Lesson Plan #1

Lesson plan for American History, World War II, Casualty Figures

LESSON PLAN #1

Brett Burnham

1. Class

a. 25 juniors

b. mixed class, boys and girls

c. American history is a required class

d. Learning Style

i. 50% kinesthetic learners

ii. 25% Visual

iii. 25% Audio

e. One disabled student

i. Speech or Language Impairment

f. General Characteristics that impact instruction:

i. Prerequisite skills or knowledge (ex. Computer skills)

1. I am assuming a class similar to my students at ND. Consequently their computer skills are mixed, they have no interest in reading and their homework return rate is shaky.

ii. What point are they in their program or major?

1. High school juniors

iii. What courses are taken prior to this one?

1. By the junior year they will have taken Geography, and World History.

2. By the time we get to WWII they will have studied the history of America from the pre-colonial days to the 1930s.

iv. What knowledge is assumed?

1. This is tough. I would say, rather cynically, that you cannot assume they have any knowledge. Academic standards at ND have not been good and the majority of students are not in touch with the knowledge they supposedly have gained in their eleven years of schooling. They do not read if they can help it, they do not do their homework, and they do not care what grades they get until progress report time when they come whining around looking for extra credit. If you assign a project for them to do to earn the extra credit they will not do it. When they ask for extra credit they want freebies.

2. I have to assume they know the major nations of the world and which countries are part of which empires. They should also know the political systems for each of the major nations.

2. State Objectives

a. Standard US.2.13 Examine the events of World War II

i. The causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including military assistance to the United Kingdom and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

ii. The major battles and turning points of the war in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific, including Midway, Stalingrad, the Normandy landing (D-Day), and Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb to force the surrender of Japan

iii. The role of all-minority military units, including the Tuskegee Airmen and Nisei regiments

iv. The Geneva Convention and the treatment of prisoners of war during World War II

v. The Holocaust (Hitler's "final solution"), its impact on Jews and other groups, and the postwar trials of war criminals

b. Learning outcomes

i. Students will analyze data to determine the comparative casualty rates suffered by the major nations involved in the war and explain how the USA compares.

c. Conditions of performance

i. Class will begin with a short lecture

1. summarizing the conditions of the world during the war. Study of the war itself was in the last three lessons. This lesson is focuses on the casualties of the war

2. Directions for the group work

ii. Students will gather statistics on casualties from World War II for the major nations involved in the conflict.

1. Major areas of concern:

a. Nations: British Empire, Italy, Japan, Soviet Union, USA

b. Military casualties (killed, wounded, and missing)

c. Civilian casualties (killed, wounded, and missing)

d. Degree of acceptable performance

i. Students will perform according to the rubric established in class in conjunction with the students. Their presentation of the data will be subject to the judgment of their peers.

e. What is the student to learn?

i. The students will establish the basis of knowledge on which will be built the coming discussions of the post-WWII world. They will compare and contrast the losses for each of the major nations and will, in a later lesson, relate those losses to the post-war postures during the Cold War.

3. Select Methods, Media and Materials

a. Look at my Objectives

i. What method is appropriate for delivery of the information needed for the learning task?

1. I will use the jigsaw technique for this project.

a. Group membership

i. Leader

1. Coordinate jobs within the group

ii. Researcher

1. Generally the person with the laptop or smartphone

iii. Recorder

1. Keeps track of work progress and keeps notes on material found (i.e., sources, footnotes from source, etc.)

iv. Runner/artist

1. Gets materials and designs presentation

v. Messenger

1. Coordinates between group and teacher

b. Students will complete the work in two sessions.

c. There will be five teams of five students each named after the major nations.

i. They will discuss the types of data they need for their project and build a list of headings and subheadings (i.e., design the spreadsheet) for the compilation of the data.

1. Military

a. KIA

b. Wounded, died later

c. Died, POW

d. Invalided from service

2. Civilian

a. Deaths

d. Once they have a list they will reform in groups based on the subsets of data.

i. The groups will work together to gather the data using Internet sources and research at the library.

ii. They will compile their data and check its relevance and accuracy

e. The original groups will reform to enter the data on the group spreadsheet and develop a series of questions and answers about the data.

f. Students will present the data to the class and field questions accordingly.

b. Select available materials

i. Students will provide notebooks, writing utensils, and brains. To make online sources available the class will use the computer lab.

ii. The students will need their Interactive Student Notebook for journaling about the class

c. The following questions will help to decide what media will be useful.

i. What types of media provide the information needed to complete the task?

1. PowerPoint presentation reminding them how to make a spreadsheet.

ii. What media do my students have available to them?

1. Some have smart phones and some have laptops. Need to make sure each group has something to work from.

iii. Can I select media that is already created?

1. Some internet searching should bring to light flags for each group

2.

4. Utilize Media and Materials

5. Require Learner Participation

a. In-class and follow-up activities so learner can process the information

i. Prepare rubric with the students input. Guide them through the process with prompts on a projected slide.

ii. Rubric will include (prompts for discussion)

1. participation

2. quality of presentation

a. Delivery

b. clarity

c. appearance

d. Logical Sequence

e. transitions

f. completeness

g. Use of technology

3.

6. Evaluate and Revise

a. Before, during and after instruction

i. Assess learner, media methods

ii. Did the skills/ concepts get taught?

iii. Did the students meet the set performance objectives?

iv. What was their attitude toward the learning environment?

v. Did the materials work?

vi. Did the materials help the students meet their objectives?

b. Assessment

i. Use Interactive Student Notebook for journal entries

ii. Use peer rubric to assess presentation.

iii. At this point in the process you need to evaluate the student's performance, the materials and the assessment methods. After looking at all of these areas, decide if the intended outcome was reached.

1. If performance objectives were not met, try to determine the cause.

2. Has my audience changed?

3. Were the objectives unclear?

4. Was my assessment fair?

5. Did my assessment measure what was learned?

6. Did the materials match the objectives?

7. Were the performance requirements impossible to achieve?

8. Did media failure prevent students from learning key pieces of information?

9. Was more feedback or practice required?

c. When results are unsatisfactory, consider the possibility that the course performed poorly, not the students.

World War II casualties. (2004). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved July 10, 2011, from World war ii casualties. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/topic/World_War_II_casualties