Propaganda & Patriotism in World War I

 

Brandon J. Sethi

Urbana Middle School

AHTC Unit Plan

Illinois State Archives: Springfield, IL

 
To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.

 

Lesson #4:  Patriotism and the War on Terror

 

Abstract:

 

In this the final lesson for the mini-unit, students will be examining the United States through the lens of life post-9/11.  Students will be pushed to think about how words like patriotism and loyalty are used.  The quote ÒDissent is the highest form of patriotismÓ sums up the authorÕs view on this particular topic but it is not the view of all and students need to be challenged to consider which approach they deem appropriate for them.  The quote is most often attributed to Thomas Jefferson although he did not say it (he did say things similar).  Historian Howard Zinn used the quote in an interview in 2003 but the first recorded usage of the phrase came in the early Ô90Õs from the then president of the ACLU. 

 

Essential Questions:

 

1.  What does patriotism look like today in a post 9/11 world?

 

Assessment:

 

  1. Students will be assessed via discussion informally.
  2. Formally, students will be assessed through their journal, their news article summary  and their one paragraph response to the prompt given in Setting the Purpose #5. 

 

Setting the purpose:

 

  1. Have students respond to quote ÒDissent is the highest form of patriotismÓ as warm-up.
  2. Read article http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0407-05.htm regarding patriotism in todayÕs post 9/11 world as a class and have 5-7 minutes to discuss the purpose of the article. 
  3. Theglennbeck912project.com – Project this website and go through who Glenn Beck is and what the 9/12 project is.  Have students discuss the project and attempt to answer the question Òis this really how we should be living?Ó.
  4. Read one of two articles and write a summary of the article and a response to the main point of the article. 

1.     http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3690000&page=1 - ObamaÕs decision to not wear flag pin during campaign.

2.     http://www.dailytitan.com/patriotism-post-9-11-1.743382 -  From the Daily Titan – op-ed making people aware of the lack of sacrifice weÕve made compared to our elders during WWII.

3.     http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0731/p03s01-ussc.html - Article from Christian Science Monitor regarding protest songs comparing Vietnam and Iraq. 

  1. Using the documents in the first three days of this mini-unit, have students respond to the question ÒHave peopleÕs forms of expressing patriotism changed since World War I?   Why or why not?Ó. 

 

Analysis of local primary sources:

 

No local sources used in this lesson.

 

Ties to national primary source or sources:

 

See setting the purpose for todayÕs activities. 

 

Annotated list of materials and resources for the lesson or series of lessons:

 

  1. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0407-05.htm - Newspaper article about liberals attempting to reclaim patriotic symbols. 
  2. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3690000&page=1 - ObamaÕs decision to not wear flag pin during campaign.
  3. http://www.dailytitan.com/patriotism-post-9-11-1.743382 -  From the Daily Titan – op-ed making people aware of the lack of sacrifice weÕve made compared to our elders during WWII.
  4. http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0731/p03s01-ussc.html - Article from Christian Science Monitor regarding protest songs comparing Vietnam and Iraq. 
  5. http://www.theglennbeck912project.com – Website encouraging American patriotism similar to what we saw after 9/11.