Students are always interested in the weaponry of the time. I think this would be specifically useful to show the students why the military used the shoulder-to-shoulder tactic.

I think I would start the class with this question: In World History I we talk about the Spartan's use of the Phalanx in war, which is shoulder to shoulder, shield to shield fighting. So why was this same theory of fighting still being used 1,000 years later in the Revolutionary War?

They could then look over primary source material about the success rates of American Guerrilla warfare, the lack of military training that the colonies had vs. what the British had, the weaponry of the time (including videos and musket balls), and whatever else could be found. I think I would have the students work through the primary sources as a group with some sort of worksheet to assist in their analysis, and then answer the my overall question by themselves.

I think the students would enjoy the deep dive into weaponry while also really analyzing why military tactics hadn't changed much. I also think this would end in a couple different answers while also helping them understand the larger concept of Colonial warfare.

I definitely like the women's history part of this primary source. This made me think about using advertisements as sources to help the students see what was happening in the home during the early 20th century.

I would start by asking what an 'ideal' woman looks like. What characteristics does the girl that you take home to your mother have? I would ask each student to come up with a list of ten things on their own, and then we would compile a class list. Looking at the list, I would ask the class to question the ones that we found 'unrealistic'. What things does society put on women versus what women are actually.

Then I would introduce modern commercials for cleaning products. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links on here.. but I would find a commercial where the mother is perfectly cleaning the house while looking nice and the children all play peacefully in the background :) ) I would ask the kids if they have ever lived that situation. When they clean their house is everything perfect and glowing?

Then I would introduce an ad like one shown in these examples. How are they portrayed? What does instant food look like here? Then in comparison we could talk about how that probably wasn't what life was like for women or families even back then.

Then we would look at some war-time propaganda of what women were supposed to be doing during the war and compare to what life was like after the war.

What was so 'wrong' with instant food/coffee? Why did women go from strong and tough to sparkling and clean? How does advertising shape the American ideal?

In certain classes we would do a lot of individual, think-pair-share stuff along the way, but ideally it would be an open class discussion with some writing portions in between.

I think I would use this information to get the kids talking about how the entertainment industry 'kills' things.

This could go in a couple different directions. We could talk about the the stereoscope and movies, libraries and the internet, books and TV. There's a lot of different directions the kids could take with it.

The students could create a timeline that showed the height of entertainment during each decade of the 1900s.

I think they would like to see how the entertainment industry changes so much and somehow not at all.