This lesson plan aims to teach 8th grade students about the contributions and roles of African Americans during World War II. Students will learn about key figures like Benjamin O. Davis and the Tuskegee Airmen. They will fill out a graphic organizer to explain the differences in how African Americans contributed during World Wars I and II. The lesson involves group work where students research different topics and present their findings, followed by note taking. Accommodations are provided for two students with different needs.

1. Teacher: Tae’Lor Landa Subject/Grade: American History 8th Grade
Lesson Topic/Title: African Americans in WWII
Big Idea/Essential Question
1. What is the significance of African Americans’ contribution to WWII
OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENTS:
Students will be able to:
 By filling out a graphic organizer at the end of the lesson, students will be able to
explain African Americans’ role in the war and at home during World War II and
the difference from their role in World War I at 100% accuracy.
 By giving brief oral reports in class and taking notes, students will be able to
identify the people and groups below that were significant to African Americans
and their war effort in World War II at 100% accuracy.
o Benjamin O. Davis
o Tuskagee Airmen
o Women’s Army Corps
o Phyllis Mae Daley
o Office of Civilian defense
o Crystal Bird Fause
STANDARDS (Reference number and text of MO Standards and NCSS Curriculum
Standards/C3 Framework):
NCSS Standards
 Time, continuity and change
o Knowledge – contributions of key persons, groups, and events from the
past and their influence on the present.
o Process – evaluate the impact of values, beliefs, and institutions of people
in the past and important historical decisions and developments of their
time.
o Product – presenting findings in oral, written, visual or electronic formats
or reconstructing and enacting a historical event through roleplaying.
MO Standards GLE H.3a.K.AH.1
 Explain the importance of the following principles of government since
Reconstruction: majority rule and minority rights
MATERIALS NEEDED FOR INSTRUCTION

2. 1. Text pages: 235-241 Manual pages: Same as text pages
2. Resources Teacher: Yellow and blue markers, graphic organizers,
poster paper, markers.
Student: laptops, pencils,
Special preparation that needs to be completed in advance (set-up, handouts, etc.):
Graphic Organizer.
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE What oral or written language will teacher and/or students
need to understand and/or be able to use successfully in connection with the lesson?
 Key Terms: Benjamin O. Davis, Tuskegee Airmen
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES – Insert specific plans here, making provisions for
the following:
A. Review (as needed, make connections from a previous
lesson/s)
a. Students will understand their knowledge of the previous
lesson by filling out half of graphic organizer about African
American’s roles in WWI. 7 minutes
b. Accommodations for Jack – Jack will be given a
checklist of today’s tasks at the beginning of the
hour. He will be given a goal setting worksheet in
which he writes down what goals he wants to
accomplish today. He will also be allowed to fill out
only 1-2 boxes of the graphic organizer instead of all
three.
c. Accommodations for Marie - Marie will be allowed to
use her notes from the previous lesson in order to
out the graphic organizer.
B. Developing Background (how will students connect the lesson to their own
experiences?)
a. As students fill out graphic organizer, instructor will come around and
mark some of their papers with a yellow mark, and the other papers with a
blue mark. 1 minute
b. Tell students “Those with a yellow mark will receive five extra credit points
for completing their graphic organizer. Those with a blue mark will have to
tell me what they put on their graphic organizer and why they think they
deserve the extra points.” 10 seconds
c. Two-three students with blue marks share their graphic organizers and
explain why they should get extra points. -3 minutes
d. Instructor “I guess those reasons and answers will have to do. But, I’m
only going to give you ½ of an extra credit point. Now, turn to the people at
your table to discuss what it felt to be in either group.
e. Students discuss the experience. 5 minutes
f. Class reconvenes and students tell instructor what they were feeling
during the experiment. 5 minutes
C. Transitional Statement (including stated objectives)

3. a. This mini-lesson was to show you how African Americans
were treated during WWII. While they were slowly, but
surely allowed to participate in the war effort, they were
still facing discrimination. Today, we are going to take a
look at the jobs African Americans were allowed to have
in the war effort and some influential people and
programs that were introduced during that time.
D. Developing the New Lesson (introduce and practice new
content)
a. Instructor will assign different tables to read the following
sections in the textbook; African Americans Do Their Part
and first paragraph of African American Soldiers,
Benjamin O. Davis, Tuskagee Airmen, African American
Women in the War, Working on Home Front, and
Contributing to War Effort. -15 minutes
b. Students will use posters to create mini presentations on
their textbook sections – 20 mins
c. Each group will share their findings to the whole class as
class fills out notes on Cornell notes. – 25 mins
d. Accommodations for Jack- Jack will be using AIM
Explorer, a text-to-speech program to read the pages
to him. He will then discuss what he knows with his
table. Jack will be given the ‘Light Bulb’ graphic
organizer which has the key information in the center
and he will write the notes on the lines coming from
the center. Picture associations of the key
information will be given with the graphic organizer.
After each presentation is over, Jack will confer with
his peer tutor to see if Jack wrote down the correct
notes he needed. Jack and his peer tutor will receive
a reward.
e. Accommodations for Marie – Marie will be given the
choice to work alone on the project and the choice to
give her presentation in a different way. Marie will
read an summary of the textbook pages using
AutoSummary on Word, then go to read the actual
pages. She will be given copies of the actual pages,
with the key elements highlighted on those pages.
She will also be given a few ‘stop and think’ prompts
that she has to respond to as she reads the text. The
‘stop and think’ prompts will help with her
comprehension and making inferences. In order to
help her make the proper inferences, she will also be
given an inference graphic organizer which will
require her to put her inference, and the page number
where she found her evidence. She will be with her

4. peer tutor and she and her peer tutor will discuss
what the text was about and assist her in making
inferences. Marie and her peer tutor will receive a
reward.
E. Summary (ask about/restate objectives)
a. Instructor. “So, what did you notice about the role of
African American’s during WWII? What advances did they
make as a race? Who were the key players? It is
important for you all to understand that even though
African Americans were able to get more involved, they
were still not treated equally. Many of them moved north
in search of employment. We will talk about what
happens next tomorrow.”
F. Assessment (formative and summative tasks related to lesson objectives)
a. Fill out other half of graphic organizer about African American’s roles in
WWII and give a summary of the significant people and groups of peers’
presentation. -7 minutes
Accommodations for Jack – Jack will be given the choice to either
use a storyboard to complete his assessment or go to the other
room to use the VoiceThread. VoiceThread is a website that allows
people to make voice over comments on photographs and clips. I
would post the pictures of the key elements that were given with his
graphic organizer and post them on VoiceThread, allowing him to
make comments on it. He will also have to comment on the
differences between African Americans’ treatment in World War I and
their treatment in World War II. Together, we will look at his checklist
and if he has completed everything on his checklist, he will receive a
reward.
Accommodations for Marie – Marie will be able to use her marked up
text that she used during the work time to fill out her assessment.
She will still fill out the assessment as it is in the form of a graphic
organizer. However, she will indicate the page number of where she
got her information from and she will come to me so that I may check
her inference making progress.
b. This class is a 90 minute class.