Engaging Students in Historical Thinking About the WWI Home Front With a Touch of Kindergarten

This blog post is part of a series of posts written by my middle level/secondary social studies education students at Wichita State University. This post was written by Nathanael Harvey (@NathanaelHarvey on Twitter).

Travel with me back in time, can you recall those time-dimmed memories of Kindergarten? Where almost every day you would rotate from center to center, learning about all kinds of wonderful things before you laid down to quietly take a refreshing nap, from which you might awaken with your smiling teacher standing over you offering animal crackers and apple juice? I remember those times of energy and learning very fondly, and I remember how much I learned in a short time via rotating centers. So when I was looking for a unique way to introduce the efforts on the U.S. home front during WWI to my high school students, it was to the idea of rotating centers I turned.

As I read, researched, and prepped for this lesson, I realized how little students have in common with this topic. Despising the thought of teaching something irrelevant unnecessarily, I adjusted the theme of the lesson in my students’ direction, (which seems obvious, but so many teachers miss this step.) Here is the rough layout of what the lesson became (15 minutes for each center rotation, in our 80 minute blocks):

For bellwork, students answered this question in their daily work journals: “If America went to war tomorrow, what would you do to contribute to the war effort?” This question asks students, at a deep level, to question what would be helpful and what they might be able to do to interact in the larger national interest.

Center A. Students viewed a Powerpoint of War Bonds and Food Rationing Posters that I selected.  Students wrote a paragraph on the provided worksheet explaining whether or not they would buy war bonds, ration or plant a Victory Garden based on the posters they have examined, and why. This task asks students to place themselves in a position to consider how they would handle a historical situation, identifying with historical figures and their experiences. For students who had not heard of war bonds before, a friend passed on this period explanation by the great Charlie Chaplin (here).



Center B. Students examined and analyzed a set of laminated Propaganda Posters I selected, from various countries, vilifying or praising their respective selves or enemies. Students were asked to look for hidden meaning or symbolism in the posters they viewed, and then create their own propaganda poster with crayons, pencils and markers.

 

Center C. Students viewed two videos that my techie/videographer brother added on to with some acting from me found here and answered a few questions from it on their worksheet.

Center D. Students examined a set of three scenarios for US war production I created. After reading all three as a group, students will have to decide which of the three is best for the country, which might not be the best solution for the whole world. One of these three will be the actual way the US decided to act, the other two, imaginary. All three scenarios described a holistic policy that included details of union workers, women workers, war production and how to pay for the war. I created the two alternate scenarios to be very skewed, one toward plans outlined at the time by Socialists and the other, outlined by the much more Conservative and Capitalist wing of the U.S. government of the time. Students overwhelmingly picked the Socialist scenario, followed by the actual scenario. The extreme Capitalist scenario received very little support by any of my students.

 To wrap up the lesson, students described the actions of average Americans during the war, and why they think those people would do those things in support of the war. Students may also respond with what they might do in a similar situation or a “what if” scenario. 

After teaching this lesson to all four of my Honors US History I classes, I reflected on the lesson and what I needed to change. Aside from some procedural matters like making sure the students knew what they needed and what to take with them as they rotated, the lesson went very well. As I graded and read students’ responses on their worksheets, 90% of them were very deep and thoughtful, far deeper than the typical worksheet most teachers give out. Instead of students finding short answers by scanning the pages of their textbooks, they were asked to read, watch, listen and discuss, interacting in depth with the material in a variety of ways to learn about it and make it their own. Over all, I was pleased with the level of interaction and connection I had between students and with the material in my classes.

Tips: I placed all four stations counterclockwise, in the order students would rotate through them, so that there was very little bumping or cross-traffic in switching stations. Also, I tested extensively ahead of time to make sure my video volume would be at least bearable, if not comfortable for the other groups not viewing it. In a 50 minute block, this would be difficult to do all at once, so I would do two centers per day, with review and discussion at the end of each day. Anything you can do to make a lesson personal and meaningful, like my addition to the video, lets students know you care and work hard for them!

If would like any other materials for this lesson, or have other questions, or just want to visit, you can reach me via Twitter @NathanaelHarvey.