Download World War I Propaganda Poster Rubric

To be completed by the Student Teacher; a copy of the plan should be provided to Cooperating Teacher and/or University Supervisor
prior to lesson implementation.
Eastern Connecticut State University Lesson Plan Format
Adopted from the Connecticut State Department of Education
Student Teacher John Allen Grade Level_8_ Date of lesson__February 25, 2014__
Institution Captain Nathan Hale Middle School Length of lesson 58 Minutes
Content Standards: Identify one or two primary local, state or national curricular standards this lesson is designed to
help students attain. How will the learning tasks lead students to attain the identified standards?
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.8 Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
Prior Knowledge/Connections: Describe the students’ prior knowledge or skill related to the learning objective(s)
and the content of this lesson, using data from pre-assessment as appropriate. How did the students’ previous performance in this
content area or skill impact your planning for this lesson?
Students have spent the month of February learning about World War I. The majority of
discussion in class has been on the causes of World War I and the beginning of the war.
Students have had two days to study for the World War I quiz and have been instructed to use
their notes from the textbook (Chapter 11, Sections 1 and 2) and their “Causes of World War I”
chart. Most recently, students completed a World War I timeline highlighting important events.
Student Learning Objective(s): Identify specific and measurable learning objectives for this lesson.
To complete the Common Formative Assessment (CFA) and receive 80% or better.
Vocabulary: Identify essential terminology to be used during instruction.
Militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism, submarine, U-Boat, trench, assassination.
Assessment-Essential Key Question: State essential key question(s) and identify Informal,
Formal Formative and Summative Assessment that will be used during the lesson.
How will you ask students to demonstrate mastery of the student learning objective(s)? Attach a copy of any assessment
materials you will use, along with assessment criteria.
What lessons can be learned from knowing the causes of World War I? (Unit Essential Question)
For Today: Finish the World War I quiz/What is the importance of propaganda during war?
The focus of this class is the Common Formative Assessment. Students will be taking the World
War I quiz during this class period. Assessment key will show if student mastered the content.
The propaganda poster portrays student’s knowledge in a creative way. The criteria for
assessing student posters: slogan, image, presentation, creativity, and explanation. (See attached
rubric.)
Materials/Resources: List the materials you will use in each learning activity.
World War I quiz, pen/pencil, spare paper, construction paper, colored pencils, propaganda
handout.
Technological resources: List the technology resources that you will use in this lesson.
Computer, Projector.
During the next class period we will use the computer and projector to display non-WWI
propaganda. (I do not want ideas to be copied).
Learning Activities:
Identify the instructional and strategies and instructional grouping (whole class, small groups, pairs, individuals) you will use in
each lesson segment and approximate time frames for each.
Instructional Strategies:
Distribute Propaganda Packet-5 Minutes.
World War I CFA-15-25 Minutes.
Individual Work on Propaganda Poster-30 Minutes.
Grouping Strategies:
Whole Class (Individual seating in rows).
Initiation: Briefly describe how you will initiate the lesson. (Set expectations for learning; articulate to learners what they
will be doing and learning in this lesson, how they will demonstrate learning, and why this is important)
To begin today’s class; I will be distributing the World War I propaganda packet. I will give a
brief introduction to the project before students take the quiz. Students will have time after the
quiz to ask me individual questions about it.
Lesson Procedures: Describe how you will develop the lesson, what you will do to model or guide practice, and the
learning activities students will be engaged in order to gain the key knowledge and skills identified in the student learning
objective(s).
I will distribute the CFA. After the students finish the CFA, they will be able to begin work on
the Propaganda poster project. First students will read the “Defining Propaganda” handout
which gives background on the concept of propaganda. Next students will begin sketching their
propaganda poster ideas. They will not begin work on their physical poster until next class (to
avoid noise for students still taking the CFA), but they can utilize this preparation time to get an
idea of what they want to do.
Closure: Briefly describe how you will close the lesson and help students understand the purpose of the lesson. (Interact with
learners to elicit evidence of student understanding of purpose(s) for learning and mastery of objectives). To be completed by the
Student Teacher; a copy of the plan should be provided to Cooperating Teacher and/or University Supervisor prior to lesson
implementation.
I will close the class by asking students what they thought of the CFA. I will also ask students
what was most difficult about the quiz.
This will also be the time to answer student questions about the propaganda poster.
Intervention: Describe intervention strategies used for students who require accommodations to their instruction.
I will be circulating the room during the quiz to ensure that the testing environment is quiet and
ethical. I will also send a copy of the quiz to the special education department to ask for
modifications. The CFA’s questions are intentionally short. I have been advised by my
cooperating teacher to keep the questions short, because students with low reading
comprehension levels will not read the entirety of the questions if they are long worded.
The World War I propaganda project gives all students an opportunity to show their knowledge
of World War I in a creative way. Last year, students of all levels created excellent work.
Enrichment: Describe strategies used for students who benefit from unique challenges in the classroom curriculum.
All students will be able to show me the extent of their knowledge about World War I by
completing the assessment. The propaganda assignment is a great opportunity for all students to
creatively show me their understanding of the concepts of World War I and propaganda.
Reflection: Identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.
Notes from the pre-conference:
Defining Propaganda
While most persons who give the matter a
thought make distinctions between an objectively
written news report and propaganda, they
encounter difficulty when they try to define
propaganda. It is one of the most troublesome
words in the English language. To define it clearly
and precisely, so that whenever it is used it will
mean the same thing to everybody, is like trying to
Events are often more important in crystallizing people’s
thoughts than is propaganda.
get your hands on an eel. You think you’ve got itthen it slips away.
When you say “policeman” or “house,” everybody has a pretty clear idea of what you mean. There’s nothing vague
about these terms. But when you try to mark off the exact boundaries of “propaganda,” you wrinkle the brows
even of the men who spend their lives studying the origin and history of words. And the problem of defining
propaganda is all the more tangled because in the First World War it acquired certain popular meanings that stick
to it like burrs to a cocker spaniel.
To some speakers and writers, propaganda is an instrument of the devil. They look on the propagandist as a person
who is deliberately trying to hoodwink us, who uses half-truths, who lies, who suppresses, conceals, and distorts
the facts. According to this idea of the word, the propagandist plays us for suckers.
Others think especially of techniques, of slogans, catchwords, and other devices, when they talk about
propaganda. Still others define propaganda as a narrowly selfish attempt to get people to accept ideas and beliefs,
always in the interest of a particular person or group and with little or no advantage to the public. According to this
view, propaganda is promotion that seeks “bad” ends, whereas similar effort on behalf of the public and for
“good” ends isn’t propaganda, but is something else. Under this definition, for example, the writings of the
patriotic Sam Adams on behalf of the American Revolution could not be regarded by American historians as
propaganda.
The difficulty with such a view is that welfare groups and governments themselves secure benefits for a people
through propaganda. Moreover, national propaganda in the throes of a war is aimed to bolster the security of the
nonaggressor state and to assure the eventual well-being and safety of its citizens. No one would deny that this
kind of propaganda, intelligently administered, benefits every man, woman, and child in the land.
The experts have plenty of trouble in agreeing upon a satisfactory definition of propaganda, but they are agreed
that the term can’t be limited to the type of propaganda that seeks to achieve bad ends or to the form that makes
use of deceitful methods.
Can you distinguish propaganda from other forms of expression or promotion by saying that it is something that
depends upon “concealment”—on hiding either the goals men are working for, or the means that they use, or the
identity of the people behind the propaganda? A few authorities say “yes” to this question, but most of them say
“no.” Most analysts of propaganda do not limit the term propaganda to “veiled” promotion. Nor do they think it
accurate to describe propaganda as an activity that resorts only to half-truths and downright falsehood. They say
simply that some propaganda hinges on deceit and some does not. As a matter of fact, they recognize that a
shrewd propagandist prefers to deal above the table, knowing just what the reaction of a propaganda-conscious
public will be to dishonest trickery when it is exposed.
Some people limit the term propaganda to efforts that make use of emotional appeals, but others will differ about
this idea. In a campaign to capture public opinion, a propagandist may rely heavily upon emotional symbols—but
he may appeal to logical thinking as well.
Some people assert that propaganda is present only in controversial situations. One writer, for example, says,
“Propaganda is an instrument of conflict or controversy, deliberately used.” And another says, “If the report is
deliberately circulated to influence attitudes on controversial issues it is propaganda.” When existing loyalties,
customs, and institutions are attacked, there is controversy. In a democratic system, propaganda replaces violence
and censorship as a method of bringing about change. All this may be granted, and yet the question can be raised
whether the word “propaganda” should be limited to efforts to influence attitudes on controversial matters only.
l. Is it really propaganda? Is some individual or group consciously trying to influence opinion and action? Who? For
what purpose?
2. Is it true? Does a comparison of independent reports show that the facts are accurate? Does such a comparison
show that the suggestions made are soundly based?
8th US History
Name________________________
Mrs. Maxwell/Mr. Allen
World War I Propaganda Poster
Create a large, dramatic poster demonstrating your knowledge of propaganda in World War I. The poster
must include a slogan in large letters, a visual image supporting the slogan and a paragraph on the back
explaining your choice of slogan and symbolism. Please put your initials on the bottom right hand corner of
your poster and write your full name on the back of the poster.
World War I Propaganda Poster Rubric
SLOGAN
IMAGE(S)
10-8 points
7-5 points
4-0 points
The slogan is original
The slogan selected
The slogan does not
and shows knowledge
shows limited
show a clear
of WWI propaganda.
knowledge of WWI
understanding of WWI
propaganda.
propaganda.
The image(s) chosen
The image(s) chosen
The image(s) chosen
supports and
somewhat supports
does not support the
emphasizes the
and emphasizes the
meaning of the slogan.
meaning of the slogan
meaning of the slogan.
effectively.
PRESENTATION
The poster is carefully
The poster shows
The poster is not
and neatly laid out and
some organization and
neatly laid out and
shows effort (neat
effort (neat lettering,
shows minimal effort
lettering, correct
careful placement of
(messy lettering,
spelling, careful
images, etc.) but may
careless placement of
placement of images,
not be complete.
images, etc.). Poster
etc.).
CREATIVITY
is incomplete.
The poster shows
The poster shows
The poster shows a
originality and thought
some originality and
lack of originality and
through careful choice
thought through choice
thought. Slogan and
of slogan and imagery.
of slogan and imagery. imagery are not
meaningful.
EXPLANATORY
A carefully written and
A paragraph is
An incomplete
PARAGRAPH
edited paragraph is
attached to the back of explanatory paragraph
attached to the back of the poster, somewhat
is attached / no
the poster, explaining
explaining the choice
paragraph is attached.
the choice of slogan
of slogan and imagery.
and imagery.