Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Overcoming Obstacles
Objectives
Students will:
demonstrate their knowledge of events that occurred during the 1960s, specifically
through a soldiers life during the Vietnam War.
Medal of Honor Focus: Clarence Sasser, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Headquarters Co.
3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division / Vietnam War
Introductory Activity:
Teacher will write the following on the board: Describe a time in your life when you overcamea difficult
circumstance and how you did so. Students will write five to seven lines to answer the question. Students will
share their response with a partner and then discuss their responses as a class.
Whole Group Activity:
The teacher will give students the "Double Entry Journal template." The template has pre-selected quotations
from Clarence Sasser about his experience. The teacher will ask students to write down their connections and
wonderings about Clarence Sassers vignette.
Small Group/Individual Activity:
At the conclusion of the vignette, the teacher will pair students to share their double entry journal responses
and lead a discussion about what stands out for them about Clarence Sassers story and how he overcame this
difficult time.
Concluding Activity:
Students will complete a 3-2-1 reflection, describing three things that stood out, two questions they have, and one
connection or application they made to own their life.
Assessment:
Student discussion, double entry journal, reflection
Resources:
Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty. NY: Artisan, 2006.
Extended activity:
Students will view items in a box with artifacts from the 1960s and make inferences on their purpose and use.
Discussion on how the Vietnam War differed from other wars.
Lesson C4
Medal of Honor
Overcoming Obstacles (continued)
Lesson C4 (continued)