Service Learning Project

Service Learning Unit

Title: Honoring Our Veterans: An Understanding of Sacrifice

Area of Service: Civic Responsibility and Appreciation

Grade Level: 8-12

Subject Area: American History

Standards Met:

SS.8.A.1.7: View historic events through the eyes of those who were there as shown in their art, writings, music, and artifacts.

SS.912.C.2.5: Conduct a service project to further the public good.

SS.8.A.1.1: Provide supporting details for an answer from text, interview for oral history, check validity of information from research/text, and identify strong vs. weak arguments.

National Educational Technology Standards:

Creativity and Innovation

Students create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

Communication Tools

Students communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.

Research and Information Fluency

Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.








Unit Description:

To most students, November 11th, is just another day to have a day off from school. I would even venture to say most people don’t really take a full acknowledgement of this important day. Veteran’s Day is an underappreciated and under celebrated holiday of American society. The main goal for students involved in this activity is to gain a deeper appreciation for those who risked their lives for freedom and share their newfound awareness with others, via technological platforms.

First, to gain an understanding of what Veterans mean and have done for the students every student will come up to the Smart board and write down the first words that come to mind. After every student has contributed, the teacher will select some words and have the students elaborate on their feelings pertaining to the words in a classroom discussion.

Next, the students will introduce the main assignment/activity to the students. Each student will be required to play reporter, and select a Veteran from any US war; such as World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The students will conduct at least a 20-30 minute interview, and will be required to compose their own questions about their participation and sacrifice in the various war efforts.

Once the students have chosen which war Veteran, prior to the interview students will be required to do some background research on the war they have selected, using Wikipedia. This is required just to give some basic knowledge to each student before the interview, so they at least know the basics behind each war. Students will be provided question prompts (What the war was about, Who was involved, Who won and lost) for their research. Students will be welcomed to use any other reliable internet resources, as long as they are cited in their research.

Once the students have done their research, the students will be asked to post their first blog assignment. Students will post their answers (in their own words) to their blog. The blog assignment one will have a description of the war and answers to the questions. Every student will be required to respond to at least three posts, on a war they are not interviewing about. The students will discuss what they have learned from each students posting.

Next, the students will conduct their interview with the Veteran of their choice. During the interview, the student will decide to record a two minute audio clip of their speaker. The speaker will be made aware of this by the student. Each student will be required to make a podcast with this recording, and provide an introduction and conclusion to the clip.

The instructor will gather all the Podcasts and create an entire collection, and post them on iTunes and make them available for anybody to see and subscribe to, hopefully furthering public interest.

Students will be required to complete two more blog posts. The first of which, the students are to list their questions asked to the veterans and the responses of the Veterans.
Students will also be required to discuss their experience from the interview. Students will discuss how the interview may have affected them, changed their understanding of the war, etc. Students will then be asked to respond to three more of their students posts on their experience.

The second post will require the student to do a basic follow-up with the Veteran of choice. The student will show the Veteran or make aware of the podcast collection. The student will ask for the thoughts/feelings on the collection and then blog about the Veteran’s reaction. Students will be required to respond to 3 more additional posts.

The overall goal of the assignment is to bring reality to each historic war. Most people don’t truly grasp the intensity of war, and by placing each student with a Veteran it helps humanize the idea of war. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the sacrifices made by our men and women, and see how it affects their friends and families. Students are to gain a renewed appreciation for these courageous men and women and make their findings known to the public via a podcast and have it presented around Veteran’s Day.

Technologies Utilized:

• Smart Board- Used as a brainstorming discussion assignment in class, gives instructor an idea of the background knowledge students have on the subject of Veterans.
• Internet/Wikipedia- Using reliable resources, students will research their war pertaining to the Veteran prior to the interview.
• Blog- Students will compose their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes on the assignment on the blog and be asked to interact with their peers in discussion. Students will also post the questions and answers from the interview.
• Podcast- Students will record themselves (introducing and concluding) and a two minute audio clip of their veteran describing their experience during the war. The teacher will compile all the Podcasts to create a collection, and make publicly available on iTunes.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the completion of the interview, creation of the Podcast, and the active participation in the blog assignment. Grading will go as follows:

Total: 100 points

Podcast Interview with Veteran (2 minute audio clip with intro and conclusion): 40 points
Quality Blog Participation (Includes 3 posts by the student, and 9 responses total): 60 points