ABSTRACT
Ms. Jensen, an 11th grade U.S. History teacher, is planning for a lesson on the home front during World War I. She wants students to learn about such trends as shortages, voluntary rationing, the sale of war bonds, and the general war hysteria that engulfed the nation during the war. She brainstorms, producing a list of texts that might be used to teach these concepts: there might be transcribed oral histories of individuals from the local community; the textbook chapter has a section that gives an overview of life on the home front; and the school has in its collection a video series on World War I, which certainly includes appropriate clips. When she asks other U.S. History teachers at the school what they use, Mrs. Wade tells her that she uses propaganda posters produced by the U.S. government. Ms. Jensen researches and fi nds propaganda posters used to advertise war bonds, to encourage home production, to promote enlistment, to encourage conservation, and to vilify the enemy. She decides that propaganda posters are good evidence that students can use to study home front trends. She goes to work planning her lessons.
