Academic Knowledge

I. Economics

Knowledge: Read Chapter 2: “Mobilizing the Economy” of John W. Jeffries’ Wartime America: The World War II Home Front and examine the documents representing economic initiatives on http://memor.loc.gov/learn/features/homefront/economic.html. As you read and view the documents, categorize information in three-column notes under the following topics: mobilizing for war, civilian economy, and national budget.

Comprehension: Using the three-column notes from the reading, write a journal entry explaining how your family’s everyday life has been changed by the economic conditions of America’s wartime economy.

Application: After reviewing the information above, create a budget for a family of four living in the United States during World War II. Generate a list of essential items needed by the family and how those items would be purchased/procured. Consider what would happen to the family when essentials such as gasoline and foodstuffs were rationed. Be sure to include details from your reading notes.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Write a letter to your senator explaining how the current war in Iraq/Afghanistan is impacting the American economy and what you feel the government could do (using efforts during WWII as an example) to mobilize the economy. Include a print advertisement/poster or political cartoon that promotes your ideas.

II. Transportation

Knowledge: After viewing a segment of the documentary Utah WWII Stories: The Home Front and examining propaganda such as the Weimer Pursell poster “When You Ride Alone You Ride with Hitler!” on ,

list the ways in which transportation by car, bus, plane, and train were changed by the war and the different reasons people were moving around the country.

Comprehension: Explain how fuel rationing impacted the following people’s everyday lives on the American home front: migrant workers, soldiers, children, business owners, relatives living in different cities/towns.

Application: Imagine how different your life would be today if fuel were rationed. What routines and habits would you need to change? How would you and your family deal with the restrictions and still go about your daily lives? Describe your plan in a 2-page paper.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Imagine how you could mobilize Americans in 2006 to ration gasoline. Write and perform a public service announcement that persuades Americans to conserve fuel and gives them ideas for doing so. Consider the tactics and imagery used during World War II and how similar strategy would/would not work today.

III. Communication

Knowledge: After examining several American magazines, newspapers, advertisements, newsreels, propaganda cartoons, political cartoons, and radio broadcasts, students will list the different attitudes, rhetoric, and perceptions that were circulated about American “enemies” during World War II.

Comprehension: Students will find examples in the current media of similar situations and compare and contrast the visual, written, and thematic format.

Application: Produce an original advertisement (print or media) or political cartoon that denotes one or more of the attitudes, rhetoric or perceptions that you observed. Use clear examples.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Revisit the examples from home front publications and rewrite two different examples from the perspective of the “enemy.” Be sure to include attitude, rhetoric, and perceptions appropriate from the opposing viewpoint .

IV: Protecting & Conserving

Knowledge: After reading and listening to interviews with various people of different age, gender, race, and social position who lived on the American home front during World War II, consider the ways in which their experiences helped shaped their future lives and the future of the country.

Comprehension: Based upon what you read and listen to, what artifacts might have been preserved as important memorabilia from this time in history? What might those who lived in America during World War II have saved as reminders (good or bad) of this time in their lives? How would their age, gender, race, and social position influence the items they saved?

Application: Assemble an “Attic Box” that includes reproductions (photographs, copies of documents/letters, pictures of items, self-created reproductions) of at least five items of realia that may have been kept for sentimental value by those who lived through this time period. Use a shoebox and art materials to decorate your box.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Write a fictional story about the person who might have owned the “Attic Box” you created. Include their age, gender, race, social class, and experiences on the home front during World War II. Be sure to explain each of the items of realia “preserved” in the box.

V: Education

Knowledge: After reading excerpts from Children of the World War II Home Front by Sylvia Whitman and Dear Miss Breed by Joanne Oppenheim, students will use a graphic organizer to chart the different school experiences of American children during World War II (example: schooling of Japanese-American students in internment camps, schooling of inner-city children, schooling of students in rural areas, segregated schools).

Comprehension: Identify the ways in which American schools promoted the war effort and perpetuated propaganda and nationalism. Consider the ways in which the Japanese experience was similar to/different from the experience of those outside the camps in this regard.

Application: Consider the war climate that exists today in the United States. What responsibility do schools have to support the war effort? In what ways do schools in 2006 perpetuate propaganda and nationalism? Write an editorial to your school newspaper expressing your views on the topic. Be sure to use examples from World War II to support/illustrate your argument.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Reply to the letter written to Tesuzo from Clara Breed on the last page of Dear Miss Breed. Respond to her comments about being “afraid of America” and her hopes for “just and democratic” treatment of the Japanese. Describe your feelings from the point-of-view of Tesuzo and other interred children about what the future holds for minorities in America after the war.

VI. Aesthetic Needs

Knowledge: Visit Jazz and World War II: A Rally to Resistance, A Catalyst for Victory on the National Endowment for the Humanities website http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=379. Read the site text and answer the guiding questions while viewing the online video clips of Ken Burns' documentary Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns.

Comprehension: In a small group, discuss the following questions and be prepared to share your responses: How did Jazz reflect the changing aesthetics of America? What role did black Americans play in this change? What role did black American women play? Note the ways in which Jazz and the “Jazz Scene” influence fashion, art, and other music of this period (particularly Swing, Big Bands, etc.).

Application: Find examples of American Jazz and other music produced on the home front during World War II. Describe the ways in which the pieces both reflected and influenced the time period. Determine which musician, in your opinion, was most reflective of the aesthetic qualities of the American home front. Prepare a presentation of the artist, a piece of his/her music, and an explanation of its aesthetic qualities. Be prepared to support your opinion with details.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Consider the ways in which music, like that of World War II, reflects a generation and its aesthetics, values, ideals, hopes, dreams, and fears. What music do you feel captures your generation? Why? Find one particular song that you feel speaks to and of your generation and share it with the class (music and lyrics). Be prepared to explain and defend your choice and compare it with the ways in which music reflected America during World War II.