UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan Template

Name: Joe Brichetto Program: SMED Course:

EDU 460
Lesson Topic / Title: Vietnam War

Lesson Date: 3/28 & 3/30 Lesson Length: Grade/Age: Juniors

one 80-minute period
Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals
based on content standards.
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Students will be able to identify major events from the Vietnam The first learning target aims to provide
War. the base knowledge of the Vietnam War,
Students will be able to analyze primary sources to understand while the second target pushes students
the climate of the Vietnam War era. to engage their critical thinking to learn
about the Vietnam War, all while learning
how to work with primary sources.

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Label E: Students draw on concepts and processes from
history to develop historical perspective and understand
This standard encourages studying history
issues of continuity and change in the community, Maine, through the use of primary sources -
the United States, and world.
Standard E1: Historical Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
just like the learning targets.
Grade Level Span: Grade 9-Diploma Students understand major eras,
major enduring themes, and historic influences in United States and
world history, including the roots of democratic philosophy, ideals, and
institutions in the world.
Performance Indicator: A. Explain that history includes the study of the past based on the
examination of a variety of primary and secondary sources and how history can help one better
understand and make informed decisions about the present and future.

Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance
and determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Pre: Kahoot quiz on the Vietnam War The pre and formative directly relate to
Formative: Short answer question sheet with questions from the first learning objective that help get
Kahoot that can be found in the Crash Course video an understanding of the Vietnam War and
Summative: Primary Source Analysis graphic organizer the summative shows that the students
met the second target when working with
primary sources.

Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner
needs.
Materials, Resources, and / or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Laptop & projector with sound system This lesson focuses a lot on technology,
https://bit.ly/2H4r1kn - Vietnam War Kahoot but has students interacting with it both
https://bit.ly/2vgHsEM - Crash Course #38 with transcripts in student-directed and teacher-directed
https://bit.ly/2EQ0jGe - Questions for Video manners. A lot of the content and ideas
https://bit.ly/2IZUXue - Primary Source Analysis GO stemmed from a lesson plan from the
https://nyti.ms/2vkS19B - Gulf of Tonkin Article New York Times, which can be found by
https://nyti.ms/1Ufmbjl - My Lai Massacre Article using the last link. Students will pick only
https://nyti.ms/2J1SmQL - Protests Article one of the four articles to work with.
https://nyti.ms/2HIqPV7 - Pentagon Papers Article
https://nyti.ms/2Hwjzh4 - Lesson plan from NY Times for
support

Rev 8/17
Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks
by using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning
accessible to all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
The Kahoot acts as the hook and pre
Kahoot pre-assessment (15 minutes) assessment. Crash Course is a video series that
Crash Course video (15 minutes) approaches history in a modern way. After the
Work with question sheet (10 minutes) video, as a class we go over the questions to
Introduction to Primary Source Analysis (PSA) (10 minutes) make sure everyone is at the same place. The
intro to the PSA acts as transition time where the
Work Time (30 minutes) students get the GO and the links to the articles
via email or Google Classroom. The rest of the
period is used to work on any part of the lesson.
The PSA can be worked on in groups up to 3,
but students can work alone as well.
Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions, Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
modifications, accommodations) A lot of history lessons lean on the visual side of
MIs: Visual, Auditory, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic the spectrum, but this one has a lot of different
colorful, and engaging visual activities to grab
Absent students can get all the resources through email/GC and can and keep the students' attention. The beauty of
direct themselves through the activities to complete the products. the technology age is that it's easy for students
to make up work they miss because the location
Allowing students to work in group sizes they want, I'm accommodating isn't a necessary element of the lesson.
the different personalities. Students with visual impairments can watch
the videos on their own laptop. Those with hearing impairments can
turn on subtitles and otherwise don't need to hear anything.

Field Courses Only – Post lesson

Reflection
The big thing I learned by teaching this lesson is pacing. The lesson outlined in the plan crams a lot of activities and
content into one class, which I found quickly didn't work. The students weren't enjoying the hurried pace and I was
stressed trying to fly through transitions. If there were to be a technology hiccup, which there was for 4 out of the 5 classes
I taught this lesson in, then something would get cut out. I quickly made the decision that, in practice, this would be a two
day lesson and things went much better after that. I split the lesson at the end of the work on questions, so the PSA was
its own class. The split created a lot of free work time for the students though, especially with the PSA. It felt very much
like just giving them a worksheet and some links and telling them to go nuts. In the future, it would be interesting to see
how I can fill that time more appropriately with this content.

Teaching Standards and Rationale

Standard 4 - Content Knowledge (g): The indicator discusses using technology and supplemental resources
to ensure relevance and accessibility. This lesson captures all of that because of the different activities based
off of the use of technology like Kahoot and the Crash Course video. It also reaches proficiency with the
supplemental resources with the use of primary source reporting through the analysis of New York Times
articles from the time period.

Standard 11.5 - ISTE Designer (a): The indicator focuses on personalizing learning through the use of
technology. The Kahoot creates a game that hooks the individual and then the video transitions into tighter
instruction. The video comes with resources, like transcripts, for students because the narrator talks
incredibly fast. Questions are then gone over together as a class, giving each student the opportunity to get
any missing content. Finally, the students have agency in picking which article they want to analyze because
they are given multiple links to different articles, making this lesson a different experience for all learners.