US History · Week 32 · The Cold War and Contemporary America
Vietnam and a Divided Nation
Students hear perspectives from veterans, protesters, and Vietnamese refugees who later settled in California and practice listening across deep disagreement.
- Students will
- Students explain how the Vietnam War divided Americans and shaped domestic policy, and practice listening across deep disagreement using several perspectives.
- SEL skill
- Restate a view you disagree with fairly and name what may have shaped it
- What it looks like
- Students practice empathy by listening to views different from their own and restating them fairly.
- Content focus
- Vietnam and a Divided Nation
- Format
- Structured discussion
Social awareness
Social awareness means understanding other people's perspectives and feeling with them, including people whose backgrounds differ from yours. More social awareness activities
What you get
A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.
Standards
- 11.9.3: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 11: United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century (standard 11.9, item 3)
- 11.9.4: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 11: United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century (standard 11.9, item 4)
- CA HSS Analysis Skill: HREP3 Evaluate major debates among historians about alternative interpretations of the past. (Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View)
- C3 Framework (national): D2.Civ.9.9-12 Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
- Literacy in history: RH.11-12.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors on the same or related topics.
Fits these textbook chapters
- American History: Reconstruction to the Present, Module 16: The Vietnam War
- American History: Reconstruction to the Present, Module 19: The United States in the 21st Century
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 50: The United States Gets Involved in Vietnam
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 51: Facing Frustration in Vietnam
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 52: Getting Out of Vietnam
Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.
More social awareness activities for US History
- Unalienable Rights, Unfinished Promises Social awarenessStudents read the Declaration of Independence alongside the experiences of enslaved people, women, and Native nations and consider how promises look different from different places.
- The Jungle and the Factory Floor Social awarenessStudents read excerpts from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle about working conditions and food safety and practice imagining daily life from a worker's point of view.
- Cities Built by Newcomers Social awarenessStudents map how immigrants and migrants built growing industrial cities divided by race, ethnicity, and class and practice noticing who might feel left out in a group.
- Dust Bowl Migrants Come to California Social awarenessStudents study Dorothea Lange's photographs of Dust Bowl families arriving in California and consider how communities can welcome people in crisis.
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RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.