My Lai, Vietnam - 10-page full lesson (notes, card sort)

I designed this lesson to encourage my students to be reflective Historians capable of textured debate. Students divide 39 pieces of evidence (textual and photographic) into columns which suggest the leader of Charlie Company during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was a war criminal or a scapegoat. The cards are colour-coordinated to allow for differentiation and provide the perfect scaffold for a debate or piece of exended written analysis. This is a hard-hitting lesson which always provokes outstanding levels of historical reasoning and debate but please be aware many of the images and text are graphic in content and should be taught to students with the emotional tools to deal with sensitive issues. Students will learn about the death of Ron Weber, the ‘and babies?’ photograph, Captain Medina’s role, and the ‘black blouse girl’ and much more. My hope in sharing this resource is that more students will learn about and learn from the heartbreaking tragedy which took place in My Lai.