Sample Curricula

Lesson

Essential questions provide structure to the student learning outcomes.

Key questions are asked and answered by the Cuba War and Peace Powerpoint lecture units I and II.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

1

Included Materials:

• Comprehension Questions

Lecture

Students understand the key geopolitical, historical, social and internal dynamics of U.S-Cuba relations, 1895-1952.

Students understand the key geopolitical, historical, social and internal dynamics of U.S-Cuba relations, 1895-1952. Learners evaluate the role of geography, imperialism, slavery, island ethnicity, resources and power, which have shaped Cuba’s culture over time. Students consider the causes and consequences of the conditions independence movement leading up to the Cuban Revolution.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lecture

File type:

PDF

Unit:

1

Included Materials:

• PDF Lecture Slides

Lecture

Students consider the causes and consequences of the Cuban Revolution, including the Batista regime, independence movements of Latin America and Cold War geopolitics.

Particular attention is paid to the Eisenhower, Castro, Khrushchev and Kennedy administrations, including the Bay of Pigs incident, Cuban Missile Crisis and the Trading with the Enemy Act that has criminalized travel to Cuba since 1960.Consideration is given to the political dynamics affecting Cuban people on both sides of the Florida straits.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lecture

File type:

PDF

Unit:

1

Included Materials:

• PDF Lecture Slides

Lesson

Students evaluate three iconic photographs and events of the Vietnam War, as broadcast to the United States in 1963, 1968 and 1972, respectively.

Analyzing the news events using primary and secondary historical sources — textual facts, still photography and film footage — students weigh the merits and detriments of publicizing dramatic war scenes through mass media. After placing the imagery in context with major turning points of the Vietnam War, students consider independent journalism’s impact on policy-makers, military strategists and public opinion.

Content Advisory: Some images depict graphic scenes of violence from the Vietnam War. Teachers are asked to exercise caution when adapting lessons for younger grades.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

1

Included Materials:

• Multi-media Lesson

Lesson

A transcript from Walter Cronkite's February 27, 1968 broadcast in which he articulates the "credibility gap" to the American public.

6″We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds.”06

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.3

Included Materials:

• Primary Source Document
• Comprehension Questions

Lesson

From Foreign Affairs Magazine, July 1969, Presidential advisor Clark Clifford recalls his post-Tet Offensive transformation from a "Hawk" to a "Dove".

“…I was convinced that the military course we were pursuing was not only endless, but hopeless. A further substantial increase in American forces could only increase the devastation and the Americanization of the war, and thus leave us even further from our goal of a peace that would permit the people of South Vietnam to fashion their own political and economic institutions.”

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.4

Included Materials:

• Memoir
• Comprehension Questions

Lesson

In a provocative speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes the argument that the war in Vietnam is an economic and racist injustice to the poor blacks of America’s inner-cities.

“We have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.”

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.5

Included Materials:

• Primary Source Document
• Comprehension Questions

Primary Document

Considered one of the most iconic songs of the Vietnam War era, Bob Dylan's 1964 folk song is often celebrated as a classic in the "protest" music genre.

Dylan states the song is about personal perception and the dynamism of a culture in constant evolution, a concept which resonated with the “hippies” of the 1960’s.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Primary Document

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.6

Included Materials:

• Song lyrics

Lesson

A transcript from President Lyndon Baine Johnson's television address to the nation March 31, 1968 in which he discusses the status of the Vietnam War, and withdrawal from the upcoming election.

“With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office — the Presidency of your country.”

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.7

Included Materials:

• Primary Source Document
• Comprehension Questions

Quiz

Unit goals and learning outcomes are rephrased as questions in the Unit V worksheet for easy assessment of knowledge acquisition.

Unit goals and learning outcomes are rephrased as questions in the Unit V worksheet for easy assessment of knowledge acquisition.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Quiz

File type:

PDF

Unit:

Included Materials:

• Student Comprehension Worksheet

Learning Outcomes

Summary of subject matter content, course unit Common-Core alignment and compliance with California State Standards in Social Sciences.

12Unit V teaches students (9-12 and college) to understand the key geopolitical, domestic and internal dynamics shaping the Vietnam War 1968-1969. Experiential learning activity engages students in an analysis of the iconic photography from the War. Students analyze primary source documents and apply factual data to inquiry-based activities.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Learning Outcomes

File type:

PDF

Unit:

Included Materials:

• Student Learning Outcomes

Vocabulary

Students may easily define, understand and apply key terms from the Vietnam War.

“Pacification” “Quagmire” “Stalemate” are among the vocabulary which provide a functional literacy of the strategic planning and public vernacular of Vietnam War.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Vocabulary

File type:

PDF

Unit:

Included Materials:

• Vocabulary Worksheet

Lecture

Dynamic PowerPoint lecture empowers teachers to easily instruct the course material.

Each slide asks and answers the Student Essential Questions through compelling imagery, quotes and expert summary. Unit vocabulary is highlighted and italicized for easy identification and correspondence with student vocabulary worksheet. Key concepts are reinforced throughout the presentation, allowing sufficient opportunity for students to connect the Vietnam War to the citizen activism of the counter-culture era within the United States.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lecture

File type:

PDF

Unit:

Included Materials:

• PowerPoint Lecture

Primary Document

A transcript from "Meet the Press" February 4, 1968, with Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara.

They are asked to account for the progress of the Vietnam War and the evident U.S. strategic failures reported to the public during the Tet Offensive, 1968.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Primary Document

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.1

Included Materials:

• Primary Source Document
• Comprehension Questions

Lesson

How did our enemy assess the outcomes of the Tet Offensive?

A document from the North Vietnamese internal Lao Dong Communist party training document reports “Great and unprecedented successes recorded in all fields during the first-month phase of the General Offensive and General Uprising” against the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces during the Tet Offensive, 1968.

Recommended grades:

9th - 12th

Lesson type:

Lesson

File type:

PDF

Unit:

5.2

Included Materials:

• Primary Source Document
• Comprehension Questions