Over There!
Lesson Plan by Ashley Ralston
Hands On History Coordinator, Historic Arkansas Museum
Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
2007-2008 School Year
Utilizing 2006 Arkansas Social Studies Frameworks
Plus Other Curriculum Frameworks Including 2007 School Library Media Frameworks
The December Section from 2008 Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture Calendar
features a photograph of a dance held at the “Citizens Military Training Camp” at Camp
Pike in August of 1921. The photograph was donated by James McDaniel. Calendars
can be ordered annually by emailing info@encyclopediaofarkansas.net
One goal of the lesson is to teach students about determining the role of a citizen in the
United States and analyzing ways the government used propaganda to manipulate
individual’s involvement in WWI. A second goal of the lesson is to teach students how
to analyze primary sources to compare and contrast the expectations of the involvement
with the realities of war. Students will end the lesson by using new information to create
their own accounts of World War I.
Grades: 9th -12th
Objectives:
1. Students will be able to define the term citizen, deciding for which
actions citizens are accountable.
2. Students will be able to analyze primary sources and organize
information related to World War I.
3. Students will be able to recognize the use of propaganda and
determine its purpose.
Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks:
Arkansas History Student Learning Expectations:
W.7.AH.9-12.1- Examine the reactions of Arkansans to World War I
W.7.AH.9-12.2 - Describe the contributions of Arkansans to the early 1900s
Social Studies Student Learning Expectations:
American History
WC.15.AH.3 - Discuss the contributions of the United States to the Allies in World War I
WC.15.AH.4 - Investigate mobilization on the home front during World War I
Civics
C.1.C.5 - Explain and apply citizenship concepts to everyday life:
C.2.C.2 -Distinguish between rights and privileges of citizenship
English Language Arts Student Learning Expectations:
OV.1.10.2 - Prepare and participate in informal discussions and activities, such as
presentations, group discussions/work teams, and debates…
OV.3.9.2 - Articulate personal response to such media as editorials, news stories and
advertisements
W.4.9.1 - Generate, gather and organize ideas for writing
School Library Media Student Learning Expectations:
I.1.9.9, I.1.10.9, I.1.11.10, I.1.12.10 – Distinguish between primary and secondary
sources
I.2.9.2, I.2.10.2, I.2.11.2, I.2.12.2 – Evaluate primary and secondary sources
A.4.9.1, A.4.10.1, A.4.11.1, A.4.12.1 – Use resources and/or technology tools for a
predetermined task
Related Encyclopedia of Arkansas Entries:
Early Twentieth Century
Introduction:
The teacher will select the appropriate student learning expectations and/or activities for
his or her class, review the key terms, and make copies of selected worksheets
provided with the lesson. Collaboration with the school library media specialist for
assistance in utilization of the technology resource tool for Arkansas History is
suggested. See above link or visit http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
Key Terms:
Citizenship
Perception
Propaganda
World War I
Key Terms Defined:
CitizenshipThe rights, privileges and duties that come with being a citizen of a certain place.
PerceptionThe way an individual views and understands the events around them.
PropagandaSpecific information aimed at extending an agenda by shaping perceptions.
World War IA war fought from 1914 to 1918, mainly in Europe. The United States, Great Britain,
France, Russia, Italy, Japan and other allied nations defeated Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Materials Needed:
Access To Computer Lab
Paper and Writing Utensils
WWI U.S. Navy Recruitment Poster Analysis Sheet (included)
Dulce Et Decorum Est (included)
Suggest Timeline:
Two-Three Fifty Minute Classes
Background:
Propaganda was used during World War I to entice American citizens to join the war
efforts in various ways. This propaganda was carried out mainly through posters, songs,
etc. Its main focus was to appeal to individuals since of identity as an American and the
responsibilities that came with being a citizen
Procedure:
* All discussion questions may be placed in a notebook as a journal entry. As a class,
define the term citizen and create a list of actions that make someone a citizen. Of
these actions, circle the ones which apply to defending the country. After students have
agreed on the selected items, ask the following discussion question:
• Under what circumstances is a citizen relinquished from the obligations to their
country?
Activity #1
Have students listen to audios of:
You’re a Grand Old Flag
www.firstworldwar.com/audio/youragrandoldflag.htm
Over There!
www.firstworldwar.com/audio/overthere.htm
Both songs date from the 1920’s and were commonly heard during war time.
Ask students to write down a list of five adjectives/emotions that they feel after listening
to the songs.
After each song, ask students to answer the following discussion questions:
• How does this song apply to citizenship?
• What reaction would you have to this song during a time of war?
• How might this song be used to persuade individuals?
• How does this make you feel about the war?
• Pick one of the two songs and create a CD cover to express its intent.
• What songs can you think of that have the same affect in today’s world?
Activity #2
Show student’s an image of the World War I U.S. Navy recruitment poster found
at:http://www.arkmilitaryheritage.com/private/images/ills/poster5.jpg
As students to look at the poster, give them a copy of the accompanying analysis sheet
to answer. Afterwards, have students answer the following discussion questions:
• How might this poster be used to persuade individuals?
• How does this poster apply to citizenship?
• How does this make you feel about the war?
• How relevant is this technique today?
Activity #3
Ask students to write a letter home, as if they were planning on joining the American
efforts in WWI. The purpose of this letter is to explain why they have decided to join the
war. Ask students to use the answers, information and emotions they have learned or
expressed in the previous two exercises (Activities 1 and 2).
Activity #4
Ask students to look up and define the term, propaganda. Once students have defined
and discussed the information as a class, create a list of modern examples of
propaganda and discuss the potential it has for influencing lives.
Have students answer the following discussion questions regarding activities one and
two. These questions may be best answered in small groups.
Discussion Questions:
• List the item(s) you are analyzing:
• How is information in the object(s) relayed?
• Who are the targets of the message?
• Is the author trying to promote a specific cause or influence an opinion?
• What facts leave you to believe that the object(s) are/are not propaganda?
Activity #5
Show students primary source pictures from World War I.
Pictures may be found at:
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin09/imag0862.jpg
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin15/imag1406.jpg
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin08/imag0786.jpg
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin09/imag0869.jpg
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin04/imag0357.jpg
After students look at the pictures, ask them to write down a list of five
adjectives/emotions that these images provoke.
Discussion Question:
• How does this list compare to the list from Activity #1?
Activity #6
Have students align their desks in two rows to form a trench in the middle of the
classroom. As students to sit in-between the rows, shoulder to shoulder, with a pen and
paper as they listen to you read Dulce Et Decorum Est (It is Sweet and Right), a popular
poem depicting the inhumanity of WWI. As soon as you have finished, allow students to
make a list of their thoughts, while still sitting in that position. Later, give students a copy
of the poem and ask them to circle at least five lines that affected them the most and
with their notes from earlier and the concept of propaganda, ask students to write an
essay answering the following question:
• How did the perception of WWI differ from the actual experience?
Closing:
Ask students to use answers, information or emotions they have used in activities four
and five to write a letter home as though they were in the midst of WWI. Students
should use information from their first letter and decide whether or not they were glad
they joined the efforts. Students should take in account their feelings about citizenship,
information and emotion from the previous activities.
The Taylor Foundation (Little Rock, Arkansas) makes Butler Center lesson plans possible.
Contact the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock St., Little
Rock, AR, 72201. 501-918-3056 www.butlercenter.org and www.cals.lib.ar.us
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight.
He plunges at me, gluttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Duce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori1.
1
It is sweet and right to die for your country.
WWI U.S. Navy Recruitment Poster
Analysis Sheet
•
From looking at the poster, what do you think its purpose is?
•
How does the poster reflect the times?
•
What direction are the characters facing?
•
Why is this significant?
•
Describe the characters and list what you think they represent:
•
List and interpret the symbolic images found within the poster:
•
What power do these images have?
•
Interpret the saying found on the poster:
“The Navy Needs You! Don’t Read American History- Make It!”
•
What would this mean to someone in the 1920’s?
•
Complete the following statement by making it relevant to today:
“The ________ Needs You! Don’t Read American History- Make It!”
•
Explain what topic you chose and why. On the opposite side of this paper, create
a poster, like the WWI recruitment poster, reflecting that statement.