America at War Thematic Unit

Every history teacher knows that it is impossible to fit hundreds of years of history into a single school year. When I was teaching chronologically, I almost never made it to the Vietnam War by June. By the end of the year, kids knew everything there was to know about World War I and World War II, but nothing about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, which happened in their lifetime. I wanted to figure out a way to change that, so a few years ago, I took on an ambitious project: to teach several American wars all at the same time, using expert groups.

I thought about the major themes of warfare and the big ideas that I wanted them to get out of the unit. Instead of teaching the wars in the order that they happened, now, they learn about many of them simultaneously through the themes of “causes and context “ “battlefield” “leadership” “home front”, and “outcome and impact”. With each theme, students are broken up into small groups, with each team becoming the experts on a different American war. Then, they teach one another what they have learned and compare and contrast each war.

Do they memorize every major battle or war general? No. But they do recognize the patterns in the reasons that countries go to war, understand how changes in technology transform warfare over time, and how war impacts civilians and the people who stay home.

Each unit begins with a set of focus questions that students research. Then, they teach one another about their war using mini-lessons or menu projects. Along the way, students participate in debates, Socratic seminars, and primary source analysis. They listen to veteran interviews, presidential speeches, as well as war protest and propaganda songs.

Expert Groups:

• World War I

• World War II (Europe)

• World War II (Pacific)

• Korean War 

• Vietnam War

• Iraq War (sometimes combined with the Persian Gulf War)

• Afghanistan War

Themes:

• Causes and Context

  • Overarching Question: Why did the United States go to war?

  • Highlight Activities: “isms” puzzle, debate, world map

    
    

• Battlefield

  • Overarching Question: How did American soldiers fight this war?

  • Highlight Activities: Choice menu project, veterans interviews

    
    

• Leadership

  • Overarching Question: How did the leaders of the United States, their allies, and their enemies make decisions and communicate with the people during these wars?

  • Highlight Activities: Leader profiles, speech analysis

    
    

• Homefront

  • Overarching Question: How did the war affect civilians at home?

  • Highlight Activities: Primary source analysis, wartime songs

    
    

• Outcome and Impact

  • Overarching Question: How did the war change the United States and the world?

  • Highlight Activity: Socratic Seminar

Learning Activities:

Each theme follows the same basic cycle: 

Step 1: Hook Activity

Students learn about their war by looking at photographs, political cartoons, and charts.

Step 2:  Research

Students get a set of focus questions to guide their research.  They use multiple sources like books and websites to find the answer to the questions.

Step 3: Create a project or mini-lesson presentation

Students are given a choice menu project that will demonstrate their knowledge.

Step 4: Sharing

Students share their projects or presentations with their classmates.

Step 5: Comparing

Students discuss how each war is similar or different based on each theme.

Step 6: Culminating Assessment

Students take a quiz, participate in a socratic seminar, debate, or write an essay that shows what they have learned during the unit

By the end of the "America at War" unit, they may not remember every date or battle, but they will understand some major connections and themes that help them understand some big picture themes in American history.

This unit is just one of many thematic units that I teach in my 8th Grade U.S. History course.