Teaching World War I in the 21st Century 1 | Page 56

D2.His.10.9-12 Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

CONNECTIONS TO C3 FRAMEWORK:
DOCUMENTS USED:
Primary Sources:

Leland O. Linman diary, September 19-October 7, 1918
www.theworldwar.org/lessons
Leland Linman was an American soldier describing his experience at the front in his diary. He performed a multitude of
different tasks, some of which students always think about (fighting as an artilleryman, seeking shelter) but also a number of
everyday, mundane war tasks that made the duty more miserable.
Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans’ History Project, Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/

World War I: In the Trenches
http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/WWI-trenches.html
This site can be used with one of the extensions, comparing Linman’s story to stories of other soldiers. It contains firsthand
accounts of several soldiers from World War I.
Overview: The goal for today is to compare what a normal soldier’s life looks like compared to the standard description
of trench warfare. Leland Linman’s diary covers the parts of war that often get left out: miles of marching, hours of
moving artillery shells from one place to another, and lousy food. In this lesson, the goal is to point out that a tremendous
amount of movement happens in war—even trench war—that should be included to complete the whole picture.

LESSON DESCRIPTION:

Time: about 60 minutes

• A Soldier at War handout

Materials:

• Precise Paragraph Rubric
• Linman Diary entries

• Computer with Excel capability (if using extension)

• Distribute one copy of Linman diary entries per student. If you have a class set of laptops or tablets, it would be

LESSON PREPARATION:

easier to post this. It is his actual diary, and the color of some entries is a little bit lighter.

• Distribute one A Soldier at War handout per student.

• Distribute one Precise Paragraph Rubric per student.

• Anticipatory Set - This lesson works best if you have already discussed the idea of trench warfare with

Procedure:

students, or if you discuss that during the first part of a longer 90-minute block and use this as the second,
student-centered part of the lesson.

• Ask students for key traits of trench warfare as an anticipatory set. Once you have established the

important points, explain to them that today we will talk about an artilleryman’s experience to see if it
matches up with what we think we know about trench warfare.

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Lesson Plans & Activities