Title of Lesson: The Impact of Television in the 1960’s

Grade Level(s): 11th Grade U.S. History

Content Area: The Cold War (U.S. international and domestic policies including their influences on
technological advancements and social changes during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations)

Standard(s):

SSUSH21 Analyze U.S. international and domestic policies including their influences on technological
advancements and social changes during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

c. Describe the impact of television on American culture including the presidential debates
(Kennedy/Nixon, 1960), news coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, the moon landing, and the war in
Vietnam.

Amount of Time Needed for Lesson: Students will be allotted three days to complete this assignment.

SMAR Level: Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks.

Essential Questions:

1. How did (Students chosen 1960’s topic) event impact American morale? How would television (a fairly
new visual medium) influence social opinions on this historical event?
2. What element of Cold War competition does your topic reflect?
3. How did television impact culture in the United States during the 1960’s?
4. How does television reveal to the American people what we, as a society, deem significant?
5. In what ways does television establish a national unity?

Television survey to assist in additional points to consider when reflecting on the impact television
has on our society and students’ lives:

1. How many televisions are in your home? Which rooms?

2. How many hours a day do you watch TV? Hours a week?
3. What type of programs do you watch?
4. How much information/news do receive from watching TV (%)?
5. Has a television report/newscast ever influenced your decision-making and/or feelings towards
a subject-matter?
6. Has a commercial ever effected your decision-making in purchasing a product?

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities:

The first instructional strategy used in the classroom will be setting objectives. I will model for the
students the objectives and expectations for this assignment. Cooperative learning and differentiation
will also be used. Students will be paired in heterogeneous grouping. Within each group students get to
pick their roll/job for this assignment. This will encourage each student to feel confident, have a since of
responsibility, and maximize their talents. I will be using both direct instruction and scaffolding
instruction. This is where I will first show the teacher example of the multimedia video lesson, and then
break down instruction for the students to then create their own multimedia video. Students will also be
exposed to discipline specific vocabulary at the beginning of the unit where they are required to define
each academic term and apply each term into another functioning working definition. This unit specific
academic vocabulary will be expected to be incorporated into their multimedia video.

The students will be able to describe the impact of television on American culture including the
presidential debates (Kennedy/Nixon, 1960), news coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, the moon
landing, and the war in Vietnam by producing a multimedia video like the provided teacher example. By
participating in this activity, the students will gain a real-life functional understanding of the unit specific
content. Additionally, this particular assignment would be a collective summative assessment.

On the students online learning platform, the student will be provided with interactive links to specific
copywritten websites (public domain) which will assist them with gathering specific materials (videos,
audio, visuals, etc.) for their project. The students will be able to access these specific digital tools and
resources using their personal laptops. The students will use Windows MovieMaker Live to create and
MP4 video. They will use websites such as www.free-stock-music.com and
www.discoveryeducation.com to find audio and videos that are related to the content for the
multimedia video.