Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 74209
The Wednesday Wars: Vietnam Mini Research
The setting of the novel The Wednesday Wars occurs during a significant period of American history. As an introduction to this novel, students will
research the Vietnam War using provided sources as well as reliable sources they have chosen on their own. Students will use digital media in
addition to speaking and listening skills to present their findings to the class. Links to selected introductory videos about the Vietnam War, student
checklists, a presentation/project rubric, and a digital project sample have been provided with the lesson, as well as several sites that students can
use to begin their research.
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 7
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, Computers for Students,
Internet Connection, LCD Projector, Overhead
Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Microsoft Office
Instructional Time: 15 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt, Vietnam War, Vietnam, project based learning, presentation,
multimedia, research
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
Mini Research Wednesday Wars Vietnam War.docx
Brief Intro to Vietnam War.doc
Summary Checklist Vietnam.docx
Verbal Presentation Checklist.docx
Vietnam War Mini Research Project Rubric.pdf
Vietnam War Timeline- Sample.docx
Vietnam War Timeline-Blank Template.docx
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will be able to:
conduct a short research project to learn about the Vietnam War
create student-generated research questions about the Vietnam War and conduct additional research to determine the answers
provide objective summaries of text material as they identify and research different sources on selected topics
gather relevant information from reliable sources on the Vietnam War
write an explanatory text using a timeline format to explain different events during the Vietnam War through the research and evidence they gathered; this text will
be used as part of their presentation
put research into their own words and include MLA citations to cite their research
incorporate visual displays/multimedia components in a presentation to support findings on the Vietnam War
page 1 of 5 use effective speaking/presentation skills to present their research findings to their peers
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should:
understand how to avoid plagiarism
know how to paraphrase information from a text
know how to cite sources in a bibliography using MLA format
have a basic knowledge of how to summarize a text
know how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources
have a basic knowledge of presentation skills
know how to use PowerPoint or other digital media presentation tools
If teachers need to review with students how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources, this handout from McGraw-Hill Higher Education might be useful.
If students need assistance with citing their sources, the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides help with MLA format.
This project is intended to be implemented before students begin reading The Wednesday Wars.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
What was the Vietnam War about? Who was involved?
What were some of the significant events during the Vietnam War?
What elements does an effective objective summary about a text contain?
What strategies can I use to determine if a source is reliable?
What presentation skills does a good public speaker have and use?
How can I use multimedia to enhance my presentation and explain to my audience about the Vietnam War?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
Day 1 and 2:
1. Using a document camera or projector (or pass out copies to students), show students the mini research assignment they will be working on in this lesson. At this
time, the teacher can also share with them the rubric so they will know how they will be assessed at the end of the lesson. Emphasize to students that they will be
assessed on content and presentation skills. Make sure they understand they will be researching, taking notes, creating a timeline, and creating a separate digital
media presentation that they will use as they share with the class about the events or topics they researched about the Vietnam War.
2. Show students how their timelines might look using this mini sample (it has four events where theirs will have eight).
Stress to students that the information from their research should be put into their own words as much as possible.
Emphasize the specifics in the template used in explaining each event. Encourage students to fill up the boxes on the blank timeline template they will be given
when it is their turn to research.
Stress to students that depending on the sources they find, they might have to use multiple sources to acquire enough details to explain the event. In other words, if
researching the Tet Offensive of 1968, students may have to go to multiple sites to take notes on this event and combine those notes to explain the event.
3. Show students this example of how their final digital presentation might look (The look of the digital presentation will vary depending on the software students use.
This example was created using E Maze). Emphasize to students that whatever digital presentation software they choose (E Maze, PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.) that this
software should be used as a resource. They should not read directly from their digital project. The digital slides will display some key details about each event, but
they will also have additional notes that they will verbally share with the audience as they cover each event or topic.
Remind students that good presenters look at their audience, speak at an appropriate volume and adapt their speech accordingly.
They also organize their ideas so that the audience can clearly follow their key points and supporting details; just like writers do in a written text.
Urge them to practice their presentation at home for comfort and mastery.
4. Show students this short video about the country of Vietnam provided by the History Channel (cue up the video past the ad before showing to students). Ask
students to take notes about important facts that stand out to them while they are watching the video. This video is short enough that the teacher could show it twice
if needed for students to take adequate notes. Then provide time for students to share out some of the facts they wrote down and explain why they thought these
facts were important. (Encourage students to label their notes with the heading Video #1- Deconstructing History- Vietnam.)
5. Show students this short video provided by the History Channel explaining how the Vietnam War began and describing America's involvement in the war. Have
students take notes as they did with the previous video and allow time for discussion of what they wrote down. (Encourage students to label their notes with the
heading Video #2- The Road to War.)
6. Ask students, now that you have watched these two videos, at this time what questions do you have about the Vietnam War? Have students write down some of
their questions in their notes. If needed, the teacher can conduct a brief think aloud explaining how the teacher developed a few specific questions based on topics or
details that struck them as interesting based on something in the videos and then wanted to learn more about them.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
Day 2 (continued) and 3:
1. Have students take out their notes from the two videos previously watched. Based on previous discussion, recap with students some of the key facts and details they
wrote down from these videos. Depending on students' needs and time available, the second video could be shown again before recapping key facts and details.
2. To follow-up on this discussion and continue to help build a little background knowledge on this war before students begin independently researching, the teacher
can show this short video provided by the History Channel that provides some facts and figures about America's involvement in the war. Encourage students to take
notes during the video. Have them label their notes Video #3- Facts and Stats- America in Vietnam War. This video could be shown twice if needed to allow slower
note takers to get the information down as in some places the video does go fast. Allow time for students to share out some of the facts and figures they wrote down
and any reactions they have to these details about America's involvement in this war.
3. Ask students, now that you have watched this video, at this time what questions do you have about the Vietnam War? Have students write down some of their
questions in their notes.
4. Provide students with this overview of the Vietnam War from Digital History. This overview (and the consequences at the bottom of the page) can be provided by
printing out the overview and providing a hard copy to each student or if computers are available students can access the text electronically.
page 2 of 5 5. Ask students to write a paragraph summarizing the overview. Encourage them to label their summary notes Digital History Overview Summary. If needed, review
the qualities of an effective summary first.
6. After students have individually written their summaries, direct students to discuss their work with a shoulder partner. Allow students to add or delete things from
their summary based on this discussion.
7. Provide time for students to share out their summaries and provide verbal feedback to students as needed. Students can make further additions or deletions to their
summary during this whole group discussion.
8. Have students look back at their notes on the videos and their summary notes and generate a few more questions about the Vietnam War.
9. Provide time for students to share their questions with a partner and make revisions to their questions as needed. The teacher should circulate and provide
feedback on students' questions to make sure they are on the right track and are appropriate in scope (not too broad or too narrow). Have students then pick two of
their questions to do further research on.
10. Before moving on to the next stage of the lesson, the teacher may wish to review ways to distinguish between reliable and non-reliable sites on the Internet before
students conduct their research.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
*If students have access to technology at home, some of the research project could be done at home to decrease the amount of class time this project will take.
Day 4-6:
1. Have student take out their notes, summary of the overview, two questions they selected as part of the research project, and a notebook to record their research
(or they can take notes in Word and save them to a flashdrive). Go over Part 1 on the project handout again with students. Direct students to start their research by
using the three sites provided on the handout.
Tell students that as they begin to find an event they are interested in that they should take notes on the event, doing their best to put the information in their own
words and to cite where their information is coming from.
If they have to search multiple sites to gather enough information to describe one event, they should be careful to clearly mark which information is coming from
which ;source (this is a good, best practice research skill to build).
For example, if researching mulitiple sites for the Battle of Khe Sanh, they can put the name of the battle at the top of their notes, put their notes from one site
in a particular color (perhaps using different colored font or a highligher tool in Word) and put the MLA citation information in that same color, then put their
notes from another site about the Battle of Khe Sanh in a different color along with the MLA citation, etc.
Encourage students that after they take notes on each source to write a summary of the information they learned. The students could put each summary in italics (if
using Word) to separate it from the rest of the notes on that event.
The teacher should circulate and spot check students' notes as they begin this process to help make sure they are keeping their notes organized and doing their
best to put the research into their own words. If students are struggling, the teacher may wish to find a pausing point and provide remediation to those students or
provide a mini-lesson to the class before having students continue.
2. As students continue researching, they can begin finding their own sites to use to gather more information about their selected events. Keep reminding students to
use the strategies you have shared with them to make sure they are selecting sites that are reliable. The teacher may wish to have students share additional sites
they have found (this will allow the teacher to make a quick spot check to make sure a site looks reputable) and create a list on the board for other students to explore
the sites for their own events.
3. As students are researching the teacher may want to continue spot checking their notes to see if students are writing their brief summaries after their notes for
each source and then provide verbal feedback as needed if students are including too much or not enough information in their summaries. These summaries are
designed to help students process what they are learning in each source.
Day 7-8 (if more time is needed, students could complete their timelines as homework):
1 Students should be completed with their research and note-taking and will now work on compiling their research and putting it into the blank timeline template. Help
students to see that the boxes in the Word document are expandable. If needed, show them the mini timeline sample again. Before students begin working on the
timeline:
Remind students (show them the rubric again if needed) that they will be assessed not only on the digital presentation they will eventually create, but also on their
presentation skills. Stress that not everything they will share with their audience will be displayed in their digital presentation; these slides will just be some of the
key details. They will also have some extra information they will share with their audience where they will practice good eye contact and engagement with their
audience (they can refer to notes but they will want to practice enough beforehand that they do not have to read directly from their notes).
To prepare for their presentation, once they have their timeline all filled in for each event, students might wish to color code information on the timeline. They can
color code information they want to display in their digital presentation in one color, and anything they want to verbally share with their audience (using notes) in
another color.
Optional: With their timelines, the teacher could also have students create and turn in their bibliography for the sources used in the timeline.
2. Have students include with their timelines, this can be done on a separate page, what two questions they researched and what information they found to answer
those questions.
3. The students will turn in their timeline, two questions and answers as a formative assessment and the teacher will check to see if students' information is accurate,
if they are putting information into their own words, and that they have organized the details about each event logically in the different boxes in the timeline. The
teacher should provide written feedback as needed. If students turned in a bibliography the teacher can provide feedback on their MLA citations (this will allow
students to make corrections to their work so their bibliographies in their digital presentation will be accurate).
Day 9-11:
1. Go over Part 2 on the project handout again with students. Help students with deciding what type of software they will use to create their digital presentation. Pass
back students' timelines, two questions and answers, and bibliography (if collected earlier) with teacher feedback and answer any questions students might have
based on this feedback. Encourage them to use this feedback as they work on their digital presentation. If needed, the teacher can show the digital sample again for
students.
page 3 of 5 2. Have students use their notes, two questions and answers, their bibliography, and timelines (hopefully color-coded using the recommendations provided above) to
create their digital presentation. Before students begin, have them decide on which five events from their timeline they will put into their digital presentation. Stress to
students that their five events should be chronologically ordered in their presentation (early parts of the war to late parts of the war). Circulate as students work to
create their digital presentation and provide support and feedback as needed. Students should save their work in multiple places (desktop, flashdrive, etc.).
If students want to use any notes they took from the videos presented earlier in the lesson in their digital presentation, provide the citation information for them to
include in their bibliography.
3. For ease of use during their presentation to the class, students should put the information they will verbally share about each event (information that is not
displayed in their digital slides) into a Word document, clearly labeling which information is for which event (the information should go in the order of their digital
presentation) and encourage them to make the font enlarged so they can glance at these notes as needed during their presentation and easily read the font (so they
don't have to hold the paper up to their face and then the audience cannot see their face).
4. As students wrap up their digital presentation encourage them to play their presentation to a few of their peers and have students proofread each other's work.
Students can then make corrections as needed.
Day 12:
Remind students that good presenters look at their audience, speak at an appropriate volume and adapt their speech accordingly. Provide time for students to practice
their presentation (showing the digital presentation while verbally sharing extra information from their notes about each event) with several classmates (if in a
computer lab students can cluster in small groups around a computer where a student can present). Students can use this presentation checklist as they observe each
other and provide feedback on their presentations. The teacher should circulate while students are practicing and provide support and feedback as needed. The
teacher should encourage students to continue practicing at home in front of friends or family.
Day 13-15:
Students will conduct their presentations for the class- the summative assessment for the lesson. The teacher will assess students' presentations using the rubric.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
After students have shared their presentations with the class (the summative assessment for this lesson) the teacher could have students respond to one or more
questions on an exit ticket:
What was the Vietnam War about? Who was involved?
What were some of the significant events during the Vietnam War?
What event that you studied about the Vietnam War ended up being the most interesting to learn about? Why?
What event that someone else studied about the Vietnam War and presented on was most interesting to you? Why?
What digital presentation did you like the best? Why?
What presentation skills does a good public speaker have and use? What skills do you want to continue working on for the future?
What aspects about conducting research do you find easy? Why?
What aspects about conducting research do you find hard? Why?
Summative Assessment
Students will create a multimedia presentation that they will share with the class. A rubric is included. Rubrics should be distributed with the multimedia presentation
assignment on day 1 so students will know how they will be assessed. Please see the independent practice section for detailed information.
Formative Assessment
During days 1-3,students will report out on the facts they wrote down from each of the videos. The teacher can use these discussions to informally assess students'
initial understanding of this complex time period.
On day 3, the teacher can collect student summaries of the overview and provide feedback using this Summary Checklist. The teacher can use this to assess
students' growing understanding about the Vietnam War and if they understand what an effective summary contains.
On day 3, the teacher will spot check the questions students have created to conduct additional research about the Vietnam War based on their areas of interest;
the teacher will be able to assess if students' questions are appropriate and not too broad or too narrow in scope.
During days 4-6, the teacher will spot check students' notes to determine if students are keeping organized notes, if they are putting information into their own
words, and if they are keeping track of their MLA citations.
During days 4-6, the teacher will spot check students' summaries to assess if they are demonstrating an understanding of what an effective summary contains and
if they are showing an understanding of the content they are learning about.
The teacher will collect students' timelines, questions and answers, and bibliography and will use this information to determine if students are ready to move on to
create their digital presentation.
During day 12, the teacher will rotate and informally observe as students present for each other; the teacher can assess if students need further support or
modeling on effective speaking skills before formal presentations begin.
Feedback to Students
Students will receive:
verbal feedback from the teacher as they share out the facts they wrote down from each of the videos
verbal or written feedback on their summaries of the overview
verbal feedback on the creation of their questions for conducting additional research
verbal feedback on their notes and summaries
written feedback on their timelines, two questions and answers, and bibliography
verbal feedback as the teacher rotates and informally observes students as they practice their presentations
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
The teacher could provide students with graphic organizers to help them take notes as they research and help them to record their MLA citation information.
page 4 of 5 The teacher could provide students with graphic organizers on summarizing, central ideas, and key details to to aid the students" understanding of their research
and to assist them with summarizing their notes for each source.
The teacher could collect students" notes and summaries and provide feedback using this summary checklist.
The teacher could provide students with a tool to help them create their MLA citations for their bibliography.
The teacher could allow students to work in pairs for the research, digital project, and presentation.
The teacher could extend the lesson and provide extra time.
The teacher could read aloud portions of difficult text.
If students need more frontloading of information about the Vietnam War before they begin independently researching, the teacher could use this handout (it
contains a timeline which the teacher could keep or remove). If students needed more help in determining the events they wanted to research, the teacher could
share with them some of the events on the timeline in this handout and any other additional events they might want to share with students.
Extensions:
After reading The Wednesday Wars have students respond to this question in writing: How did the Vietnam War influence characters, particularly Mrs. Baker and
Holling, in The Wednesday Wars?
To extend the lesson, students could read another fiction novel that uses the Vietnam War period as a setting and compare how the author of The Wednesday Wars
portrays the war compared to the novel they chose.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, Computers for Students, Internet Connection, LCD Projector, Overhead Projector,
Speakers/Headphones, Microsoft Office
Further Recommendations:
Teachers might wish to explore these resources as additional aids for students:
Videos on the Vietnam War from the History Channel
A timeline from The History Place
The search tool Infotopia
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Bridget Valinote
Name of Author/Source: Bridget Valinote
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Martin
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.7.RI.1.2:
LAFS.7.SL.2.4:
LAFS.7.SL.2.5:
LAFS.7.W.3.7:
LAFS.7.W.3.8:
LAFS.7.W.3.9:
LAFS.7.W.4.10:
Description
Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an
objective summary of the text.
Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts,
details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient
points.
Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related,
focused questions for further research and investigation.
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility
and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism
and following a standard format for citation.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or
character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or
alter history”).
b. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g. “Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims
in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the
claims”).
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a
single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
page 5 of 5