World War One ‖ Making Predictions About WWI Nearpod Activity

Goals & Objectives

Students will integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse
formats and media in order to make 2 predictions about World War I.

Students will understand that new technology will change the type of warfare in WWI and lead
to mass casualties like the world had never experienced.

Students will understand the basics of the new kinds of weapons in WWI and the benefits and
consequences of each.

Students will recall information to answer prior knowledge questions to provide the teacher
data on how much knowledge students already have about WWI

California State Content Standards

11.4 Students trace the rise of the United States to its role as a world power in the twentieth
century.

11.4.5 Analyze the political, economic, and social ramifications of World War I on the home
front.

Common Core Literacy Standards

SL112-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-
one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
L 11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases,
sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level;
demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or
phrase important to comprehension or expression.
RH 11-12.6 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats
and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or
solve a problem

Driving Historical Question

What was it like to fight in WWI?

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 5

This lesson is day one of a new unit on World War I. Every lesson is supposed to have a hook
and this whole lesson could be seen as a hook to the unit on WWI. In this particular lesson, the
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hook is a music video, which is a power point of primary source photographs from the war set
to the song “Johnny Get Your Gun,” a historical song from WWI. By providing visuals on the
main screen set to music this is UDL at work.

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: 5

I expect students to adopt the following words into their content specific vocabulary:
militarism, nationalism, imperialism, system of alliances, armistice.

There is a slide in the Nearpod that has these words and definitions to read towards the
beginning of the presentation so students can begin to familiarize themselves with them.
Students will write them down in the next lesson and commit them to permanent memory.

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time:15

The lesson includes visuals, audio, primary source photos, video, 3-D activities, and kinesthetic
learning opportunities for students. They can see it on their laptops or the main screen.
Partner, small group and whole class discussion are utilized in this lesson to support all students
access to content.

This lesson is about assessing prior knowledge about WWI and making predictions about WWI
based on the photos and video in the Nearpod, class discussion and background knowledge.
The students will be discussing the primary sources in small groups and sharing out with the
class before typing their answers. The students will also discuss the short answer questions in
the small groups before sharing out and answering themselves in the Nearpod. I will provide
sentence starters for those students who may have trouble finding the right words to use in
discussion or are shy. See group section above. Each student views the Nearpod on their
Chromebook, or the students can also see the Nearpod contents displayed on the main
projector screen at the front and center of the room. The directions for students are written
down in the Nearpod (visually) and the teacher will also verbally say them out loud 3 times. A
Smart TV also displays the Nearpod contents but a slide behind for those having trouble
keeping up, or to keep directions up while students are working on an activity so they can refer
back to them visually. The teacher will guide the students through the Nearpod, slide by slide.
The class stays together through the activity. The teacher will model analyzing photos and
making predictions based on the primary source photos and video. Then students will work in
small groups to analyze photos and answer the short answer questions before sharing with the
class and typing any answers into Nearpod to be recorded. This gives them 2 different
opportunities to hear varied opinions from their peers before having to type in their final
answer.

Here are examples representative of the activities and teaching strategies being used through
multiple modalities in the Nearpod activity:

1. Audio to “Johnny Get Your Gun” – song from WWI.

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 2. Primary Source Video –WW1 Combat in Colour 1914-1918
https://youtu.be/uP0DkpFOKs
Teacher will “After we watch it, I want you to describe in 1 sentence, your view of WWI.”
Students will watch sections of the video the teacher plays. and discuss it with their small
groups. Then the students type one sentence about their view of WWI.

3. 3-D Mosquito Model

Teacher will move 3-D computer model around and talk about the problems we had with
mosquitos and their diseases at this point in our history.
Students will move model around and explore the 3-D computer model of a mosquito.

4. Field Trip to 3-D WW1 Museum

Teacher will say “I want you to find 2 things that are “uniquely American” and 1 thing that is
“uniquely German to list on the next slide.”
Students will look for uniquely American and German objects on the next slide and type them
into Nearpod. Then the teacher will ask “How did you know these objects were American or
German?” Students will volunteer to answer.

4. Match Game (Memory Game with Primary Source Photos from WW1)
Teacher will challenge students to complete this activity in the least amount of moves. Students
and the teacher will click on two photos in sequence to see if they match. If they do, they
remain uncovered. If you match and uncover all the photos in the least amount of moves you
win.
Students will play against the teacher. The least amount of moves gets a piece of candy for
winning. This is good exposure to tiny versions of primary source photos.]

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time:20

Based on Getting to Know My Students, the students in this class love to play video games so I
wanted to make a lesson that utilized technology. We’re going to do a Nearpod activity
together as a whole class or in small group discussions to support students with
exceptionalities. The teacher will control the pace of the lesson so all the students see the same
screen at the same time instead of working at your own pace. Discussion about the questions
and slides in small groups will help all students access the content.

Activities include analyzing primary source photos and video to start to form personal opinions
about the war and making predictions about the war based on that evidence and what we’ve
learned so far. There is a “know vs. want to know” mind map to check for prior knowledge
towards the beginning of the lesson, a matching memory game with primary source photos, a
3-D tour of WW1 museum to identify and list objects that are “uniquely American” and
“uniquely German,” a 3-D mosquito model to move around, secondary source text with basic
facts about the war to read, a fill in the blanks sentence activity, a map for students to label the
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alliances, short answer questions, and multiple choice questions. The teacher will direct the
class through the Nearpod activities by asking questions about the primary source photos and
short answer questions and having students share with their group, volunteer to share out with
the class and then type in their answers to be saved in Nearpod.

With EL’s and many other students, it’s important they have time in class to converse with one
another while addressing higher order thinking questions. I am going to provide sentence
starters and group roles to help them with the English words and to help shyer students. There
are some activities in the Nearpod that don’t rely on language at all. For example, everyone
would enjoy playing with the 3D mosquito or exploring the virtual museum for objects or
playing the match game. None of those really use English as a required skill. This is a more vocal
class than first or second period, so I thought allowing them to express themselves to each
other before addressing the teacher or typing in their answer would benefit them. They can
build on each other’s comments to figure out what the question is asking them and then what
they personally think. Then they get the experience of using the Chromebook and Nearpod and
typing their answers. They are going to need word processing and web navigation skills in real
life after high school or college. Since the teacher can see all their answers on their screen in
real time, the teacher can challenge their answers aloud if they feel anyone hasn’t given
enough explanation or needs redirection.

Also, for any students who are gifted or bright and finish early, while waiting for other students
to type in their answers during the lesson, I’ve included a challenge question or opportunity for
them to research a question on another tab on their computer screen while they are waiting for
other students. Before moving on, the teacher will ask for any challenge takers to report back
to the class what the answer to the challenge question is.

I will group students in heterogeneous groups ahead of time of mixed ability levels to promote
learning among all the students. Students with exceptionalities will be supported by
deliberately choosing their groups with special consideration ahead of time. They will be paired
with stronger students to help them access the content and remain on task. Students who need
to be separated to focus better has been done so deliberately. I will then walk around the room
and monitor and listen to the groups and help guide them in the right direction and make sure
they are on track. If a group needs redirection to get back on task, I redirect. If they need
prodding in a new direction, I prod. If they are on the right track I let them know that, and
acknowledge their good work and move on to the next group.

Students will be asked to partner talk or talk in small groups to scaffold learning with primary
source photos and video. This is especially helpful to FS1 and English Learners who may need
support and some special needs cases. I will provide sentence starters for those students who
may have difficulty in discussing the primary sources with their group/partner, ie.e. “When I see
_______ it makes me think of ________….The ______ in this picture makes me wonder
________…Looking at this picture makes me feel ________. Observing ______, I can predict
___________ about WWI. ”…etc. See sentence starter handout.

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Group members will be also given roles: leader, taskmaster, researcher, recorder. This way the
groups are more likely to stay on task. Group member roles will be decided by criteria like
tallest member and shortest hair. See group roles handout. This will support FS2 and FS3 with
discussion in social situations.

The teacher will time group discussions and call for their beginning and ending vocally.

Students will be analyzing primary source photos, video, and short answer questions in small
group discussions. Then I’ll call for volunteers to share their opinions with the whole class. Then
they’ll type their answers into Nearpod after talking about it and hearing other’s opinions.

At the beginning of the lesson is a “know vs. want to know chart”. This is an assessment for the
teacher to see what students already know about WWI and what the teacher should focus on.

At the end of the lesson, there is an assessment that asks them to make 2 predictions about
WW1 based on the evidence in this lesson, discussion and prior knowledge.

Here are examples representative of the activities and teaching strategies being used through
multiple modalities in the Nearpod activity so you can see examples of what the teacher and
students will be doing during the lesson:

1.The unit and lesson begins with a primary source photo and title– “Intro to America and
WW1-- Why did we fight in this war?”
-Teacher will state the question aloud. This is a new unit, so students are not expected to know
the answer already.
-Students will wonder about the question throughout the lesson and unit.

2. Unit Objectives – Content Standard: Students will understand the rise of the U.S. as a world
power. 3 essential questions for the Unit: 1. How did American’s role in the world change
between the 1870’s and 1910’s? 2. Did the U.S. become an imperial power? Why or why not?
3. How did America change because of WWI?
-Teacher will select a volunteer to read the content standard. Then another student will be
selected to read the essential questions for the unit.
-Students will already know #1 and #2. #3 is what they will learn this unit. Teacher will ask for
volunteers to answer #1 and #2 verbally. #3 is what they will learn.

3. Unit Vocabulary slide – 5 words. militarism, system of alliances, imperialism, nationalism,

armistice.
-Teacher will select students to read the vocabulary words and definitions.
-Students will adopt them to memory.

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4. Know vs. Want to Know Chart – Mind Map of WW1 – 3 things they know already and 3 things
they don’t know so well or want to learn more about.
-Teacher will explain the directions to the students of what to do on this assessment for prior
background knowledge.
-Students will list 3 things they already know about WWI and 3 things they want to know more
about or don’t know about on the Mind Map chart for WWI.

5. Primary Source Photo – The Horrors of War – Death and Dismemberment

-Teacher will then ask them “What do you see in this picture from WWI? How might we predict
something about WWI based on this photo, class discussion and prior knowledge?”
-Students will then get in their pre-selected mixed ability level groups to discuss how to predict
stuff about WW1 based on primary source photos, discussion and our last unit. After a few
minutes of the students sharing their ideas about how to make predictions based on the
evidence and prior knowledge, the teacher then has them actually make predictions about
WW1 based on the first photo. The teacher got the students to understand first how to make
predictions and then had them actually make predictions based on evidence and prior
knowledge.

6. Short Answer Question – “Do you believe America should have fought in WW1? If yes, why?
If no, why not?” Challenge Question: “If you finish early, open a new tab in your browser and
see if you can search and find out why America did enter WW1.”
-Teacher will prompt students to type their answer into Nearpod. Teacher reminds the students
that this is an opinion question and there is no right or wrong answer, but they need to back up
their answer with an explanation of why or why not. As students answer the question, the
teacher will read some of their answers out loud to praise students for their opinions.
-Students will type their one sentence answer into Nearpod. If they finish and are waiting for
other students to finish, they may open a new tab and search for why America did enter WWI.

7. Primary Source Video –WW1 Combat in Colour 1914-1918 https://youtu.be/uP0DkpFOKs

Teacher will “After we watch it, I want you to describe in 1 sentence, your view of WWI.”
Students will watch sections of the video the teacher plays. and discuss it with their small
groups. Then the students type one sentence about their view of WWI.

8. Short Answer Question: “In one sentence, what is your view of WW1.” Challenge Question:
“If you finish early, open a new tab and search to see if you can make a list of all the countries
involved in WWI.”
Teacher will read the question multiple times and rephrase it.
Students will watch sections of the video the teacher plays. and discuss it with their small
groups. Then the students type one sentence about their view of WWI into Nearpod.

9. Multiple Choice Question – What event started WW1? A. Assassination B. Ship explosion C.
Bombing of a city D. A civil war in the middle east
Teacher will ask the question aloud several times.

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Students will select the multiple-choice option they feel is correct. This is checking for prior
background knowledge.

10. 3-D Mosquito Model

Teacher will move model around and talk about the problems we had with mosquitos and their
diseases at this point in our history.
Students will move model around and explore the 3-D model of a mosquito.

11. Sway Reading Activity – Important Dates, Important People, Locations, Causes, Effects
Teacher will select students to read the different sections of textbook like content for WWI.
Students will read and understand the content being presented. They will take notes on many
of these things in the next lesson. This is just to familiarize them with some details.

12. Field Trip to 3-D WW1 Museum

Teacher will say “I want you to find 2 things that are “uniquely American” and 1 thing that is
“uniquely German to list on the next slide.”
Students will look for uniquely American and German objects on the next slide and type them
into Nearpod. Then the teacher will ask “How did you know these objects were American or
German?” Students will volunteer to answer.

13. Match Game (Memory Game with Primary Source Photos from WW1)
Teacher will challenge students to complete this activity in the least amount of moves. Students
and the teacher will click on two photos in sequence to see if they match. If they do, they
remain uncovered. If you match and uncover all the photos in the least amount of moves you
win.
Students will play against the teacher. The least amount of moves gets a piece of candy for
winning. This is good exposure to tiny versions of primary source photos.

14. Fill in the Blanks. Drag and drop the words at the bottom up into the sentence above to
complete the sentence correctly.
Teacher will tell the students to drag and drop words from the list at the bottom up into the
sentence to complete it correctly.
Students will try dragging and dropping words into the blanks until the sentence makes sense.
This is an individual activity.

15. Map of Europe in 1914: “Label the Allied nations with an A. Label the Central Powers with a
C.”
The teacher will instruct students to use two different colors to label the countries with an A or
C.
Students will select the electronic pen tool to write on the countries of the map with As or Cs.
This is individual activity.

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16. Making Predictions – “Based on the photos and video you saw in the Nearpod, our
discussions, and our prior unit, U.S. Imperialism, make two predictions about World War One.
What do you think will happen? “
Teacher will have students work individually on this last informal assessment.
Students will type in 2 predictions about WWI based on a piece of evidence in Nearpod, class
discussion and/or prior knowledge.

Lesson Closure ‖ Time:5

During closure teacher will summarize the day’s lesson. Then the teacher explains what
lesson will come next in the unit. The next lesson goes into the details of the war starting in
1914 on the following day for students.

Assessments (Formative & Summative)

Formative: What are three things you know about WWI and what are three things you want
to learn or don’t understand?

Summative: Make 2 predictions about WWI based on the primary source materials,
discussion, and/or prior knowledge you have.

This is day one of a new unit. To demonstrate the achievement of the content during the lesson
students will answer the questions about background knowledge and analyze photos with their
small groups. The photo analysis is to help them make predictions about the war. I will give
students sentence starters and group roles to help them discuss and keep them on track. I will
then call for volunteers to share their predictions out with the class before they type in their
answers.

Nearpod saves a record of all the student work. All the prior knowledge question data is saved
in the application. At the end of the lesson, students who type in 2 predictions about WWI
based on primary source evidence, discussion and/or prior knowledge will demonstrate
achievement of the content during this lesson.

Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
FS2 is seated right up front near the teacher’s podium and the main screen so the teacher is
able to keep him on task and field his questions. He benefits from the SmartTV being a slide
behind the main screen.

Any words that seem complicated or confusing when they are expressed, I stop and repeat
them and go over what they mean for anybody who might need it and my ELs. This could be a
word like “fleet” when referring to a group of ships. It’s not a word that I’d think to define
ahead of time, but if I said it, I’d probably stop and explain what it meant in conversation before
going on talking because it’s not used widely. For FS1 and others anxious talking in groups I
created sentence frames to use to help them discuss the photos and make predictions. All of

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the photos and video included and the 3-D activities are aimed to support FS1 and ELs. I will
monitor FS1 during small group discussion to make sure she is participating and on task. Her
small group was chosen deliberately to support her.

For FS2, who has trouble handwriting, I made this assignment with typing, which he says is
easier for him. He has autism so I’ve included group roles to help him in the social situation of
small group discussions. He will stay focused better if he has a specific role to play within the
group. Also sentence frames will be provided to support him in the small group discussions. It
will help keep his language focused and on target. The sentence frame worksheet then is a
beneficial visual aid for him to look at as he types in his answer. During small group discussion I
will monitor this student to make sure he is participating properly socially. His small group was
chosen deliberately to support him.

For FS3, he too will benefit from having a group role to identify with. This hopefully will help
keep him focused and on task. Having the sentence frames worksheet available during
discussions both large and small and while answering questions will also support this student.
He does better with a visual aid to look at when writing. During small group discussion I will
monitor this student to make sure he is participating and on task. His small group was chosen
deliberately to support him.

Students see the content of the Nearpod on the main screen and on their individual laptops. A
Smart TV is used to play the Nearpod as well, a slide behind the main projector screen, for
those folks who need more time looking at a particular slide. To support students, we keep the
extra screen on the directions or questions for the students when doing and activity. The main
projector screen plays the Nearpod in real time with the student’s view. The teacher’s laptop
displays the teacher’s view which allows the teacher to see all their answers in real-time and
prompt students to answer, go down a different path, or elaborate, checking for their
understanding as we go through the lesson.

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

Student Chromebooks, Nearpod website, Projector Screen, teacher’s PC, a Smart TV, teacher’s
laptop, content in the Nearpod: WW1 Combat in Colour 1914-1918
https://youtu.be/uP0DkpFOKs (video)

Also included in the Nearpod content are primary source photographs, primary source video, a
match game with primary source photos, a 3-D tour of a WWI museum, a 3-D mosquito, text
about the basics of WWI, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, making
predictions and a “know vs. want to know chart.”