Topic 1: U.S. American Volunteers in World War I, 1914-1917

What does it mean to be a “volunteer”? How did U.S. American volunteers engage in the European war zone before the arrival of the United States military overseas in 1917? In these lesson plans, designed for secondary school classrooms, students will learn about the critical role of U.S. American volunteers in World War I and how volunteer organizations shaped the way the war was experienced by thousands. They will examine brief biographies of individual volunteers, considering the broad historical factors and the particular life experiences that motivated men and women to serve prior to the arrival of the United States military overseas in 1917. They will utilize primary sources (photographs and wartime letters) to gain a first-hand perspective on the volunteer experience.

The topic is divided into four interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, Why Do People Volunteer?
2. Lesson I, Deciding to Volunteer During World War I: A Primary Source Analysis
3. Lesson II, Learning the Diverse Life Stories of World War I Volunteers Through Mini-Biographies
4. Extension Activity, Be the Historian: Exploring One U.S. American’s Service in World War I Through an Archival Letter Colletion

Topic 2: U.S. American Women’s Volunteerism and Suffrage in World War I

What motivated U.S. American women to volunteer for war service during World War I, domestically and abroad?  How did their volunteer roles challenge traditional formulations of female duty to home and family? These lesson plans, designed for secondary school learners, help students explore through the ways that women’s lives and roles were transformed by volunteer service before and after 1917 through diverse primary sources.  They invites students, as well, to consider the interplay between women’s volunteer service and women’s pursuit of political and professional equality during World War I.

This topic is divided into five interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole, depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, Advancing Toward Women’s Equality in the United States
2. Lesson I, Images and Ideas about Women Volunteers
3. Lesson II, A U.S. American Nurse in France: A Primary Source Analysis
4. Lesson III, Women’s Volunteer War Service and Women’s Suffrage in the United States
5. Extension Activity, Rights for Women Around the Globe: A Century of Change

Topic 3: Diversity and Debate on the U.S. Home Front During the “European War”

Although Woodrow Wilson urged Americans to remain “impartial in thought as well as in action” at the start of World War I in Europe, many people living in the United States identified with the combatants and sought to shape public opinion about the war. In these lesson plans, designed for secondary schools, students will look at how Americans supported pro-Allied or pro-Central Powers positions and consider what was at stake, what citizens thought the U.S. should do, how the two camps sought to influence public opinion, and the role war front volunteers played in shaping the debate at home.

This topic is divided into three interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole, depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, Trans-national America
2. Lesson, Influencing Public Opinion on the Central and Allied Powers
3. Extension Activity, Exploring Local Discourse on World War I through Archival Research

Topic 4: Lost Generation Artists and Writers as World War I Volunteers

How did the unprecedented death and destruction of World War I affect artists and writers? Specifically, how did volunteer service in the First World War shape the lives and perspectives of some American writers and artists, members of the “Lost Generation”?  These lesson plans invite secondary school learners to explore how the volunteer service of some of  the most famous U.S. American writers and artists—Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, E. E. Cummings, and Henry O. Tanner—was reflected through the aesthetics and themes of their work.  They also invites students to interpret the poetry, prose, and artwork of these individuals and to infer what they intended to convey about war itself.  

This topic is divided into three interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole, depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, In Flanders Fields: One Writer’s Response to War
2. Lesson, Lost Generation Artists and Writers: Volunteer Experience and Artistic Expression
3. Extension Activity, Researching the Literature of War

Topic 5: Humanitarian International Relief: A Legacy of Great War Volunteerism

The devastation of the Great War unfolded on a scale unprecedented until that time in world history- a crisis that demanded a new type and scale of international response.

These lesson plans explore the role United States volunteer organizations played in relieving the suffering of civilians during the humanitarian crisis of World War I. Designed for high school learners, the lesson plans help students trace the legacies of humanitarian relief work and humanitarian workers in the World War I era and throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Using primary sources that include artifacts, letters, journal entries, photographs, and early motion pictures, students will learn about the organizations and their volunteers. Finally, students are invited to consider the role the private sector and United States government played in relief efforts and the importance of public support in the success of such work.

The topic is divided into four interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole, depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, What is a Humanitarian Problem?
2. Lesson I, Comparison of Contemporary Humanitarian Workers to Humanitarian Workers During World War I
3. Lesson II, Organization and Mobilization of Public Support and Humanitarian Relief for Belgium and France During World War I
4. Extension Activity, Student-Designed Recruitment Campaign for Volunteer Assistance of Humanitarian Relief Efforts in Europe

Topic 6: Young People, Volunteerism, and Global Service: From World War I to the Present

How have young people become active global citizens, both in World War I and today? This topic, designed for secondary school learners, explores the concept of global citizenship, particularly through volunteer service. The lesson plans present a case study of an organization dedicated to creating global citizens through volunteerism, both historically and today. They provide students an opportunity to explore the meaning of global citizenship and to consider actions they can take as volunteers to engage in global and local issues.

This topic is divided into three interrelated lesson plans that could be taught independently or as a whole, depending upon grade level, instructional objectives, and time:

1. Activator, Understanding Global Citizenship
2. Lesson, AFS Intercultural Programs: A Case Study on Volunteerism and Global Citizenship
3. Extension Activity, Think Globally, Act Locally! Engaging with the World Today