World War II Unit Plan
Teaching American History Grant – Summer 2011
Ryan Jones
Manchester High School
Standards addressed: NCSS Standards 1-7; 10
Conceptual Focus (for teacher):
1. How does the study of WWII promote and hinder the development of historical empathy?
2. How can students construct their own narrative of WWII?
Unit Essential Questions (for students):
1. Was World War II a “good war”? Why or why not, and for whom?
2. How should people construct a narrative of WWII?
Day 1 – Background on the War
Daily EQ: Was WWII inevitable?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Reflect on first essential question for the unit.
2. Analyze and apply primary source documents.
3. Construct a basic understanding of the causes and the start of World War II.
Bellringer – KWL Chart on World War II
Rationale: Students often have preconceived notions and opinions about the Second World War. The
completion of this KWL Chart will be interesting for students to review again following the completion of the
unit.
Freewrite – Are there such things as good wars? Was WWII a good war? Should the US intervene in foreign
affairs when the lives and safety of others are at stake? If so, why? If not, why not?
Students can preliminarily reflect on EQ for the unit.
Group Activity – Stations – Analysis of Primary Sources
 Treaty of Versaillies – The Blame Clause and Reparations
 Washington Conference of 1920
 Neutrality Act of 1937
 “The Nanking Massacre” – The New York Times, December 18, 1937
 Nazi Party Program, 1920
 Chart of German and Japanese military expansion from 1920-1940
Rationale: Students will answer source specific questions about what each document tell us about the period
leading up to the start of WWII. Students can discuss as a class whether WWII was caused by failed diplomacy,
by economic and imperial ambitions, or both.
Powerpoint – Regarding the beginning of the war. Topics to include the Munich Agreement, the annexation of
Austria, treaties between Germany, Italy and Japan, division of Poland, Sudetenland, seizure of Czechoslovakia,
invasion of Belgium and France, British evacuation at Dunkirk, and the London Blitz.
Basic content information about the start of the war in Europe.
Classwork/Homework – Reading and questions about the start of WWII in Europe from text.
Students will read about the war’s beginning and then answer basic content questions about the start of the war
to demonstrate understanding of events.
Homework: Lindbergh’s address to the America First Committee meeting, New York, April 23, 1941
Questions for students to consider – Why would do you think the America First movement would appeal to
Americans prior to Pearl Harbor? Does this argument have any relevance in America’s current foreign policy
debate? Why or why not?
Days 2-4 – The Holocaust
Daily EQ: What choices do people make in the face of injustice? – and – What circumstances in Nazi Germany
made it possible for ordinary citizens to murder innocent men, women and children?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Analyze primary and secondary sources regarding the Holocaust.
2. View the film Schindler’s List and reflect upon its meaning.
Initiation: The Milgram Experiment – Are humans naturally prone to violence?
Rationale: Students will debate and discuss the implications of the Milgram Experiment. This will provide a
segway for a discussion of our daily EQs.
Movie – Clips from Schindler’s List (1994)
The seminal modern film on the Holocaust. Schindler’s List depicts the experience of victims, collaborators,
survivors, witnesses and perpetrators from the formation of the ghettoes in Poland through the course of the
war.
Classwork Activity – Questions and discussion regarding Schindler’s List..
Homework (Night 1) – Analyze primary sources – accounts from victims and witnesses – about the Holocaust.
Homework (Night 2) – Do you take the oath? Activity from Facing History (http://www.facinghistory.org/)
Class Discussion – About the movie the film and genocide in more modern conflicts. What was the meaning of
the film? How does the film relate back to our EQs about the Holocaust?
Day 5 – US Involvement and Pearl Harbor
Daily EQ: How did Pearl Harbor affect the US? – and – Was there a common American war experience?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Analyze primary and secondary sources in order to construct an evidence-based narrative of the
American WWII experience.
2. Take notes about the start of WWII in the United States.
Initiation: Analyze the Lend-Lease Act and US Draft Act of 1940. Did the US think that war was inevitable?
Rationale: Compare and contrast these two pieces of legislation with the America First movement. What
changes do you think were occurring in American society to signal a shift in the war?
Powerpoint: Japanese Naval Expansion, Conflict in China, Pearl Harbor, and US preparation for war
Content information regarding the buildup and eventual attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan.
Project: The WWII Experience
Students will receive a draft notice – to either join the Army, Navy or Marines, or to work in critical war
industries (e.g. a soldier in E Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, a sailor on the USS
Massachusetts, a female munitions worker, a pilot of the Tuskegee Airmen, etc.). They will prepare a diary
assignment where they will trace their war experience by using and applying primary and secondary sources.
Students will also present their findings to the class. Teacher will prepare preliminary research for students to
utilize, but the students will continue their research in the Library.
Students will use primary and secondary sources to construct their own narrative about WWII. They will then
share “their” war experience, and compare and contrast with that other American experiences during the war.
Day 6 – Continue WWII Experience Project
Day 7 – The War Experience
Daily EQ: Was there a common American experience in WWII?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Analyze primary and secondary sources.
2. Formulate and defend a thesis using evidence.
Report Out: Students share their war experiences and research.
Rationale: To provide students with the opportunity to see what the war experience was like for a variety of
different Americans.
Primary Source Analysis: Japanese Internment
 Executive Order 9066
 Dairies and interviews of those interned
 Photographs of Internment Camps
Use primary sources to construct an understanding of internment. Another perspective of the war for
subsequent class discussion.
Class Discussion: What was the war experience like for soldiers versus civilians? Men versus women? Whites
versus minorities? Is it possible to formulate a common war experience?
Classwork/Homework: Analyze a Primary Source – Read and answer questions about excerpts from Alan’s
War.
Students will reflect on the perspective of Alan’s War differs from the traditional or mainstream account of US
servicemen.
Day 8 – War in Europe and the Pacific
Daily EQ: How did the American war experience in Europe differ from that in the Pacific?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Compare and contrast the European and Pacific experience for Americans during WWII.
2. Construct a thesis and defend it using evidence.
Initiation: Discuss Alan’s War and questions.
Powerpoint: Major battles of the European Theater – Battle of Britain, Invasion of North Africa, Invasion of
Sicily, D-Day, Invasion of Italy, Liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, Stalingrad, Soviet Push Westward.
Rationale: Important content regarding the war in Europe.
Screen clips from The War (Waterbury Soldier)
Powerpoint: Major battles of the Pacific Theater – Battle of the Philippines, Doolittle’s Raid, Battle of Midway,
Battle of Iwo Jima, Battle of Solomon Islands.
Important content regarding the war in the Pacific.
Screen clips from Fat Man & Little Boy
Inquiry: Should the US have dropped the Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Students will complete
an essay using primary and secondary sources with competing ideas regarding whether the US should have used
nuclear weapons against Japan during WWII.
Students will review primary and secondary sources to construct their own point of view regarding the
dropping of atomic bombs using evidence to defend their position.
Days 9-10 – War (Cont.)
Daily EQ: Was WWII a “good” war?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Construct a thesis and defend it using evidence.
2. Debate concepts and ideas regarding WWII.
Class Discussion: Students will share their thoughts regarding the Atomic Bomb Inquiry. Should the US have
dropped the bomb? Why or why not?
Screen clips from America and the Holocaust.
Class Discussion: Hand back KWL chart and reflection from Day 1 of unit. What have you learned? What
questions do you still have? How have your ideas about the war changed?
Homework: Prepare content study guide for unit test.
Day 11 – WWII Test
Daily EQ: Was WWII a “good” war?
Objectives (Students will…)
1. Construct a thesis and defend it using evidence.
2. Debate concepts and ideas regarding WWII.
Test composed of content questions about the war and then will write essay – Was WWII a “good” war? – using
articles and evidence to answer the question.
Closure Activity: Timelines and WWII Bracket
Rank and order the most important events of WWII. Students will then reflect on how and why they chose
which events were more critical and less critical.
Rationale: For students to think about and ponder how historians and everyday people discern what they
consider to be the most important events of history. What is the process? Did their own experience and our
unit of study about the war influence their choices?
Class discussion: WWII Brackets
How does this relate to our question about how one forms a narrative about the Second World War? How you
prepare a balanced narrative about the war?