War

Essential Question: Is war ever justified?

Over the course of the next few weeks you will be doing small activities to study the war of your choice. As you complete the activities, you need to keep in mind our essential question, "Is war ever justified?" At the end of the unit, you will be required to writing an essay arguing whether or not war is ever justified.

CHoose a WAr

First, you need to pick a war you would like to study from the following list. This is the war you will continue to study throughout the whole unit. To do this, create a KWL chart for each war (as a class) and pick the one you are most interested in.

WWI
WWII
Cold War
Vietnam War

Sketchnotes in History Class with Brent Pillsbury - Sketchnote Army - A Showcase of Sketchnotes

Activity 1-It Starts

Your goal is to research everything you can about how your war began. I'm not just interested in the official start date, but the events leading up to your war. How were people feeling? What was the economy like? I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE START OF THE WAR FOR AS MANY COUNTRIES INVOLVED AS YOU CAN FIND
As you research, create "sketchnotes" (left) about the events leading up to your war.
- Your "sketchnotes" should be easily readable and have pictures that will help you remember the events that took place.
- Create a different page of "sketchnotes" for each country involved

Activity 2 - Timeline

Create a timeline of 10 major events during your war. Timelines should include:
1. Events leading up to the war
2. When the war officially began
3. Dates of countries entering the war
4. At least 3 important battles
5. When/how the war ended
6. Aftermath (what happened to the countries involved shortly after the war ended)
Each event needs to have a picture, if you are creating the timeline on the computer, look for primary source documents for your pictures

Instagram Template

Activity 3-HiNstagram

If Instagram existed during your war, what would people post?

Select six individuals or places that existed during your war
- they must be actual people/places
- You must use people/places from both sides of the war. Consider:
For each individual create an Instagram post including
- A profile pic and the name of the person
- A picture
- Names of a few people who would have liked their post
- A short message about the photo
- At least 3 hashtags

activity 4-heroes

You are going to create the silhouette of 2 heroes
Pick two people
- They must be from different sides of the war
- They do not have to be famous (they can be unsung heroes that not many people know about)
- They can be adults or children
- They can be male or female
For each person:
1. Research as much as you can about their life story
2. Cut out a silhouette of that person
3. Either write a OR create a word cloud in the silhouette shape
  - Poems should tell their life story and things you admire about them
  - If you choose to do a word cloud, you must write on the back why you chose to use 5 of the words you chose AND write 1 paragraph on the back about why you admire this person

activity 5-essay

Now that you've thoroughly studied a war, write a 5 paragraph argumentative essay arguing "Is war ever justified?"
Be sure to back up your argument with FACTS you've learned.
Include a counterargument in one paragraph

outline (graphic Organizer)

Introduction (3-4 sentences)
1. Claim stating what you are arguing
2. 2 reasons for arguing that claim and a counter claim

3 Body Paragraphs
- Paragraph 1 (first Reason)
- Paragraph 2 (Second Reason)
- Paragraph 3 (Counter Claim)

Conclusion
- Topic sentence restating the claim
- 3 sentences (1 restating each body paragraph)
- Closing sentence

put all of your projects into a binder to be graded. title it the name of your war

Presentation

Your job now is to present your information and your argument to the class.

The only rules are:

You cannot simply show your binder and talk about it (this can be a part of your presentation, but it cannot be ALL you do)
You cannot create a powerpoint

Other than that, your imagination is the limit. Below is a list of ideas you may use if you would like. Whatever you choose PLEASE APPROVE YOUR IDEA WITH MRS. MCCLESKEY BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

Write a rap
rewrite the words to a song
make a 3D model
Create war propaganda that shares your argument