On September 29-30, 2007, FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education presented a weekend of discussion on "Teaching Military History: Why and How" for 35 teachers from 22 states across the country. The institute was held at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois and co-sponsored by the Cantigny First Division Foundation.…

This article offers teachers a critical framework for use and adaptation in organizing class discussions focused on notions of freedom in young adult literature. The authors open by discussing the notion of freedom, including concepts related to negative and positive freedom and to arguments advocating critical discussion of common assumptions…

Throughout the 2003 school year, Christopher Leahey's ninth grade global history students followed the media's coverage of the escalating crisis between the United States and Iraq. In early March of that year, as the media's coverage intensified, students brought a multitude of questions and concerns into the classroom. Rather than simply answer…

Discusses the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Criticizes contemporary condemnation of Columbus as unproductive. Acknowledges the deaths of countless Native Americans through disease and warfare. Recognizes that the pre-Columbian Americas did not comprise a paradise. Concludes that commemorating the…

Vietnam War literature offers students a unique mix of themes which in many ways speak directly to them as, perhaps, no other literature is able to. This literature can help them better understand literature, history, the world they live in, and themselves, as well as the Vietnam War. A sequence of classroom activities (beginning with an…

Over the past two decades, interest in Holocaust education has grown substantially as individual states, starting in the 1980s, began to mandate and/or recommend Holocaust studies as part of the social studies curriculum. As a result, these mandates and/or interest in the Holocaust have spawned any number of curriculum products, some of which seek…

This curriculum project, a lesson plan for a thematic literary study of war and its effects, has five goals: (1) to have students read various selections of literature on the theme of war from both the Middle East and the West; (2) to teach students to analyze the differences and similarities between wars fought in the Middle East as compared to…

Based on Stephen Crane's poems about war and his novel "The Red Badge of Courage," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that Crane examined war-related themes in prose and poetry; that close study of a poem for oral presentation helps readers see meaning or techniques not noted earlier; and that not all readers…

Literary works that will help teachers of humanities and conflict resolution courses lead their students to a better understanding of the problems of war and peace are summarized. The document is based on two premises: (1) literature that captures the experience and the meaning of war leads to an understanding of that phenomenon, and (2) the…

This 4-5 day curriculum unit is designed for use in English and language arts classrooms, grades 7-12 and junior college. While it is the first section in a series of five on the literature of war and peace, it can be used with or without the other four sections. Each section of the series focuses on a different genre of the literature of war and…

This 13-day curriculum unit is designed for use in English and language arts classrooms, grades 7-12 and junior college. While it is the third section in a series of five on the literature of war and peace, it can be used with or without the other four sections. Each section of the series focuses on a different genre of the literature of war and…

This 14-16 day curriculum unit is designed for use in English and language arts classrooms, grades 9-12 and community college. While it is the fifth section in a series of five on the literature of war and peace, it can be used with or without the other four sections. Each section of the series focuses on a different genre of the literature of war…

This 13 day curriculum unit is designed for use in English and language arts classrooms, grades 7-12 and junior college. While it is the second section in a series of five on the literature of war and peace, it can be used with or without the other four sections. Each section of the series focuses on a different genre of the literature of war and…

Presents an interview with Paul Fussell, author of "The Great War and Modern Memory." Fussell speaks about the destruction of that war and his own experiences as a combat officer in World War II. He also addresses his original field of study, 18th century literature, and some of the changes wrought by the 20th century. (MJP)