Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Sapochetti
The Vietnam War is a unit from which many of the social studies could form
lesson plans around and make it a worthwhile unit for the student. In my lesson
plan I wish to form the lesson for a history with the goal of Gagnon’s ‘wise student’.
I hope to look at the Vietnam War in about 5-8 lessons and reach a historical and
critical understanding of the war in very broad concepts given the time constraints.
Lesson #1: The objective of the first lesson would be to get a background
knowledge of the Vietnam War through looking at The Geneva Peace Accords and
the American Response to them and a short lecture will get the important names,
places, and concepts in place so the students can move forward to American
involvement in the war.
Sequence of Activities: The teacher will lecture and give the necessary background
for the students to move forward into small groups read and discuss the two
aforementioned documents. The teacher at this point will be circulating the
classroom getting feedback and interacting with the students. Towards the end of
the class the entire class will get back together and discuss the documents and
their possible affects on American involvement in the Vietnam.
Why? : We are looking at the early stages of the Vietnam War to further our
understanding about why America may have felt obligated to begin war with
Vietnam.
Lesson #2 : The objective of the second lesson would be for the students to
understand the major players in Vietnam and the struggle between north and south,
communist and nationalist Vietnam.In this lesson the class will look at the White
Papers and gain the perspective for the American Administration.
Sequence of Activities: The teacher will lecture and discuss the situation in Vietnam
after the Geneva Peace Accords and further the students understanding of
America’s place in the region, the support for Diem, and conversely showing no
support for the Communists. After the class will be split into 5 groups who will take
one point of the 1961 White paper and give a brief talk about what their groups
point was and what it meant. The class will conclude with a discussion on whether
or not America should step up the number of forces in the region.
Why?: We are looking at the major players between the North and South and
America in hopes to be able to think about America’s involvement and maybe seek
a better understanding of why America feels the need to interject itself in many
more countries, Vietnam just being on the biggest and most horrific struggles.
Lesson #3: The objective in this lesson will be to talk about the assassination of
Kennedy and the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. We will talk about the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution and how that resulted in the escalation of the war exponentially.
Sequence of Activities: We will begin by watching a segment of film from the 1999
The 60’s film, which used archival footage to portray the assassination of Kennedy.
We will talk about the effects of his death and how the Johnson becoming President
led to a great escalation after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. We will spend the rest of
the class setting the scene for the next class which will focus on the 60’s counter
culture.
Why?: We are looking at the assassination of Kennedy and the rise of Johnson,
because we need to reach understand about the tragedy and think critically about
what Johnson would do and whether or not Kennedy would have done the same.
Lesson #4: The objective of the lesson will be to give the students a visual of the
counter culture to the war. The class will consist of movie footage and discussion.
Sequence of Activities: The class will start outlining the counter culture movement
in response to the war in Vietnam. We will then watch segments of the 1960’s
movie and look at the ways in which young people protested the draft and the war
in Vietnam.
Why? : We are learning about 1960’s counter culture because this was the closest
the country has ever been to utter chaos. The country was torn to pieces by the war
and it is important to realize the volatile situation right in America while the war was
happening thousands of miles away.
Lesson #5: The last lesson will seek to wrap things up for students the best way
possible without skipping important events. First the class will go over the Tet
Offensive then further talk about Nixon and his secret peace talks in 1968 and take
the class up to the Paris Peace Agreement.
Sequence of Activities: The class will be a split into two parts. The first part will be
lecture and discussion and will get us to the point where we can read the Paris
Peace Agreement and think critically about Nixon and Americasinvolvement in
Vietnam. The class will be split in five groups each taking part of the Peace
Agreement for us all to come together on share on.
Why?: We are looking at the Peace Agreement and Nixon to gain perspective of why
the war was ending and was not won by America. It gives us insight to our current
situation in Iraq were America is fighting a war that it seemingly cannot win, but
refuses to give up.
Why study the Vietnam War?: We study the Vietnam War because it was one of the
most volatile situations in America since the Civil War. People were torn apart either
supporting or not supporting the war. The counter culture that would come from the
war was a powerful entity that terrified the powers that be in the government,
enough so that counterculture members would be shot at Kent State. The country
saw many thousands of its young men come home in pine boxes or psychically
maimed and psychologically maimed in ways that left them unable to function in
society.