WWII Stories | Gunner in the Cactus Air Force Remembers Guadalcanal.
Grades: 7 - 12
World War II veteran Tom Mohan recounts tales of his service in the Pacific Theater, serving at Guadalcanal, targeting Japanese freighters and battleships, and returning to America. The interview includes archival footage and images of the time.
Quick Ideas for Using the Video with Students:
For Discussion:
1. Use the video in conjunction with a journal prompt or conversation starter question related to your study of World War II or other topics of 20th century American history.
Activity Ideas:
1. Prior to viewing the video, have students do some research about American operations in the Pacific Theater of World War II then view the video to learn Mr. Mohan’s first person experience serving in that theater.
2. Use the video as part of your study of World War II. Consider using the video in conjunction with other videos on the site with World War II soldiers sharing their memories. Create a jigsaw activity with student groups watching different videos then sharing their learning with each other.
Teacher Tools
Teacher Tool 298: Cross Curricular Activity–Evaluating Live Interviews
This cross-curricular teacher tool, accompanying the video above, is designed to get students thinking about: 1) how live interviews can be used to learn information on topics such as those discussed in the video, and 2) the effectiveness of this interview specifically in helping their learning on this topic as well as the effectiveness (strengths and weaknesses) of interviews in general as a source of information.
Teacher Tool 317: Cross Curricular Activity–Sharing Insights Through a Journal Entry
This teacher tool, accompanying the video above, provides an Interdisciplinary activity that invites students to write a journal entry that shares learning and insights they gained by watching the video. This tool can be used with any video on the Educate.Today website.
Teacher Tool 319: Cross Curricular Activity–Sharing Learning Verbally
This teacher tool, accompanying the video above, provides an Interdisciplinary activity that invites students to share learning and insights they gained by watching the video through verbal sharing and conversation. This tool can be used with any video on the Educate.Today website.
Teacher Tool 320: Vocabulary Interesting to Me
This teacher tool, accompanying the video above, invites students to increase their vocabulary by selecting, and learning the definitions of, words in the video that are unknown and/or interesting to them. This tool can be used with any video on the Educate.Today website.
Teacher Tool 321: Vocabulary Activity
This teacher tool, accompanying the video above, asks students to listen for certain vocabulary words you have selected and define them in two ways: 1) contextually based on what they think the definition might be based on what they learn in the video; and 2) through a dictionary to either confirm or refine their contextual definition. This tool can be used with any video on the Educate.Today website.
Teacher Tool 329: Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
Educate.Today is full of primary sources to use with your students. This teacher tool focuses on understanding the difference between primary sources and secondary sources and provides an example of an activity to do with students to build their effective use of primary sources in a research project.
