COURSE TITLE:
NO. OF CREDITS:
3 QUARTER CREDITS
[semester equivalent = 2.00 credits]
| WA CLOCK HRS: OREGON PDUs: PENNSYLVANIA ACT 48: |
30 30 30 |
INSTRUCTOR:
Eric Low
ericlow11@hotmail.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
One of the essential components in Language Arts and Social Studies is the study of World War II. Our culture is fascinated with this topic and there is ample film and literature created to help communicate the scope and importance of this war to future generations. Use of these stories in the classroom brings a clearer perspective of our history to students. This class is designed for Language Arts and Social Studies teachers of grades 4th-12th, developing curriculum that meets state standards.
This class will also provide video and literature ideas for teachers in preparation for major themes of World War II that can wake up your students and empower discussions around many of the major topics of World War II such as films like Nuremberg, Escape from Sobibor, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Saving Private Ryan, Memphis Belle, etc; many of these films are available at local libraries, from NetFlix, in video stores and also for free trial and purchase from documentary film sources like The Video Project. You will choose 8 videos to view and summarize, and write a short plan on how you’ll use some of these in your teaching situation.
If you choose NetFlix, a three-month subscription is about $30. (NetFlix also has an online video capability with the right operating system.) You will need to have access to both a DVD player and a VHS video player to enjoy the full range of media choices.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, participants will have:
Upon completion of this course, participants will:
Have a broader knowledge of the different video and literature possibilities associated with World War II for classroom use.
Develop greater skill in how to use videos for teaching purposes,
Develop a plan for a teaching unit in a World War II area (European and Pacific battles and the Holocaust) that applies to their teaching.
Apply extended reading on World War II issues to lesson plans, if the credit option is chosen
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Completion of all specified assignments is required for issuance of hours or credit. The Heritage Institute does not award partial credit.
The use of artificial intelligence is not permitted. Assignment responses found to be generated by AI will not be accepted.
HOURS EARNED:
Completing the basic assignments (Section A. Information Acquisition) for this course automatically earns participants their choice of CEUs (Continuing Education Units), Washington State Clock Hours, Oregon PDUs, or Pennsylvania ACT 48 Hours. The Heritage Institute offers CEUs and is an approved provider of Washington State Clock Hours, Oregon PDUs, and Pennsylvania ACT 48 Hours.
UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT INFORMATION
REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
Continuing Education Quarter credits are awarded by Antioch University Seattle (AUS). AUS requires 75% or better for credit at the 400 level and 85% or better to issue credit at the 500 level. These criteria refer both to the amount and quality of work submitted.
CREDIT/NO CREDIT (No Letter Grades or Numeric Equivalents on Transcripts)
Antioch University Seattle (AUS) Continuing Education Quarter credit is offered on a Credit/No Credit basis; neither letter grades nor numeric equivalents are on a transcript. 400 level credit is equal to a "C" or better, 500 level credit is equal to a "B" or better. This information is on the back of the transcript.
AUS Continuing Education quarter credits may or may not be accepted into degree programs. Prior to registering, determine with your district personnel, department head, or state education office the acceptability of these credits for your purpose.
ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION
REQUIRED TEXT
For 500 level credit only, after determining your assignment choice, select one of the following:
MATERIALS FEE
Text cost varies based on your book selection. * Boulle, Pierre.The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Presidio Press: 2007. * Rashke, Richard.Escape from Sobibor. University of Illinois Press: 1995. * Ryan, Cornelius.The Longest Day, Simon and Schuster: 1994. You will need a VHS and a DVD player. Access to the films listed. A NetFlix (or similar) account is about $30. Your district, local video stores and libraries will also have these films.
ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR HOURS OR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
A. INFORMATION ACQUISITION
Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators who have or are taking the course independently. Feel free to read and respond to others' comments.
Group participants can only view and respond to their group members in the Forum.
Assignment #1: Introduction
Please write a 1-2 page response to the following questions:
a)Why did you choose this course?
b)What kinds of themes and subjects are you looking for in film?
c)As an introduction to this material, examine the listings of the D-Day invasion, Sobibor, and the River Kwai by looking them in the Wikipedia.com reference sections.
Assignment #2: COURSE FORUM
Refer to the bibliography, which you can download to your desktop as a MS Word file. In this assignment you will review film resources and pick the eight (8) films you would like to view which best fit your teaching needs.
Select two (2) videos from the European battle front section, two (2) videos from the Holocaust section and two (2) videos from the Battle of the Pacific section. The last two (2) videos can be of your choosing. I have made a list of films, which I personally think are good ones, and all are available from NetFlix.
Since there are many videos about World War Two, you may select others that are not listed in this bibliography with my prior approval. Keep in mind you that need access to both a DVD player and a VHS player. Once you’ve reviewed these sites and made your selections, in the online response box indicate your eight (8) selections and briefly state what film sources you found most suitable. Feel free to respond to any other postings from educators who are also taking this course.
Assignment #3: Europe
a)In this first section we will examine the European battlefront. Read “Part Three: The Day” in the book The Longest Day by going to the following link from Google Books. After reading this section, summarize the overall feeling of the D-Day invasion in the online box provided.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/63084/4/a-great-endeavor/chapter-1-the-longest-day
b)View your first two video selections as they pertain to the European battle front, making notes of the points made in the films that are relevant to what you want to convey to students.
c)In the online response box indicate what films you saw, and make a brief summary of those points.
Assignment #4: Holocaust
a)In this next section we will be examining the Holocaust. Examine Chapters 1 through 3 (pages 5-23) from the book Escape from Sobibor (there are pictures not displayed in this online format but the text is in tact) by going to the following link from Google Books. After reading this section, summarize the overall descriptions of Sobibor in the online box provided. http://books.google.com/books?id=P__hab36iNAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=escape+from+sobibor#v=onepage&q=&f=false
b)View video selections #3 and #4 as they pertain to the Holocaust, making notes of the points made in the films that are relevant to what you want to convey to students.
c)In the online response box indicate what films you saw, and make a brief summary of those points.
Assignment #5: Pacific
a)In this next section we will be examining the Pacific battlefront. Examine Chapters 1 through 3 of the book The Bridge Over the River Kwai by going to the following link from Google Books. After reading this section, summarize the overall descriptions of the battle in the Pacific as they relate to World War II in the online box provided.
b)View video selections #5 and #6 as they pertain to the battle of the Pacific, making notes of the points made in the films that are relevant to what you want to convey to students.
c)In the online response box indicate what films you saw, and make a brief summary of those points.
Assignment #6:
a)For this section you may view 2 other movies that relate to any of the topics listed thus far. View video selections #7 and #8, making notes of the points made in the films that are relevant to what you want to convey to students.
b)In the online response box indicate what films you saw, and make a brief summary of those points.
Assignment #7: COURSE FORUM
Describe in general terms how you plan to use any of the films viewed in your teaching. Indicate your grade level and the course or theme you are teaching. Review the pages below on effective ways for asking questions and make a list of “rich” (ie. engaging) questions you would pose to your students given the films you would choose to show. Feel free to respond to any other postings from educators who are also taking this course.
Right (and Wrong) Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom
http://www.edutopia.org/asking-students-good-questions
Confessions of a Reluctant Teacher
Never Ask Students a Question you Already Know the Answer to
Asking Effective Questions
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
B. LEARNING APPLICATION
In this section, you will apply your learning to your professional situation. This course assumes that most participants are classroom teachers who have access to students. If you do not have a classroom available to you, please contact the instructor for course modifications. Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators who have or are taking the course independently. Feel free to read and respond to others' comments. Group participants can only view and respond to their group members in the Forum.
Assignment #8:
B. LEARNING APPLICATION
(Required for 400 and 500 Level)
In this section you will apply your learning to your professional situation. This course assumes that most participants are classroom teachers who have access to students. If you are not teaching in a classroom, please contact the instructor for course modifications. If you are a classroom teacher and start or need to complete this course during the summer, please try to apply your ideas when possible with youth from your neighborhood, at a local public library or parks department facility, (they will often be glad to sponsor community-based learning), or with students in another teacher’s summer classroom in session.
Assignment #8:
1.
Using the Heritage Institute lesson template or one from your district, create a lesson reflecting what you learned in this course, or modify an existing lesson to incorporate a climate change perspective and facts. Then either:
(1) Implement your lesson with students in your classroom. (If you are not teaching or it is summer, find youth in your community or another classroom to work with.) Submit your lesson along with a 2-page description of what worked well and what could be improved. Include samples of exemplary student work (via video, photos, scans of essays etc) and include any rubric used for assessment purposes. Once your lesson is done, upload it into The Heritage Institute lesson library following the correct methods to properly classify it. (Download a copy of THI's lesson plan template)
OR
(2) Submit your unit lesson AND include as well a 500+ word article about any aspect of climate change that you’ve learned about in this course, sharing any anecdotes from your teaching or personal life that relate to the subject. This could be an opinion piece, a call-to-action, a personal story or combination of all of these. Substantiate your narrative with facts, figures or mention of relevant persons. The Heritage Institute will request your permission to publish on our blog what we consider outstanding articles.
2.Execute the lesson from assignment #8 and provide a summary of the student’s assessment of the lesson. Include your post lesson thoughts on the presentation and student performance.
Assignment #9:
Assignment #9: (500 Level only)
In addition to the 400 level assignments, complete one of the following:
Option A) In assignments #3, 4 and 5 you read excerpts from three (3) novels that related to World War II for this assignment select one (1) of the three (3) novels, or another of your own choice, with my prior approval, and read it in its entirety. As you read, make notes about the larger details of the book as they have related to World War II. Develop these notes into a lesson plan based on the format from Part A. Post this lesson plan in the online box provided.
OR
Option B) Another assignment of your own choice with the instructor’s prior approval.
For 500 level credit only, after determining your assignment choice, select one of the following:
Boulle, Pierre. The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Presidio Press: 2007.
Rashke, Richard. Escape from Sobibor. University of Illinois Press: 1995.
Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day, Simon and Schuster: 1994.
C. INTEGRATION PAPER
Assignment #10: (Required for 400 and 500 level)
SELF REFLECTION & INTEGRATION PAPER
(Please do not write this paper until you've completed all of your other assignments)
Write a 400-500 word Integration Paper answering these 5 questions:
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS ON YOUR WORK:
Instructors will comment on each assignment. If you do not hear from the instructor within a few days of posting your assignment, please get in touch with them immediately.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHING THIS COURSE:
Eric Low, M.A. has been a teacher and coach in the state of Washington since 1992. He has lived, taught, and studied in Southwest Washington since 1995. Eric has a Master’s degree in history from Eastern Washington University with an emphasis in America’s West and has been an active researcher of Washington State history for 20+ years. Eric currently teaches history at Winlock High School and serves as a Lead Teacher for ESD 112s “Constitutional Connections” American History grant, a 3 year program that has worked to utilize and develop Social Studies Common Core and CBAs in the classroom.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WORLD WAR II IN FILM & LITERATURE
WORLD WAR II in FILM & LITERATURE
Bibliography
Novels, VHS & DVD Resources,
NOVELS
These World War II novels can be found in local libraries, ESD libraries, or on Google Books.
Boulle, Pierre. The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Presidio Press: 2007.
Rashke, Richard. Escape from Sobibor. University of Illinois Press: 1995.
Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day, Simon and Schuster: 1994.
MORE NOVELS
Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, New York, Washington Square Press, 1972.
The Diary of a Young Girl is a book based on the writings from a diary written by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the war, the diary was retrieved by Anne's father, Otto Frank.
Jones, James. From Here to Eternity, New York, Scriber, 1951.
From Here to Eternity is a novel by James Jones, winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1952. It is loosely based on Jones' experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry and the unit in which he served, Company E ("The Boxing Company"). Fellow company member Hal Gould said that while the novel was based on the company, including some depictions of actual persons, the characters are fictional and both the harsh conditions and described events are inventions.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five, New York, Delacarte Press, 1969.
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death (1969) is an anti-war science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim.
Wouk, Herman. The Winds of War, Boston, Little, Brown, 1971.
The story revolves around a mixture of real and fictional characters, all connected in some way to the extended family of Victor "Pug" Henry, a middle-aged Naval Officer and confidant of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The story begins six months before Germany's invasion of Poland, which launched the European portion of the war, and ends shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the United States and, by extension, the Henry family, enters the war as well. Mixed into the text are "excerpts" from a book written by one of the book's characters, German general Armin Von Roon, written while he was in prison for war crimes. Coming across the German version, a retired Victor Henry "translates" the volume in 1965. The text provides the reader with a German outlook at the war with Henry occasionally inserting notes contradicting some of the statements.
VHS & DVD Resources
Educational Service District
Many ESDs have World War II videos available for use at your school. Check selections.
Local Library Systems
Many local library systems have World War II videos available for use at your school.
The Video Project
http://www.videoproject.com/main-catalog.html
Teachers can sample a number of videos from this excellent source of media on a large variety of
subjects. Click on the link above to see the selection. Many categories are related to the global issues
focus of this course.
NetFlix
NetFlix is an online DVD site where you can order many commercial and documentary movies which are
mailed to you. A monthly subscription costs about $5, and you receive one DVD at a time. As soon as
you have seen it, return the DVD and you are supplied a second choice. If you choose NetFlix, they have
a documentary section (upper right under favorite genres on the home page) and all the films listed and
described below are all available from NetFlix. If you work quickly, it would be possible to view all the
movies easily in two months or less.
DVDs from NetFlix
New: Most of the following titles can be found in the dvd version of netflix or on youtube
European Battle Front
Battle of the Bulge
In December 1944, Nazi forces launch an expertly planned counteroffensive against Allied troops in Belgium. The brilliant strategist behind the attack is German Col. Martin Hessler (Robert Shaw), whose campaign may be thwarted by the dogged efforts of American intelligence officer Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley.
Memphis Belle
A U.S. bomber plane's crew is ordered to hit a heavily defended German city. Capt. Dearborn (Matthew Modine) leads his men into battle while their commander and a public relations officer (John Lithgow) anxiously await the squad's return. Amid friction between the captain and his co-pilot (Tate Donovan), a scandal erupts when it's learned that a medical officer has been dishonest. Based on the real-life World War II plane's final mission.
Saving Private Ryan
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain Tom Hanks and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
The Longest Day
With four directors and an all-star cast, this Academy Award-winning war epic from producer Darryl F. Zanuck chronicles World War II's harrowing D-Day invasion. Shot on the beaches of Normandy, France, the ambitious film attempts to cover the historic day from all perspectives, focusing on figures from both sides of the conflict.
Holocaust
Diary of Anne Frank
As the "Green Police" search for Jews on the streets of Amsterdam, a young girl named Anne (Millie Perkins), her parents Otto and Edith (Joseph Schildkraut and Gusti Huber) and another family retreat for two years to the small attic of shop owners Kraler and Miep (Douglas Spencer and Dody Heath). Despite being confined to a small area and having no contact with the outside world, the families go on with their lives to the best of their ability.
Escape from Sobibor
A WWII Nazi death camp sets the stage for this TV miniseries based on a true story about hundreds of imprisoned Jews who plan to revolt and escape. Taking on the role of leader, Leon Feldhendler (Alan Arkin) relies on the military know-how of fellow inmate and Russian soldier Alexander Percherski (Rutger Hauer) in devising a plan of attack to emancipate the entire camp.
Nuremberg
U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson (Alec Baldwin) is prepping for the trial of a lifetime. In the shadow of the Holocaust, can Allied prosecutors advance principles before vengeance when they prosecute the Nazi high command? Based on Joseph Persico's Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial, TNT's powerful miniseries captures the human drama while grappling with the larger philosophical issues of genocide and nations at war.
Schindler’s List
Liam Neeson stars as Oskar Schindler, a greedy German factory owner made rich by exploiting cheap Jewish labor. But as World War II unfolds, he becomes an unlikely humanitarian, spending his entire fortune to help save 1,100 Jews from Auschwitz.
Battle of the Pacific
Midway
A sprawling war film, Midway stars nearly every actor who wasn't in A Bridge Too Far. Charlton Heston, Toshirô Mifune, Robert Mitchum and Henry Fonda are among the familiar faces depicting the American and Japanese forces in a naval battle that became the turning point of the Pacific war. Using some real wartime footage, Midway provides an exciting view of a gigantic battle.
Pearl Harbor
The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale). The rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves in Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Director David Lean's sweeping epic — best known for a whistling work theme that became legendary — is set in a World War II-era Japanese prison camp where British POWs are forced to construct a railway bridge for morale-building. Yet the real battle of wills is between a "play by the rules" British colonel (Alec Guinness) who's dedicated to the project and his American rival (William Holden), who vows to destroy it.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Named for the Japanese phrase that signals the start of an attack, Tora! Tora! Tora! tells both the American and Japanese versions of the infamous attack that catapulted the United States into World War II. The film reveals mistakes made by both governments, which added to the confusion and culminated in the harrowing bombing of Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. Spectacular film earned an Oscar for special effects.