Quagmire and Stagflation ‖ The Vietnam War

Goals & Objectives

Students will understand the Vietnam’s final days and how major massacres and broken
promises ultimately lead to the fall of Saigon.
Students will consider the traits of a whistleblower or traitor.
Students will make connections between Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden and debate
on their status as whistleblowers.

California State Content Standards

11.9.4. List the effects of foreign policy on domestic policies and vice versa (e.g., protests
during the war in Vietnam, the “nuclear freeze” movement).

Common Core Literacy Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.6
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing
the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
1.B. 6. Reading closely literary and informational texts and viewing multimedia to
determine how meaning is conveyed explicitly and implicitly through language

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time:

15 minutes
Students will engage in a bell ringer activity “What is the credibility gap and what is its
importance to this war?” Students will log their answers into their bell ringer logs and
share this information with the class when called on.

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time:

16. Kent State Shooting 17. My Lai Massacre 18.Vietnamization 19.Pentagon Papers 20.
War Powers Act

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time:

25 Minutes
Mini Lecture
The Students will engage and participate in a mini lecture on dark side of the Vietnam War,
the major massacres, and how the war ended. The students will actively take notes using
their preferred format under previously discussed guidelines. The students will take their
time to pause for group discussion and “Think, pair, share”.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time:

45 Minutes
Traitor or Whistleblower
Students will be exploring the difference between what makes a person a traitor vs. a
whistleblower. After hearing about Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden and watching
short video about them, the students will take that information and apply it to reading two
different articles. The students will then draw comparisons between the two different
whistleblowers and debate on what makes someone a traitor and what makes them a
whistleblower. The students will reflect on these answers in a reflection about the cost of
whistleblowing for the individuals and the country and effect in the United States.

Lesson Closure ‖ Time:

Students will reflect on their content by answering their EQ questions assigned for the day.
The students will be able to showcase their understanding of the key concepts by
answering the main points of the unit. If the students do not finish, they may take it home
for homework and further reflection.

Assessments (Formative & Summative)

The students will be formatively assessed throughout the lesson with pointed teacher
questions. The students will have the summative assessment of the Whistleblower v.
Traitor debate.

Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
Strategic grouping
The students have been placed in cooperative learning groups according to motivation,
ability, and personality. The students have been designed to sit in this fashion in order to
promote conversation as well as the ability to bounce ideas off of each other.
Visuals
Both the content delivery and the activity are filled with visuals, graphs, maps, and other
visual tools to help clarify the content that is being processed.
Pre-teaching
The students will have been pretaught the important vocabulary necessary for the
comprehension of this unit. The students will also be given access to important background
information and some reading strategies.

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

Prezi, Traitor v Whistleblower handout, Ellsberg and Snowden articles