World History · Week 20 · World War I and Its Aftermath
Letters From the Trenches
Students read letters from soldiers on many sides, including colonial troops, and practice attuning to the feelings beneath another person's words.
- Students will
- Students analyze soldiers' letters from many sides, including colonial troops, to understand the human costs of World War I.
- SEL skill
- Listen for the feeling beneath another person's words
- What it looks like
- Students practice attuning to the feelings beneath another person's words.
- Content focus
- Soldiers' letters and the human cost of the war
- Format
- Partner exchange
Social awareness
Social awareness is seeing a situation through someone else's eyes, caring about how they feel, and respecting backgrounds different from your own. 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
- 10.5.4: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 10: World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World (standard 10.5, item 4)
- CA HSS Analysis Skill: HI3 Interpret past events in the context in which they unfolded rather than solely by present day norms and values. (Historical Interpretation)
- C3 Framework (national): D2.His.4.9-12 Analyze the complex and interacting factors that influenced people's perspectives during different historical eras.
- Literacy in history: RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Fits these textbook chapters
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 World History
- Rights on Paper Social awarenessStudents trace rights from the Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights and imagine how each document looked to people it included and people it left out.
- From Farm to Factory Town Social awarenessStudents study the move from villages to crowded industrial cities and consider what helps newcomers feel they belong in a new place.
- Two Sides of the Colonial Story Social awarenessStudents compare accounts of imperialism written by colonizers and by colonized people and practice seeing an event through the eyes of someone with less power.
- Remembering the Armenian Genocide Social awarenessStudents learn about the Ottoman government's genocide against Armenian citizens through survivor testimony and practice bearing witness with respect for the people who suffered.
Previous: How Nations Talked Themselves Into War · Next: Remembering the Armenian Genocide
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.