Teaching World War I in the 21st Century 1 | Page 53

A. P. Bowen, “If I Were A Cootie,” Stars and Stripes, November 1, 1918
http://memory.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpsas/1918/191811/19181101/04.pdf

Wilfred Owen, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Dulce.html

Alan Seeger, “I Have a Rendezvous with Death”
http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Seeger.html

Harry H. St. Louis, “Crosses,” Stars and Stripes, June 7, 1918
http://memory.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpsas/1918/191806/19180607/05.pdf
Jack Warren, “Who Said Sunny France?” Stars and Stripes, May 24, 1918
http://memory.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpsas/1918/191805/19180524/05.pdf

Secondary Source:

Stephen Wesson, “Soldiers’ Poems of World War I in Newspapers: Personal Responses in Public Media,” Teaching with the
Library of Congress, March 19, 2013
http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2013/03/soldiers-poems-of-world-war-i-in-newspapers-personal-responses-in-public-media/
Overview: This lesson is designed to help students to recognize the value of poetry for understanding how World War I
soldiers reacted to the experience of war. The lesson requires some background knowledge of the war and will be most
successful if taught toward the end of a unit on World War I. The lesson uses poems written by soldiers and published
in Stars and Stripes. This lesson was inspired by a blog post by Stephen Wesson titled “Soldiers’ Poems of World War I in
Newspapers: Personal Responses in Public Media.”

LESSON DESCRIPTION:

Time: One to two class periods and presentation day

Materials:

The transcriptions were created by using the PDF version of each newspaper page. The page was enlarged, a screen snip was
taken and then pasted into a word processing program. Each page has an image of the original, as well as the transcribed version.

• “Black and White” (transcript)
• “Crosses” (transcript)

• “If I Were A Cootie” (transcript)

• “Who Said Sunny France?” (transcript)
• Graphic Organizer

• Culminating Activities Sheet and Rubric

• Print one copy of the Graphic Organizer for each group

LESSON PREPARATION:

• Print one copy of each poem for each student

• Print one copy of the Culminating Activities Page for each student
• Prepare the container of ice water for the introductory activity

• Introductory Activity: Place a desk or table in the front of the classroom with a container of ice water on it and

Day 1 Procedure:

cover with a tablecloth.

Lesson Plans & Activities

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