Explore what the home front during WWII was like for Japanese-Americans. Learners use a worksheet and the Internet to guide their research as they consider the constitutionality of Japanese Internment. They work in pairs to create an...

The end of World War II saw major events that would forever change the global landscape and international relations. Using a fantastic PowerPoint presentation and several primary source documents, your learners will discuss the...

How does background and experience influence one's point of view? Dwight Okita's famous poem about the Japanese internment is the text used to explore this essential question. Class members study primary documents to gain the necessary...

Examine the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After reading an article from the New York Times and exploring the author's word choice, young readers find the central idea in the text and work on researching...

Balancing national security and civil liberties can be tricky. To appreciate the tension between these two concepts, class members investigate the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D....

Learners use a Analyzing Mediums handout to detail the advantages and disadvantages of communicating with mediums such as artwork, photographs, and political cartoons in the Japanese-American Internment during World War II primary...

Check those sources carefully. Scholars learn to analyze and critique primary sources with the work they completed in the previous activity. Learners compare and contrast sources that agree and disagree about Japanese-American internment...

Scholars learn about primary sources with a Primary Sources: Japanese-American Internment during World War II packet. Pupils work with a partner to read challenging sources in the packet while making notes in the margins. They then...

The legacy of Japanese American internment impacted America for decades, including Congress. Class members consider the tenure of Asian American representatives in Congress and how the legacy of World War II affected their service. Other...

This compelling plan based on the letters in the book Dear Miss Breed engages readers in learning what it was like for Japanese Americans following the attacks at Pearl Harbor. After reading the letters, young scholars will...

Imagine being forced against your will behind barbed wire for doing nothing but being yourself. Scholars investigate the impact Japanese-American internment camps had during World War II. Through video and archival evidence, they create...

Eleventh graders examine the political demands put on one of four groups living in America during WWII. Each class member is asked to research and write a paper describing the homefront experience for women, Hispanics, African-Americans,...

It is all in the details. Scholars read The Life of Miné Okubo and pay special attention to details that reveal Okubo's character. Completing their Understanding Miné: Character Traits graphic organizers and recalling the descriptions...

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents this interdisciplinary model unit that asks class members to explore how the same themes are presented in the folktales and art of several cultures.

Class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, Executive Order 9066, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Indian Removal Act to gather information about not only the challenges encountered by diverse groups of Americans, but their...

Julie Otsuka's haunting novel, When the Emperor Was Devine, is the subject of a 14-page teacher's guide. The guide includes the text of an interview with Otsuka, background information about Japanese immigration to the United States, and...

Work together as a class and get to know the ins and outs of World War II with this engaging collaborative project. Class members are broken into groups to research particular war topics, from life on the home front to the Holocaust and...

The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...

Young historians use primary source materials to investigate the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Arizona. After reading background articles and studying maps and images of the attack, class members consider whether...

This is just the beginning. Learners take the first step toward their end-of-unit assessments of Unbroken. They use their tools and knowledge gained from the unit to create first drafts of their informational essays. Writers then respond...

Add another layer to the class's understanding. Scholars deepen their knowledge of the primary sources in their Japanese-American Internment during World War II packet and determine how the sources relate to the theme of invisibility....

Davina Pardo's documentary Minka asks viewers to consider that value of preserving traditional dwellings and traditional building techniques by examining how American journalist John Roderick and Japanese architect Yoshihiro Takishita...

Young learners discover kamishibai, a popular Japanese storytelling art, and explore how these Japanese folktales illustrate the country's cultural themes and values through discussion and storyboarding. 

After listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech, young historians research information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, possible motives for the attack, and the consequences of the attack. Scholars...