EDUCATION
For the creation of instructional materials based upon student-generated research, the SFCC-VLGP will work with certified Social Studies teachers of New Mexico to create interactive and inquiry-based lessons and mini-units. These instructional materials will focus on engaging students in the rich historical stories to be learned from the National Cemetery and the veteran biographies researched and created by SFCC students. These are standards-based materials emphasizing the practice of 21st Century Skills, research, literacy, and critical thinking. Lessons are available to teachers across the state of New Mexico and beyond. We hope you will find them useful for your classroom, and we encourage you to download and revise them to accommodate your own students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs.
GradeS 3-5
Lesson 1:Lesson Overview:
An introduction of Code Talkers
Lesson Overview:
A context for understanding Code Talkers and narrative of the life of Chester Nez
Lesson Overview:
An analysis of the theme and rhyme/rhyme scheme of the poem Navajo Code Talkers
Lesson Overview:
Jigsaw examining the life and art of Code Talker Carl N. Gorman
Lesson Overview:
Jigsaw examining the life and art of veteran Eva Maribal
GradeS 4-5
Learning Objectives:
- Students will be able to explain why individuals on opposing sides of the American Revolution differed in their perspectives; create a political cartoon representing one of the opposing sides: patriot or loyalist.
Learning Objective:
- Students will be able to generate questions about female veterans.
Grades 6-12
Teaching social studies means showing how ordinary people have made a difference throughout history. Through this lesson plan on veterans, the educator will show students that these ordinary men made the ultimate sacrifice to fight and possibly die in the name of the United States of America. This lesson will help students to understand why we must remember, honor, and tell the individual stories of our veterans. Students will be analyzing several primary sources tounderstand this aspect of history. This lesson will develop students’ historical thinking skills.
Students who may lack background knowledge in the areas of our military will understand the definition of a veteran and what it means to serve in the military. Students will learn about the different branches of the military and the roles they play in serving our country.
Grade 7 – MULTI-Lesson Social Studies Complete Curriculum
New Mexico Cultural Heritage – VLGP Artifacts Analysis
Explore the Veterans Legacy Grant Program website to be able to expand on the understanding of the vision, meaning and legacy of those that have served from New Mexico through reliable and relevant primary and secondary sources.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify a variety of primary and secondary sources using the VLPG webpage
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Locate biographical information and chronological events involving soldiers from New Mexico to list and describe on timeline supported by the Veterans Legacy Grant program webpage.
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Explore the wars the United States was involved with and how New Mexican soldiers contributed to outcomes of these wars.
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Compare and contrast the use of multimedia and artifacts that are provided by the Veterans Legacy Grant Program with the biographies tab of the Veterans Legacy Grant program webpage.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify a variety of primary and secondary sources using the VLPG webpage
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Locate biographical information and chronological events involving soldiers from New Mexico to list and create a One-Page supported by the Veterans Legacy Grant program webpage.
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Explore the wars the United States was involved with and how New Mexican soldiers contributed to outcomes of these wars and select a hero of focus for the creation of your One-Pager.
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Compare and contrast the use of multimedia and artifacts that are provided by the Veterans Legacy Grant
Learning Objectives:
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Identify a variety of primary and secondary sources using the VLGP webpage
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Locate biographical information and chronological events involving soldiers from New Mexico to list and describe on a Venn Diagram supported by the Veterans Legacy Grant program webpage.
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Explore the wars and veterans of the United States that were involved with and how New Mexican soldiers
Learning Objectives:
Students will analyze the global reach of New Mexican veterans and make inferences about the priorities and engagements of the United States military.
Learning Objectives:
Students will develop questions that they would ask the veterans from the biographies. Then, students will conduct a mini-interview with a student who is familiar with at least one of the veterans buried in Santa Fe National Cemetery.
Learning Objectives:
Students will analyze the New Mexico state seal and debate how the imagery represents the history of the state and the country of which it became a part.
Learning Objectives:
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Reflect on how groups maintain their cultural heritage and why it is important to analyze the symbols, traditions, and cultural expressions of New Mexico’s cultural heritage
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Identify, explore, analyze, research and describe New Mexico cultural heritage through “Art and War” symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions of our state
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Identify the different types of heritage in New Mexico based on symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions
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Illustrate examples of New Mexican symbols, traditions, and culture
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Use primary and secondary sources to develop an argument: making predictions and writing a draft of an expository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts/images (primary sources)
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Cite specific textual evidence using primary and secondary sources to support the claim of an argument: making predictions and writing an expository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts
Learning Objectives:
- Identify, explore, analyze, research and describe New Mexico cultural heritage through the “Art and War” symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions of our state
- Gather reliable and relevant primary and secondary sources from a variety of media, such as print, digital, multimedia, artifacts, and oral traditions
- Identify the different types of heritage in New Mexico based on symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions
- Illustrate examples of New Mexican symbols, traditions, and culture
- Use primary and secondary sources to develop an argument: improving the predictions/analysis of the firstexpository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts/images
- Cite specific textual evidence using primary and secondary sources to support the claim of the expository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts/images
Learning Objectives:
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Identify, explore, analyze, research and describe New Mexico cultural heritage through the “Art and War” symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions of our state
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Gather reliable and relevant primary and secondary sources from a variety of media, such as print, digital, multimedia, artifacts, and oral traditions
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Identify the different types of heritage in New Mexico based on symbols, traditions, and other cultural expressions
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Illustrate examples of New Mexican symbols, traditions, and culture
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Use primary and secondary sources to develop an argument: improving the predictions/analysis of the first expository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts/images
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Cite specific textual evidence using primary and secondary sources to support the claim of the expository paragraph about New Mexico’s “Art and War” cultural heritage artifacts/images
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Engage effectively in the Gallery Walk collaborative discussions about New Mexico Cultural Heritage Artifacts/Images
Grades 7-12
Students will engage with the purpose of national cemeteries by researching the history of the cemetery as well as discussing the present and future role of national cemeteries in preserving the legacy of veterans of a variety of conflicts.
Students will tour the Santa Fe National Cemetery and investigate how cemetery markers, memorials, and artifacts help us understand history. This lesson could be used as a hook to other lessons from the VLP involving the national cemetery and/or New Mexican veterans or it could be used as a hands-on way to remember events, people, and historical facts learned after completing several VLP lessons.
Students will choose a veteran from the provided biographies of 15 soldiers to research using both secondary and primary sources. Students will research the individual veteran’s life and the significance of that veteran’s military role and the war or military event they took part in to create a video tribute for the Veteran’s Legacy Memorial. Alternatively, students can write a tribute if video technology is unavailable.
After reading a brief summary, students will analyze first-hand accounts of the Battle of Glorieta pass in order to understand and explain the importance of a local battle during the Civil War.
Grades 8-10
This lesson should follow a unit on the history of World War One. Students should already be familiar with the factors that brought the United States into the Great War. In this lesson, students create “Biographical Storymaps” of American Servicemen who fought in the Great War. Working in pairs or small groups, students use both digital and traditional resources. Along the way, students deploy basic geography skills, practice close-reading informational text, and summarize significant biographical events.
Grades 9-12
To understand the experiences and contributions of veterans buried in the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
Objectives:
- To develop research and analysis skills by examining biographical articles from The Santa Fe New Mexican.
- To understand the significance of veterans’ lives and their impact on the community.
Students often struggle with making the connection between primary sources and the story behind them. This lesson helps students understand and make the connections between different primary sources (census records, letters, diary entries, and other documents) and the life story of some veterans. This lesson will guide students through documents needed to create short narratives about a veteran buried in Santa Fe National Cemetery. It also contains biographies already written by SFCC students and professors, so high school students are able to look at examples and compare the story they inferred from primary sources to an official biography. This lesson could be a stepping stone to additional research being done using local sources or for students to create their own family’s story.
Students will be able to explain the challenges faced by African American troops during World War I. Students will also be able to describe the accomplishments of African American troops both at home and in France during World War I, with focus on the “Harlem Hellfighters”. Additionally, students will compare the experiences of WWI African American veterans with the experiences of New Mexican veterans from historically marginalized groups.
Grades 10-12
The goal of this lesson is to have students wrestle with a variety of perspectives that deepen their understanding of public perceptions of global issues using the Vietnam War as an example. Conflicts are essentially never all good or all bad, never all one side or the other. Soldiers are not monolithic, and yet they are asked to serve a common cause.