National Medal of Honor Day, March 25th, 2011: Lesson plans for History and Social Studies teachers

March 13, 2011
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Medal of Honor News
Posted in Education Medal of Honor Lessons Medal of Honor Recipients National Medal of Honor Day National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History
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The National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History in Chattanooga, TN has an informative Education Module.

From the website:

The lesson plan provides a brief history of the Medal of Honor, an overview of the exhibits at the National Medal of Honor Museum, activity sheets for students visiting the museum, and post-visit classroom activities.

Although the lesson plan is intended to be presented in conjunction with a visit to the museum, it can be used to supplement normal instruction of state and U.S. History; or special instruction for National Medal of Honor Day.

From the Education Module:

“The following goals/standards are taken from National Social Studies and History Standards published by the National Council for the Social Studies. The teacher should develop specific classroom objectives based on their use of the material in this lesson plan. For example: (1) if an elementary class is studying the Civil War, specific classroom objectives could include the stories about local civil war heroes and battles; and (2) if a middle or high school class was studying racial prejudice, specific classroom objectives could include the stories of WW I and WW II African-American and Asian-American Medal of Honor recipients and how they were denied the medal until the George H. W. Bush and William Clinton presidencies.”

There are separate lesson plans for:
• Elementary School Students
• Middle School Students
• High School Students
• Scouts
• Adult Community Groups

The website is also organized to allow student input from elementary school to adult. All articles should include a bibliography along with the author’s name and grade.

1. Elementary School Students
a. Teachers should require the student to write a one to three page essay covering one or more of the following topics.
• Write a biography of a local Medal of Honor recipient.
• Discuss the impact of one of America’s wars on your state or local community.

b. Sketch the Medal of Honor or a local War Monument.

2. Middle and High School Students

a.Teachers should require the student to write a one to three page essay covering one or more of the following topics.
• During the Civil War, the Union awarded the “Medal of Honor” and the Confederacy placed one’s name on the “Roll of Honor”. Compare/Contrast the two awards.
• Compare/Contrast military honors given by the United States and honors given by other governments (e.g. Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, China).
• Discuss the “Purge of 1917” and the criteria used to remove recipients from the Roll.
• Discuss racial prejudice in the armed forces during WW I and WW II and how it manifested itself in the awarding of the Medal of Honor.
• Discuss Mary Walker’s campaign to restore her Medal of Honor after the Purge of 1917.(see also Medal of Honor News‘ article, The 1st and only woman Medal of Honor recipient: A statue in her honor)
• Discuss Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign to receive the Medal of Honor.
• Make the case that James J. Andrews should be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the “Great Locomotive Chase.”
• Discuss how a Medal of Honor recipient affected your local community or the nation.