Capstone Presentation Outline

Presentation Outline:

I. Intro:

A: Video on World War II

B: Introduce yourself

C: Introduce topic: World War II

1.) background on World War II

2.) why you chose this topic

3.) share different countries you looked at

4.) share the evolution of you work

II. Teach peers about topic while being entertaining:

A: America:

1.) introduce “Saving Private Ryan,” relate back to topic

2.) show scene from documentary

3.) share feelings towards documentary

B: Germany

1.) introduce research

A.) share feelings on finding

2.) talk about the girls story about experience at Dachau

C: Audience Activity: Quiz with reward

1.) explain quiz – 4/5 or 5/5 earns you two pieces of candy, rest gets you 1.

2.) check class’s progress

3.) give answers and handout rewards

D: Japan

1.) explain how you evolved to this point

A.) therefore my feelings have evolved

2.) Compare topic with book

3.) talk about book

III. Real World Application:

A: Big Picture: introduce application

B: Explain why you chose it

1.) I chose this because it was relevant and my grandfather wanted to take me

C: Explain Involvement

1.) how the experience was

2.) present packet and newsletter

3.) share feelings toward it

D: Share how peers can also make the topic authentic to them

1.) tell them about available books

2.) tell them about website and upcoming events

IV. Conclusion:

A: Start wrap up by asking if there are any questions

1.) tell what you got out of this experience

B: End with powerful image and quote

The 12th Blog

Dan Jech

World Literature

The “12^th” Blog

Why was World War II such an impactful event? World War II was one of the biggest wars known to man. Close to 100 million people were killed during this war. The war was started before the war actually began. After the First World War, Germany was left in economic downfall and instability after being destroyed in World War I. Desperation by Germany led to the rise of the Nazi political group led by a man named Adolf Hitler. Hitler and the Nazis took control of Germany, and in September of 1939, Hitler and his army invaded Poland which forced Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. The war raged on and brought in around 30 different countries into the hot ball of hell and did not end until September 2^nd, 1945. As I explored the topic of World War II, by researching multiple mediums, I have come to the conclusion that World War II has affected people’s lives throughout the world in positive and negative manners.

As evident throughout my multiple sources of information, there are many ways in which people were affected by World War II, whether by physical harm, emotional damage, or even social matters. In one of the short stories I read, the author, who is an American teen who moved to Germany and is of the Jewish religion, showed social and emotional damage from this event. In part of the story, the author wrote, “A few days later, things got worse. Our class visited Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp. I was with some girls who congregated next to the barracks, where the prisoners once lay piled on top of each other. Nearby was a large black sculpture of men ensnared in barbed wire. One girl cracked a joke, and everyone laughed. I didn’t see the humor, only the ghosts.” (Roth-D, sec. news). This is an example of someone who was still affected by the war in a negative manner, even though she has no connection World War II besides her religion. Another example is found in an article I found about the invasion of Normandy, or better known as D-Day. The author of this article put these facts in his article: “10,377 Allied casualties and 4,000-9,000 German casualties on D-Day.” (American History). These statistics are horrifying as they are, but even more horrifying when realized that this is only one event in the timeline of World War II. These are only two of many more reasons to which the war had a more negative impact on countries and people around the world.

Although less evident, there were positive aspects to come out of World War II. Another short story used for research revealed a story about a veteran of World War II and his friend who fought in the war with him. “That didn’t surprise me either. The bond of friendship tempered by the fire of combat is one of the strongest ties men can have. Mac and I had that connection. And always will.” (Moskowitz). This is an example of positive because the bond that many of these veterans shared and more important to them than anything else. The last example of a positive outtake from World War II besides advances in medicine, new technologies, and lessons was the pride factor of going through the war. Lots of the men on the victorious side of the war were proud to have served in World War II and were seen as heroes in the eyes off the public. “Years later, General Eisenhower remembered Rudder’s Rangers: “It took guts to get up those cliffs that day.”” (Carlinsky). This was a quote from an article I read that was about Rudder’s Rangers whom climbed the cliffs on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion. This shows that these men took pride in what they did and would march to gates of hell to defend their country and their pride. Only some examples of ways in which was somewhat positive in some people’s eyes.

By the examples given, the purpose of this topic is to bring to light the fact that World War II had more than just physical impact on people’s lives. For my real world application I attended a presentation with speakers who served in or had family members, who served in World War II, talk about how the war had affected their personal lives physically, emotionally, and socially. I hope to have left any type of impact on the reader about the effects of World War 2. War can be a very violent aspect of life, but it can leave a path towards peace.

The 12th Blog Outline

The 12^th Blog Outline:

Paragraph 1: Intro
- Attention Grabber: Why was World War 2 such an impactful event?
- Background Information:
  - Germany among the most affected by the First World War, were set in a downfall of economic failure and instability.
  - Desperation by Germany led to the rise of the Nazi political group led by a man named Adolf Hitler.
  - Hitler took control of Germany, and in September of 1939, Hitler and his army invaded Poland which forced Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany.
  - The War raged on and brought in around 30 different countries into this hot ball of hell and did not end until September 2^nd, 1945.
- Thesis: As I explored the topic of World War 2, by researching multiple mediums, I have come to the conclusion that has affected people’s lives throughout the world in positive and negative ways.

Paragraph 2: Negative Aspect

Paragraph 3: Positive Aspect

Paragraph 4: Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography For Scholarly Article “WW2 Power Rangers”

Citation: Carlinsky, Dan “WWII POWER RANGERS” Boys’ Life. Jun2014, Vol. 104 Issue 6, p32-33. 2p. Web. 19 May. 2014.

This is an article on the “WW2 Power Rangers” who were the soldiers led by Lt. Col. James Ruddar. He led his unit of U.S. Army Rangers up the bluffs of Normandy and were among the first at the top. They were the ones who found the hidden cannons that the Germans were using to bombard the U.S. and the Rangers disabled the cannons. There was 225 of them at the beginning of the invasion and by the end there were about 90 of them still able to fight or even alive. I believe the article was written to talk about a group of what you could call “heroes”, whom have not been given much attention too. It relates to my topic in that it gives perspective of those who were on the frontlines of the invasion.

Annotated Bibliography for Scholarly Article “D-Day Plus 70 Years”

Citation: Huntley, Dana “D-Day Plus 70 Years” British Heritage Jul2014, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p44-47. 4p. Web. 19 May. 2014

This article is another article based off the event known as D-Day. The article gives information on a famous British port used during the war known as Portsmouth. This played a significant role in Operation Overlord or “D-Day”. This port/town received and held most of the American supplies, troops, and military vehicles such as boats, tanks, and planes. The article helps describe more of what happened that day as well as a new perspective of the event, a British one. I believe the author wrote this article to explain the importance of Portsmouth and how it helped out during the war because she could either live in Portsmouth or be a history buff. This relates to my topic in that it gives even more background into one of the biggest events in World War 2 and shows how that World War 2 had a definite impact on this place.

Book Reflections For “War Without Mercy”

“War Without Mercy” by John W. Dower is a book that opens up a whole new area of World War 2. This is book uses different propaganda, cartoons, quotes, and a mass array of other sources to help portray to the reader the new lens to look at World War 2 at, which is known as the race aspect. He touches on many documents, articles, and gives plenty of examples/pictures to help strengthen this thought or view. He goes into deep thinking on how this translates to today and how we should learn more lessons about the war than just “war is bad” or “don’t use nuclear weapons”. I believe that Mr. Dower is trying to provide evidence into the fact that race played a much bigger part in the war than most people think. Dower does not say that the other aspects irrelevant or non important, but simply put that the race played just as much of a role in the conflict between countries than the other lessons to be taught. I thought this book came to be a little dry at some points but really informed the reader and did not fail to give examples, pictures, and a bunch of different quotes/articles. The book relates to my topic because it gives another way in which the war had imprinted itself in our society today. It proves the fact that we need to learn to sway away from racism all together and not let this cloud people’s judgement of the “bigger picture” problems. I enjoyed reading this book even though it was not the most interesting.

Documentary Reflection For Film “Saving Private Ryan”

“Saving Private Ryan”, by Steven Spielberg and Robert Rodat is a film set during the D-Day Invasion and the basic summary is that Tom Hanks (who is the main character, a leader of 2nd Ranger Battalion) leads his squad on a mission, given to him by General Marshall, to find a Private named James Ryan who is the fourth son of a woman that had lost her other 3 sons during the invasion. Tom Hanks and his squad set out through Nazi occupied territory to find Private Ryan and his Unit. The title is based off the mission given to the squad. The film won multiple awards and was known for its realistic graphics and portrayal of the actual war. I feel that the writer of the story really wanted to portray the war in a way that it is not like a documentary but at the same time keeps intact with the actual events of the war. I loved the movie and have watched it several times before. The story is great, the casting is amazing, and the portrayal is real-life like. This connects to my topic because of the fact that it gives the visual aspect of the war instead of just giving facts and stories on paper about the war.

Reading Reflection 5/14/14

The next couple of chapters that I read went more in depth with the theme of race hidden in the big scheme of World War 2. I thought this was an interesting view that a lot of people in the War never really thought about how the war had just as much to do about race and culture as the actual fight for power and political gain had. John Dower has done a great job of bringing this new view of the war into the light in such a way that was not thought of before. More reflections to come!

Real World Application Reflection

For my real world application to my topic, I went to a World War 2 roundtable meeting which is a meeting of World War 2 historians and veterans that come to this event to listen to speakers who speak on a different topic every time. I attended a meeting on 5/12/14 with my grandfather, and the topic was on General Douglas MacArthur. There were 2 speakers, one of which was a navy veteran from World War 2, but unfortunately he could not make it so the Co-Founder of the foundation who runs these meetings had spoken from what the veteran had written down. The second speaker was a veteran but his father had personal interaction with the General himself. The speakers name was Jon Luebke and had lots to tell about his father and the General. He explained how his father got into the position to work for MacArthur and different experiences his father had in the War. I was really surprised how interesting this was and I am planning on going to there next meeting on June 9th. The speakers were great and enthusiastic about it. They made people laugh while at the same time showing respect to those who had served. I am really excited for the next meeting!

Annotated Bibliography For Short Stories “Honor Bound”

Citation: Moskowitz, Jack “Honor Bound” http://www.merkki.com Web. 7 May. 2014

This is a touching story about 2 bombers for the US Air Force who became best friends later on. the story talks about their plane was shot down during a daylight raid and Jack had no parachute so his Commanding Officer tells him to takes chute and get out. Jack, or “Murph” was captured immediately after landing and was hoping that he would be reunite with his Commander. Later his Captain was captured and they were together again. They stayed friends after the war and one Murph did not receive a Christmas card from “Mac” or his Commanding Officer. He called Mac’s wife to find out that Mac had had cancer and was fading away. Murph visited Mac and found out that 2 days later Mac had passed away and Mac’s wife said that “Mac was holding on until you visited him.” This is great story about not only World War 2 but also friendship. This is such a great story! I think this was written to express the feelings that these two veterans shared and the level they bonded at during the war. It relates to my topic in that it gives a story to which people were personally impacted.

Dan's World War 2

How Countries were affected by the War