Essential Questions
- How might volunteering demonstrate civic responsibility?
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This lesson uses as its main resource posters produced by the United States government during the Second World War that were intended to encourage Americans to demonstrate civic responsibility by producing goods and services needed for the war effort. World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present, the poster was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. Government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front--calling upon every American to boost production at work and at home. Posters conveyed more than simple slogans. Posters expressed the needs and goals of the people who created them. -- from Produce for Victory, an online exhibition of the Smithsonian Institution’s |
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Instructional Strategies
Strategy 1
Gathering Information: KWL Chart
The KWL strategy activates prior knowledge and organizes information for learning.
Have students to begin to think about what life was like in America during the Second World War by posing this question.
- How might American citizens demonstrate citizenship during war time?
Have students complete the KWL chart below independently, and then compare responses with a partner.
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Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment
- How is your response like or unlike your partner’s?
Strategy 2
Gathering Information: Note-taking
Have students analyze these posters from Produce for Victory, an online exhibition of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, by taking notes on the main ideas and supporting details.
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Have students divide a sheet of paper in half, or draw two columns. While working in pairs, the students should write the main ideas found in the posters on one side and the details on the other. For example, a main idea from a poster might be saving food, while a supporting detail might be canning vegetables, or planting a garden. Stress with the students that the main ideas are likely to be one or two words, while the details may be examples of the ideas in action.
Work with the class to create a master list of the main ideas found in the posters.
Ask students: Why might the U.S. government use these posters to encourage people to volunteer?
Introduce the term “civic responsibility” as a main idea. Explain that this term is another way to describe the duties of citizenship.
Ask students: If you were to write “civic responsibility” or “duties of citizenship” as a main idea, what supporting details from the poster would you list?
Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment
- After viewing the posters, what do you now know about what life was like for Americans during the Second World War?
- Fill in the “What I Learned” column of the K-W-L chart from Strategy 1.
- How did your understanding of American life during the Second World War change as a result of viewing the posters?
Strategy 3
Extending & Refining Information: Summarizing & Identifying Similarities and Differences
Summarizing requires the student to process information and then write in his or her own words the main and supporting ideas of the material.
Have students work in pairs to create a topic sentence that represents the main ideas they have gathered from the posters. The topic sentence should respond to the question:
- How might American citizens have demonstrated citizenship during war time?
Have students write the topic sentences on the board or in sentence strips for the entire class to compare. Ask students to use a T-chart like the one below to compare the similarities and differences between the topic sentences.
The big idea of volunteerism should be brought out by students as topic sentences are compared.
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Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment
- Compare the results from this T-chart to the results of the survey in Lesson 2, Strategy 1.
- Why is volunteering to help out the nation important? Use your topic sentence or one created with the class to respond to this question.
Strategy 4
Application: Interactive Features and Discussion Web
Have pairs of students go to the Peace Corps website to find out what it’s like to volunteer in another country.
Students should use one of the four interactive features available in order to discuss the essential question found above:
- How might volunteering demonstrate civic responsibility?
How to conduct a discussion web:
- A student draws on research conducted in the previous strategy, the class textbook, from previous classroom discussions, and from personal experiences as he/she thinks about the question and discusses with a partner.
- The partners must come up with evidence that supports a response. Opinions are fine as long as they are supported by information from the text or by personal experience.
- Then the partners are paired with another set of partners to form a discussion group. The members of the group share their responses. Together, they reach a consensus on a point of view. Then student groups have the opportunity to share their point of view with the entire class.
- As a follow-up, students might be asked to debate the question, to support and write their individual opinions, or to discuss as a class.
Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment
- Why should a person’s sense of civic responsibility extend beyond the borders of your community?