10th Grade  Project 12 weeks

Echoes of Command: WWI in Words & Art

SValerio3
Updated
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7
VA:Cn11.1.Ia
VA:Pr.6.1
+ 10 more
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Purpose

Students investigate how government decisions during World War I shaped the lives of soldiers and civilians by engaging with letters, speeches, historical documents, and artwork. They use the essential question to guide a sustained inquiry that results in a researched paper and an original artwork expressing the human impact of wartime leadership choices. Through a project launch featuring real WWI letters, a speaker from a veterans organization or military history association, and a one-word visual response, students begin connecting policy decisions to lived experience. Reflection through journal writing and small-circle discussion helps students communicate insights with empathy while preparing work for presentation to others.

Learning goals

Students will investigate the essential question by researching how World War I government decisions shaped the experiences of soldiers and civilians, using letters, speeches, historical documents, and visual sources to build evidence-based claims in a written research paper. They will analyze how the same event or issue is represented in text and art, then create an original artwork that communicates a researched interpretation of the human cost of wartime leadership decisions. Through the project launch, community partner conversation, reflection journal, small-circle discussion, and final presentation, students will strengthen empathetic communication, collaboration, and historical reasoning. They will also curate and explain connections among their research, their artwork, and the broader social, cultural, and political context of World War I.

Standards
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9 - Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"), including how they address related themes and concepts.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7 - Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and Breughel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Cn11.1.Ia - Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Pr.6.1 - Objects, artifacts, and artworks collected, preserved, or presented either by artists, museums, or other venues communicate meaning and a record of social, cultural, and political experiences resulting in the cultivating of appreciation and understanding.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Pr6.1.IIa - Make, explain, and justify connections between artists or artwork and social, cultural, and political history.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Cn11.1 - People develop ideas and understandings of society, culture, and history through their interactions with and analysis of art.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Pr6.1.IIIa - Curate a collection of objects, artifacts, or artwork to impact the viewer’s understanding of social, cultural and/or political experiences.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] VA:Cn10.1.IIa - Utilize inquiry methods of observation, research, and experimentation to explore unfamiliar subjects through art-making.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Products

Students create annotated source notes, a policy-impact evidence tracker, and brief reflective journal entries that connect government decisions to the experiences of soldiers and civilians. Midway through the project, they develop a thesis proposal, participate in a small-circle discussion, and draft an artist statement that explains how their research will shape their visual response. By the end, each student produces a written research paper and an original artwork that interprets the human cost of World War I leadership decisions across the front and home front. Students present both pieces in a curated exhibit, sharing one key insight from their reflection and explaining how their art and research connect to historical evidence.

Launch

Open with “Letters Across the Lines” by having students rotate through stations with WWI letters, propaganda posters, casualty lists, and photographs, annotating what each source reveals about the human cost of government decisions for soldiers and civilians. Invite a speaker from a veterans organization or military history association to connect these sources to the realities of service, sacrifice, and life on the home front, then have students generate questions they want to investigate. Close with a one-word visual response activity in which each student creates a quick image that represents the impact of leadership choices during war and briefly explains it to a partner. Use the gallery of visuals to introduce the inquiry that will lead to a written research paper, an original artwork, and later reflection in journals and small-circle discussion.

Exhibition

Host a public gallery event called “Letters Across the Lines” where students display their research papers alongside original artworks and short artist statements explaining how specific World War I government decisions affected soldiers and civilians. Invite families, classmates, school staff, and a veterans organization or military history association so students can present their findings, discuss their creative choices, and connect their work to the speaker’s insights about service, sacrifice, and the home front. Include a curated section of WWI letters and historical documents, with students comparing those sources to their art and research to highlight what each medium reveals or leaves out. End the exhibition with small-group student reflection circles or recorded audio reflections sharing one lasting insight about the human cost of leadership decisions.