Billy Fleming

Dr. Caples
ISTC 301

Lesson Plan: The Weapons of the Vietnam War

Lesson Objective(s):
Students will analyze the weaponry used by the South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese
demonstrated each factions allegiances. (Bloom 3 and 4)
Students will analyze the importance of the Hydrogen Bomb to the Cold War. (Bloom 3,
and 4)
Students will analyze the implications of the Scorpions in a Bottle quote by completing
a short written assignment. (Bloom 2, 4, and 6)
Related Essential Questions:
Why have no nuclear weapons been used on military targets since the Second World
War?
Standards:

RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words or phrases as they are used in a text,
including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social
studies.
Howard County curriculum goal: Students will be able to analyze the origins, events, and
consequences of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War.

Materials/ resources:

YouTube video on weaponry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBIl6rj5DNg

YouTube video of hydrogen bomb detonation https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qjnm3V0xYjI
Padlet on the Vietnam War
Blabberize of Robert Oppenheimer
Short Written Assignments

Activities: 50 minutes

Review of the exit slip: 5 minutes

i) As students enter the room I will greet them, and hand each student their exit ticket
from the previous day. (The exit slip asked the students, Define Domino Theory in
your own words and provide its significance in regards to the Vietnam War.) I go
over the answer I was looking for on the exit slip. This answer should include that

Domino Theory was the theory that as countries began to switch to communism
additional countries would follow suit. If they mention the specific countries, we
discussed in the previous lesson, that will help their scores. In regards to the
significance, as long as the answer mentions containment, and U.S. involvement in
Vietnam they will get credit. (V, A, K)
ii) After we have finished discussing the exit slip, I will ask the students to copy down
the objectives for the lesson which will be on the PowerPoint. Once they have done
this I will break down what the lesson will be about, and why it is relevant to the unit
on Vietnam. In order to understand U.S. involvement in Vietnam it is essential to
understand the state of affairs in the world at the time of the war. This includes the
development of nuclear weapons as well as the containment, and domino theories we
discussed yesterday. Even though these massively powerful weapons were not used
others were, and life was still lost. Understanding this is important to understanding
the origins of the Vietnam War.
Moving into groups: 2 minutes
i) At this time, I will ask the students to join their groups. These groups are of mixed
ability. Since there are 24 students in the class this activity will include four groups of
six which will appear on the PowerPoint. By this point in the year it should already be
routine for the students to be able to form groups, but if they take longer to do so I
will wait until they have joined their groups and will not continue until they are quiet.
The PowerPoint will also contain information about where each group of students
will sit. (K, T)
(1) Diversity Element: The groups are of mixed ability. One of the four GT students
in the class will be in each group. In addition, the struggling readers and
ELL/ESOL students will also be divided among the four groups. This is meant to
help the ELL students practice communication in English, and to help all of the
students learn. The GT students will also have the opportunity to teach their
classmates within their small groups.

The portion of the lesson which I will teach to the class is emboldened

Quote discussion activity: 5 minutes

i) Once the students are in their groups and are quiet I will go to the Padlet I have
already created for the class. The first thing I will click on from within the Padlet
will be a Blabberize of Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer will read a quote
about nuclear weapons which reads, We may be likened to two scorpions in a
bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life. J.
ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, Atomic Weapons and American Policy, Foreign
Affairs, July 1953, p. 529 (V, A)
ii) Prior to beginning discussion, I will ask if any of the students know who Robert
Oppenheimer was? If no one answers I will tell them he was the Scientific
Director for the Manhattan Project which produced the worlds first atomic
bomb. I will also tell the students that the first atomic bomb was detonated by
the Soviet Union in 1949. (V, A)

iii) Once they know who Oppenheimer is I will ask them to discuss in their groups
what they think Oppenheimer is talking about in the quote? I will walk around
to all the groups to ensure they are talking about what I want them to, and then I
will ask them to return to their assigned seats. (V, A)
(a) Diversity Element: The GT student will likely know who Oppenheimer is
and will probably see through what I am asking as a result their
placement in each group is meant to show that Oppenheimers quote is
about nuclear weapons. Some students may even skip ahead to the
hydrogen bomb which is what the following brief lecture will be about.

Lecture: 10 minutes
i) Now that the students have returned to their assigned seats I will teach them
about the development of the hydrogen bomb. This activity will be done through
Padlet. The important thing I want the students to know is that the bomb was
roughly a thousand times more potent than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. I will also focus on the fact that by 1953 both the Soviet Union
and the United States had hydrogen bombs at their disposal. The Padlet will
include the video about the small arms of the Vietnam War, a couple of images of
what the detonation of a hydrogen bomb looks like, and a link to a brief article
about nuclear weapons which I will read aloud. During the Padlet presentation I
will be asking the students if they have any questions about the information they
are hearing. After this brief lecture I will say, Since we now know why nuclear
weapons have not been used since the Second World War, how did the U.S.
contain communism within using nuclear weapons? The students will be
expected to take notes on the lecture material in their composition books which
they will already have. Since we each have notebooks I will ask the MAT
students to take notes in them instead. (V, A, K, T)
Video: 2-3 minutes
ii) I will start the video on small arms of the Vietnam War, and tell the students to
take note of where each weapon came from. The video shows small arms used by
American and South Vietnamese troops as well as the small arms used by the
Viet Cong. The primary assault rifle of the South Vietnamese and American
soldiers was the M-16. The primary assault rifle of the Viet Cong was the AK-47
which is a Soviet weapon. I will also discuss that the AK-47 has taken more
American lives than any other piece of Soviet technology. I will ask the students
how the use of these different weapons by opposing factions represented the
alliances the South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese had made. (V, A, K, T)
(a) Diversity Element: The showing of the video is helpful for ELL/ESOL
students because it allows them to actually see the weapons being
discussed. Even these students should realize that if the Viet Cong soldiers
were using soviet firearms they must have gotten them from somewhere.
PollEverywhere.com: 2 minutes

i.)

The students will complete a poll using their phones. The poll question will
read as follows: What soviet weapon has taken the most American lives? A.)
Mig jet plane B.) Nuclear weapons (either hydrogen bombs or atomic bombs)
C.) Ak-47 assault rifle D.) M-16 assault rifle

My presentation for our class will end here

Short written assignment: 15 minutes

i) The last fifteen minutes of class will consist of a short written assignment. I will pass
out answer sheets for the students where they will write their answer. The question on
the sheet will read, Knowing what you now know about nuclear weapons, and
the lives lost in Vietnam, do you agree with Robert Oppenheimer, when he said,
We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other,
but only at the risk of his own life? Do you think nuclear weapons will ever be
used again? Support your answer to each question with evidence. Your answer to
the first question will make up a majority of your grade for this assignment.
Points to consider include: the development of the hydrogen bomb, and the use of
specific small arms by competing sides in Korea, and later in the Vietnam War. I will
read the question aloud to the class, and it will also appear on their answer sheet. (V,
A, K, T)
(a) Diversity Element: The second question was mainly to allow the GT students
to think at a higher level and share their thoughts about nuclear weapons.
Since the grade I give will be primarily based on the first question and the use
of evidence, the other students will not be negatively impacted. Similarly, my
reading of the question aloud will help the ELL/ESOL, and students who are
struggling readers understand the question.
ii) The short written assignment will work as the exit ticket for the class.
iii) The short written assignment can either support or reject Oppenheimers quote, and
the students can still receive full credit as long as they support their position.

Informal Assessment:

Informal observations
Student responses and questions during the lecture

Formative Assessment:

Short written assignment

Technology integration

Polleverywhere.com
Blabberize Oppenheimers face and the quote
Padlet with linked Blabberize, YouTube videos, PollEverywhere and images

My plan as of now is to include a Blabberize with an image of Oppenheimers face which will
say the quote about what happens when you put two scorpions in a bottle. I think it would be
cool to organize all of it on Padlet so that I could easily move to different pieces of information,
and then use Pollev.com to check if the students got what I wanted out of the lesson. I still want
them to practice their writing, and so the writing portion will remain the same.