World War I trench warfare was a devastating experience for most soldiers. Much of a unit on this topic is spent exploring the daily lives of soldiers in the trenches.
This quick clip could be used in several ways: asking students to document what they see as a reporter, describing how they believe the soldiers feel, writing a letter home as a soldier based on what is in the video, writing a journal entry, etc.
A new PBS documentary For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, details the military contributions of African Americans.
The U.S. Army created an edited 25-minute version of the film and corresponding high school and college facilitator guides. The materials, structured to fit a classroom timeframe, are versatile and can compliment studies in American history, civics, social studies and ROTC programs.
Two professors holding PhD’s in curriculum development created the facilitator guides. These guides define course outcomes, general information, important facts and post viewing questions for each chapter.
The chapters of the film are divided according to wars, which allow educators the option to adapt the materials to fit specific topical discussions. The 25-minute version can be shown in its entirety or according to appropriate content. Either way, educators can customize the video footage to support several presentation formats.
We are lucky enough to have access to each chapter and accompanying questions for both high school and college.
In the spirit of yesterday’s posting on the flu, this end of WWI video shot in San Francisco features participants wearing face masks, as the 1918 epidemic was in full force.
And finally this website contains WWI propaganda postcards.
We have included a simple assignment that we’ve had fun with over the years in our classrooms that asks students to design their own posters using recognizable symbols.
If you are looking for other WWI resources, we have two PowerPoints, one for US, the other World History.
