Having already done a one-day blended-learning activity with the topic of suffrage, a two-day with WWI, it was time to scale the model to 2.5-days with WWII. This allowed me half of Day 1, an 80-minute period, to set the context and give directions for the week; and then students had the remainder of that class period and the next two periods to do their work.

Without reproducing the entire lesson plan here, know that students had a variety of learning tasks with staggered due dates. For example, they had 26 vocabulary terms (such as Kristallnacht and blitzkrieg) and names (such as Erwin Rommel and Winston Churchill) to make digital flash cards for; they had two videos clips to watch (totaling 27-minutes); two lengthy articles to read (one summarizing WWII and one dedicated to the Holocaust); five brief discussion board posts to make; and a DBQ on the topic of appeasement. There was also a link in Canvas, our learning management system, with the direction to “skim” the Wikipedia entry on the “Massacre of Nanking.”¹

During Day 2 and Day 3, students did not need to come to the classroom; they were free to find space around campus to do their work, but I told them that (a) the classroom would be open if they wanted to use it, and (b) I would be there if they had any questions or needed any help. Further, I told them to not cause problems in the halls with classes that were still in session, and that they could not leave campus.²

As you can imagine, this lesson generated quite a bit of grading. It was manageable though because of the staggered due dates and the ease of correcting work and providing feedback in Canvas. Collecting work in Canvas allowed me to observe the time-stamps and see when students were doing their work. Generally, half of the students did the assigned work during the class period’s normally scheduled time; the other half did the work in the late evening.

Day 1 this week was the wrap-up for WWII. Students took a 15-question quiz in Canvas on the material covered in the videos, articles, and work they did. Then we read a letter home from a Marine to his wife and children, analyzing what could be extrapolated from the letter about life on the Homefront and his demographics. That letter includes a paragraph to his sons explaining why the US is fighting in the war. After examine that we talked about Aquinas and the Just War Theory. Student groups came up with their own guidelines for a Just War before I showed them Aquinas’ and had them judge the actions of the Axis against that list and then the Allies.

That conversation and activity went very well… much to my surprise. In all honesty, when I developed the WWII lesson plan and introduced it to students last week, I didn’t have an ending for it. It wasn’t until Sunday that this week’s Day 1 plan came together. That was scary. It weighed on me, not knowing how I was going to end the lesson.

The other sticking-point for this blended-learning activity is a logistical one. On the days that students are working independently, I’m not taking attendance. That’s something that we, as a school, need to address. Our policies and procedures have to account for a new type of learning.

The next blended-learning activity that I have planned is “The Future"… more to come on that, later.