Choctaw Code Talkers Sample Lessons
Three sample lessons, yours to explore. Each one reflects the curriculum experience: primary sources, immersive media, and student workbook pages included.
Choctaw Code Talkers Sample Lessons
Three sample lessons, yours to explore. Each one reflects the curriculum experience: primary sources, immersive media, and student workbook pages included.
Overview
Three sample lessons, yours to explore. Each one reflects the curriculum experience: primary sources, immersive media, and student workbook pages included.
Choose one of the readings below for your class. Then, pair with another student to write a response to one of the following 2 questions:
- Why do you think it was important to transmit coded messages during WWI?
- What images come to mind when you hear the phrase “telephone warrior?
Today you’ll explore how new technologies changed the experience of World War I—through both reading and real historical photographs.
Working in groups, assign each person a role:
- Reads the passage aloud to the group.
- Marks key ideas, inventions, and turning points in the text.
- Takes notes on the and writes down group insights.
As you read, pause often to discuss what each new technology—like trench systems, gas masks, field phones, or tanks—reveals about innovation, survival, and the human cost of war.
Readings
Then, open the from the Library of Congress, featuring historic NYTimes images and captions from the period. Look carefully at each photo and headline: what details show how new technologies shaped the battlefield and soldiers’ lives?
These photographs are original evidence from people who lived through World War I. Studying them helps historians (and you) understand not just what happened, but how people about those events at the time. The Library of Congress is one of the best places to explore these sources—its collections are free and open to everyone.
Resources
After your group finishes the reading, worksheet, and photo analysis, complete the short reflection below on your own:
- Which invention or tool do you think had the greatest impact on soldiers’ daily lives—and why?
- Think about both its practical use and its emotional or human effect.
Workbook
Using your phone, tablet, or computer, visit sites using the links below and step into history through a series of 360° videos featuring three World War I memorial sites in France and the United States. As you explore each space, pay attention to what you notice, feel, and wonder—how do design, sound, and setting shape the way we remember?
Record your thoughts, reactions, and questions while you move through the experience. Your notes will guide our upcoming class discussion on how memorials keep stories and emotions alive.
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