particularly
interesting to the students in your class? Things that surprise, excite, intrigue, or raise questions are
all good starting points.
What are the lesson’s specific learning objectives?
In other words, what should the students be able to do, demonstrate, or explain to indicate that they
have grasped the main idea? A typical lesson has between two and four objectives. Too many more
and you may want to split your lesson into several separate ones.
What activities will help your students achieve the learning objectives?
Lectures, demonstrations, lab work, group work and student projects are all examples of activities
that you many want to consider.
How will you assess whether students have met the learning objectives?
A test or quiz at the end is only one way to assess learning. Portfolios, observations, and writing
samples can all be used as additional forms of assessment.
Let’s get started!
Lesson Title:
Vietnam War / Counter Culture
Grade Level:
Grade 11 US History
Unit/Topic:
Vietnam War / Counter Culture
Lesson Plan Overview / Details: This is the “main idea” that you want to teach for this lesson.
The main idea I want to teach is the cultural implications of the Vietnam war with regards to the
soldiers experience and the emergence of the counter culture. I will also go cover the basic time
line of American envolvement in Vietnam as a frame of reference.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
 Students will understand the basic history of American involvement in the Vietnam war
and its place in the Cold War
 Students will understand American soldiers experience in Vietnam through reading first
hand accounts and watching parts of the video “Vietnam: A Television History”

Students will understand the emergence of the Counter Culture movement as it pertains
to the hippie movment, anti war movement, and civil rights movement.
Activities in the Lesson
Plan out the different parts of your lesson using the text blocks below. Highlight and Bold the
types of activities you are describing and create enough detail for another teacher to understand.
Activity #1
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Hook / Anticipatory Set
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Lecture
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Demonstration / Modeling
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Guided Practice
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Independent Practice
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Closure Activity
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Checking for Understanding
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Lab / Shop
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Group Work
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Projects
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Formal Assessment
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Other:
Watch excerpt of “Vietnam: A Television History” where soldiers
explain life in Vietnam, the nature of the war and fighting, and a
raid on a village. This introduces the soldiers experience.
Watch the video “Summer of Love: Haight Ashbury.” This
introduces the counter culture movement as it pertains to the
hippie movment, anti war movement, and civil rights movement.
After each video as the following Questions to stimulate a
conversation:
What was the experience of soldiers
What was the experience of those at home of the same age
Materials/Resources needed:
Vietnam: A Television History Video
Summer of Love: Haight Ashbury Video
Activity #2
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Hook / Anticipatory Set
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Lecture
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Demonstration / Modeling
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Guided Practice
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Independent Practice
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Closure Activity
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Checking for Understanding
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Lab / Shop
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Group Work
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Projects
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Formal Assessment
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Other:
Present the Power Point Lecture for Ch. 24 on the Vietnam War and
the history of American involvement.
Materials/Resources needed: Ch. 24 Power Point presentation
Activity #3
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Hook / Anticipatory Set
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Lecture
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Demonstration / Modeling
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Guided Practice
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Independent Practice
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Closure Activity
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Checking for Understanding
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Lab / Shop
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Group Work
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Projects
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Formal Assessment
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Other:
Hand out Homework packet comprised of the Smithsonian Resource.
This is a Pdf. From the National Postal Mueseum – Smithsonian
Institute. http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/educators/we.pdf
The title of the resource is We Were There: Letters from the Battle
Front. It is a collection of letters from the Civil War, WWII, and
Vietnam written home from front line soldiers. I copied the pages
pertaining to Vietnam and combined them with a ven diagram
comparing soldiers and those that stayed at home and parents (WWII
generation) and their kids.
Materials/Resources needed:
Activity #4
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Hook / Anticipatory Set
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Lecture
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Demonstration / Modeling
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Guided Practice
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Independent Practice
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Closure Activity
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Checking for Understanding
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Lab / Shop
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Group Work
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Projects
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Formal Assessment
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Other:
Presentation of “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War” Another
Smithsonian Resource. Present the Vietnam section, show the pictures
of the artifacts and read portions of the presentation. In the first part
there is a rifle from the Kent State Shootings use this to explain the
incident at Kent State. In the second section show the Viet Cong
uniform and as students about their (as in the Vietcong) perspective on
the war.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/exhibition/flash.html
Materials/Resources needed:
Note: Your lesson may have more or fewer activities than provided in this template (paste and copy
more activities as needed)
Summary of Assessments
Don’t just wait to find out what students know at the end of the class period to find out what your
students have learned--provide ways to gauge their understanding throughout the lesson by using
rubrics, observations, and writing samples. Check off any assessment types used in your lesson and then
briefly describe your assessments in the area below.
Assessment Types
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Demonstrating
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Interviews
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Journals
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Observations
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Portfolios
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Projects
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Rubrics
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Surveys
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Teacher-made Test
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Writing Samples
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Other:
Vietnam letter Writing Asignment. See attached document.