The Vietnam War

1. The Vietnam War A Commemorative Video

2. Table of Contents • Introduction • Task • Process • Resources • Evaluation • Conclusion • Teacher Pages

3. Introduction • The History Channel is looking for you! The History Channel is holding a competition for teams of five either journalists and or photographers to create a commemorative video in honor of the Vietnam War. • This is a challenging contest because as most of you know the Vietnam War was a very difficult time in our nation’s history.

4. Intro Cont’d • In addition, very few videos show the Vietnam War through the eyes of differing perspectives, such as the U.S. soldier, the American politician, the anti-war protestor, and the Vietnamese. If you take on this challenge, your video must show all four of the above perspectives on the war. • Without looking at all sides of the story, a person cannot judge the true cost of war.

5. Task • Your team of America’s finest journalist and photographers to create a commemorative video of the Vietnam War that show some of the key players in the war: American soldiers, politicians, anti-war protestors, and the Vietnamese people. • Your video must answer the following question: After witnessing the Vietnam War through multiple perspectives, was it a war worth fighting?

6. Process: Group Member Selection • Each member of your group was selected for a specific purpose and to ensure the highest level of competition for this contests. • Each member brings a unique set of gifts and talents to the team. • In order for your team to be successful, you must rely on each other’s assets and work together!

7. Process: Group Members • Each Team will have Five Members • Member 1: Overall Fact Checker & Production Manager • Member 2: American soldier expert & Mediator • Member 3: Politician Expert & Computer Technician • Member 4: Anti-war Protestor Expert &Creator • Member 5: Vietnamese Expert & Communications Expert

8. Process: Member 1 • Member 1 Responsibilities: • After each day of research, all other group members will submit their daily research logs to you. • You will double check their research logs to make sure that their information is accurate and properly cited. • At the beginning of each work day, you will report group progress, questions, or problems to me.

9. Process: Member 2 • Member 2 Responsibilities: • Thoroughly research the American soldier’s experience in Vietnam. • Complete the American soldier’s questions and turn in your daily log to your Fact Checker and Production Leader. • Mediate any disputes among Team members.

10. Process: Member 3 • Member 3 Responsibilities: • Thoroughly research the key politicians that influenced America’s foreign policy in Vietnam. • Complete the Politician’s questions and turn in your daily log to your Fact Checker and Production Leader. • Trouble Shoot Computer Problems for any Team Member.

11. Process Member 4 Member 4 Responsibilities: Thoroughly research the anti-war protestor’s perspective on the Vietnam War and how they impacted American foreign policy. Complete the Anti-war Protestor’s questions and turn in your daily log to your Fact Checker and Production Leader. Create or Design the layout for the Team’s commemorative Video.

12. Process: Member 5 • Member 5 Responsibilities: • Thoroughly research the Vietnamese experience during the Vietnam War. • Complete the Vietnamese’s questions and turn in your daily log to your Fact Checker and Production Leader. • Ensure that the all group members are communicating with one another and during video production, make sure everyone is speaking clearly and knows his/her lines.

13. Process: Background Knowledge • Collaboration: • Before beginning your individual research assignments, you need to brainstorm information that was learned about the Vietnam War. • Fact Checker/Team Leader: Needs to organize this information into a 5Ws Chart (Who, What, Where, When, Why) • This Must be turned in and reviewed before moving on to your individual assignments.

14. Process: Research • Each Team will have five days for individual research. • After each day, Members 2-5 will turn in their daily research logs to their Fact Checker, who will make sure all information is accurate and documented properly. • Fact Checker, will report the Team’s progress to me at the start of each Research Day.

15. Process: Video Production • Create a 20 minute video that illustrates the role that each key group played in the Vietnam War. • All group members must be on camera with Members 2-5 representing their assigned group and Member 1 being the host of the show.

16. Resources • http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/birth_defects.asp This website is part of Virginia governments public health. It explains a list of birth defects caused by exposure to Agent Orange, so both the Vietnamese and U.S. soldier group will be able to use this to describe the effects of that the Vietnam War had on those groups. • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/weapons.html This website is from PBS. The website provides a variety of information for a several of the groups. This particular section describes weapons, uniforms, food, etc. for the U.S. soldiers. Also, there is a link that could be used by the Vietnamese group for the My Lai Massacre. • http://www.may4.org/ This website is funded by an educational non-profit group. It provides the antiwar protestor group with information about the shooting at Kent State.

17. Resources Cont’d • http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/rolling_thunder.htm This website is sponsored by Global Security and it provides the politician group with the information about Operation Rolling Thunder. • http://history-world.org/vietnam_war_statistics.htm This website provided by the World History Center had its information supplied by the VFW Magazine. It will students in the U.S. soldier group clear statistics on the men who served in the Vietnam war including their race and ethnicity. • www.vietvet.org/letters.htm This website is provided by Vietnam War veterans and they share their letters that they wrote home to their families. This will provide the U.S. soldier group with a primary source to interpret and understand what it was like to fight in the Vietnam War or at least appreciate what these men and women sacrificed.

18. Resources Cont’d • http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/ This website provides an overview of the Vietnam War and is beneficial for all group members to use, including the Fact Checker. • http://www.dce.k12.wi.us/srhigh/socialstudies/histday/vietnam_interviews.htm This website was put together by a Vietnam War veteran who conducted interviews with soldiers who were serving in Vietnam. • http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/vietinterview.htm This is an educational website sponsored by Spartacus. It contains many interviews of Vietnam Veterans and provides readers with contact emails for those veterans if you have further questions.

19. Resources Cont’d • http://www.adoptvietnam.org/vietnamese/interviews-vietnam.htm This website has an author and is sponsored by adopt Vietnam.org. It contains interviews of people who are part of the Vietnamese culture or who are experts on Vietnamese people. • http://www.progressivesforobama.net/?p=26 This website is current and is sponsored by the Progressive America Rising organization. This website provides information on the effects of Agent Orange exposure. • http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kentv.htm This website gives the reader information about President Kennedy’s foreign policy in Vietnam. It was an interview between Walter Cronkite and President Kennedy.

20. Resources Cont’d • http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kentv.htm This website is sponsored by PBS and provides insight on the Mai Lai Massacre, which would be useful for both the solder and Vietnamese groups. • http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html This website was created by the University of Berkeley California and focuses on various anti-war protests that took place throughout the duration of the Vietnam War. • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/2000/vietnam092799.htm This particular website is sponsored by the Washington Post. It is an article written that describes the anti-war protests causes and effects that it had on the country and the war.

21. Resources Cont’d • http://www.history.com/topics/operation-rolling-thunder This detailed summary of Operation Rolling Thunder is sponsored by the History Channel. In addition, it suggests several other key topics and links that would be useful to the politician group. • http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/03BRwhistle07.html This article discusses the impact that the Pentagon Papers had on America after their release. • http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/change-viet4.html This website provides a great overview of many major issues that occurred during the Vietnam War and would be useful for all groups.

22. Evaluation • Be aware that your Research and Video will be evaluated separately. The totals will be combined for an overall score. • WebQuest Research Rubric • Video Production Rubric

23. Conclusion • Celebrate!! Congratulations, you have completed this comprehensive study of the Vietnam War. Throughout this experience, you have had the opportunity to learn about various perspectives of the Vietnam War and what these groups contributed to the outcome of the war. • You learned that the decisions made by politicians had a direct impact on the U.S. soldiers, anti-war protestors, and the Vietnamese. • You learned that tactics used by the soldiers had long term effects on the Vietnamese and the soldiers themselves, as well as affected the opinion of the American people. All of these groups impacted one another. • Hopefully, this assignment has inspired you to evaluate the value or necessity of war. There are no winners. • Lastly, I hope you developed an appreciate for what the men and women who served and I encourage to further research this debacle known as the Vietnam War.

24. Teacher Pages • Lesson Plan • Sample Daily Research Log • Sample Research Questions for each key group represented in this production