Military Themed Movie Lesson Plan Ideas for Women's History Month

Women's history month provides an opportunity to incorporate movies in the classroom using creativity and thought provoking assignments that require students to do more than watch DVDs at home. These military themed lesson plan ideas may only be appropriate for high school level classes due to the language, subject matter and graphic nature of the movies involved. They are suitable for classes in a variety of subjects including English, social studies, criminal justice and history.

Women who Fight for their Entire Unit

A lesson plan based on "Courage Under Fire" can help students explore the subject of making sacrifices for the benefit of a group or team. Instruct students to write a research paper on women in the military who risked their own lives or who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help fellow soldiers survive. Students following this movie themed lesson plan should cover women in the Army since this is the branch of the armed forces featured throughout "Courage Under Fire." Encourage students to analyze whether these women made the right decision or not based on their specific circumstances. Assignments should also include what students would have done if they were in the shoes of Meg Ryan's character, and how these actions would have affected the outcome of that situation.

Women who Make Attempts at Equality

Teachers can also take an interactive approach to developing a movie lesson plan based on "G.I. Jane." Instruct students to plan and narrate a short visual presentation on how certain scenes from "G.I. Jane" can be used to symbolize the views of women in a male dominated workforce. Their presentations can discuss other work environments such as law enforcement or engineering but must relate to the military training or experiences that Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) had in some way.

Encourage students to analyze key scenes in this movie such as when the main character shaved her head or the brutal beating she endured at the hands of her chief, witnessed by male trainees held in a bamboo cage. The visual presentations should highlight their observations while also commenting on whether O'Neil's experiences were justified. Require students to use resources that feature a history on women in the Navy if they plan to compare "G.I. Jane" to real-life trainees. The style of visual presentation assignments can vary and include live theater, music, sculpture, poetry or artwork.

Women who Say No to Corruption

Use "The General's Daughter" in a movie lesson plan that examines important matters affecting women in the Army such as justice, assault, violence, revenge and corruption. Students can be instructed to read the novel that this movie is based on and write an essay comparing these versions against each other.

Real-life experiences of women in the Army or tests of authenticity as it relates to the armed forces can also be used as a focus for comparison. The classroom can also be divided into student groups, each assigned with the task of recreating "The General's Daughter" for a school exhibit.

Instruct students to curate an exhibit that features multimedia elements surrounding this movie, using photo journalism, video and live reenactments. Assignments for this movie lesson plan can also include observations on urban or psychological warfare since Captain Elisabeth Campbell appears to have used it in pursuit of closure or justice within her own workplace, a military base.