Lesson Plan 4

Bias and Propaganda

 

Lesson Focus: The focus of lesson 4 is to evaluate the difference between the information extracted from Farewell to Manzanar and the primary source photographs seen by the American public during WWII. Students should be able to see that interpretation of the photographs without their background knowledge of the actual living conditions in Manzanar would be quite biased.

 

Time to complete: approximately three fifty minute class periods

 

Grade Level: 7

 

Lesson Objectives:

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast his/her findings on a particular topic after having extracted that information from two or more pieces of graphic or written material.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to detect bias and identify propaganda techniques.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to summarize information he/she receives from nonprint sources.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast the treatment of a given situation or event in nonprint sources.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to make connections between nonprint sources and his/her prior knowledge, other sources, and the world.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to analyze nonprint sources for accuracy, bias, intent, or purpose.

·        Student will demonstrate the ability to demonstrate the ability to evaluate how different nonprint sources influence and inform.

 

Lesson Procedure:

 

After completing Farewell to Manzanar, students will use the completed graphic organizer from lesson 2,  living conditions graphic organizer . They should have looked for examples of all aspects of life in the internment camp described by the author. If they wish, they can add categories of their own to the graphic organizer.

 

Next, direct students to the American Memory collection of photographs by Ansel Adams. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aamhtml/aamhome.html  and http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/109_anse.html

Students should use the same graphic organizer to record information they gather from viewing the photographs.

 

Independent Writing Assignment:

 

Students write an essay using the information from the text and from viewing the photographs. In the essay, the student should show how bias and propaganda affected the way the American public thought about life in the internment camps.

Writing will be assessed with a rubric.

 

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