Digital Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: The Cold War

Name: Joy Jamir

Content Area: US History/Social Science

Grade Level: 11th

CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):

11.9 Students analyze U.S. foreign policy since World War II

1. Understand the role of military alliances, including NATO and SEATO, in deterring communist aggression
and maintaining security during the Cold War.
2. Trace the origins and geopolitical consequences (foreign and domestic) of the Cold War and
containment policy, including the following:
o The era of McCarthyism, instances of domestic Communism (e.g., Alger Hiss) and blacklisting
o The Truman Doctrine
o The Berlin Blockade
o The Korean War
o The Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis
o Atomic testing in the American West, the "mutual assured destruction" doctrine, and
disarmament policies
Big Ideas:

The Key Terms for this unit:

The Cold War

Communism
Korean War
Cuba
What is communism?
What were the effects of the allied victory in WWII?
How was the division of post-WWII Germany significant in U.S.-U.S.S.R. foreign relations?
What caused such animosity between recent allies U.S. and U.S.S.R.?
What actions were taken to contain the spread of communism, and what were the corresponding responses?
How do the events of the Cold War still effect US foreign relations today?
Unit Goals and Objectives:

Students can demonstrate an understanding of the causes of the Cold war by identifying key concepts,
people, and events arising with the end of World War II.
Students can discuss communism, its origins, ideas, practices, and its execution. Students can further
discuss agreement or disagreement with those ideas, and whether or not opposition to Communism by
way of the policy of Containment could be substantiated or justified. They will provide insight on how
this effects foreign relations, as well as political rhetoric, today.
Students can trace the events of the Cold War, and how the political posturing of one nation, led to e
respective response from another. They will compare the actions of the two main parties of the Cold
War, the US and USSR, and their satellite nations in Germany, Korea, and Cuba. This will eventually
lead to examinations of the Vietnam War, in which they can make comparisons to the events that
previously transpired in the Cold War.
Students can write about the Cold War in detail and synthesize the past events to foreign relations
today, providing examples how certain actions undertaken have had lasting implications.

Unit Summary:

In this unit, we will be looking at the Cold War, specifically, from the end of World War II to 1963, pre-Vietnam
War. The main purpose is to introduce students to the events and people that shaped the Cold War. The US
and Soviet Union engaged in a series of political posturing, without actually committing to direct conflict with
one another. Students will understand how each nation imposed its political agenda on other sovereign
states, and how this still affects us today.
Students will have multiple opportunities to review those key concepts, events, people, and terms through
use of the Guided Notes, Webercise, and Quizlet assessments. They will have a chance to explore the
ramifications of the Cold War, Communism, and the Red Scare through the use of the DBQ packet. The
Teacher Lecture also provides prompts for student discussion which can draw upon their own prior knowledge
and/or by comparing to more recent or similar examples.
Students will also be writing an essay and completing a graphic organizer to draw all the concepts together.
Students will also work collaboratively to create a multimedia project that focuses on multiple perspectives of
the Cold War. This is an opportunity for students to really explore the ideas of the Cold War, and to do so in a
creative way.

Assessment Plan:
Entry-Level:
Quizstar Prior knowledge quiz explores the
origins of the Cold War

Formative:
Quizlet Online flashcards and summaries to
review key terms and people of The Cold War.
Guided Notes Used in conjunction with
teacher lecture. Provides overview of The Cold
War.
Webercise Introduces additional resources
for use with this unit.
DBQ Activities Explores the themes of the
Cold War and examines the effects within the
US.
Timeline Graphic Organizer Focuses on
foreign relations in Cuba, and put the events in
geographical context.

Summative:
Essay Students write a summative essay on
the causes and effects of the Cold War, and
relate to modern times.
Multimedia Project Student groups will
create a multimedia project to demonstrate a
thorough understanding of the events and
people that shaped the Cold War.

Lesson 1
Student Learning
Objective:
Students will trace the
origins of the Cold War.
Students will be
introduced to the key
parties and terms of the
early Cold War.

Acceptable Evidence:
Students can identify the
post-WWI events,
concepts, and people
that shaped the Cold
War.

Instructional
Strategies:
Communication
Collection
Collaboration
Presentation
Organization
Interaction

Lesson Activities:
Quizstar: Students will complete the online quiz checking prior
knowledge of the results World War II had in Europe, Asia, and
America.
Lecture/Guided Notes: Students will complete the Guided Notes
Assessment in conjunction with the teacher led lecture. Students will
also discuss Nuclear Proliferation, how Nuclear weapons have
changed the dynamics of warfare, and understand the different
perspectives regarding Soviet nuclear capabilities. They will respond
to different questions found in the lecture regarding propaganda, the
possibility of nuclear warfare, etc.
Quizlet: Students can review the new concepts and test themselves
using the Quizlet assessment.

Acceptable Evidence:
Students can discuss the
short term and long term
effects of the Cold War.
Students can make
connections between the
Cold war and current
foreign relations.

Instructional
Strategies:
Communication
Collection
Collaboration
Presentation
Organization
Interaction

Lesson Activities:
Webercise: Students will learn about additional resources about the
Cold War, and use these resources to gather information.
DBQ: Students will complete the Document Based Questions by
providing short answers for each document or artifact in the DBQ
packet. This requires critical thinking rather than concentrating on
purely factual events, dates, and people.

Acceptable Evidence:
Students can describe
the key players and
actions in the Cuban
Revolution, Bay of Pigs
Invasion, and the Cuban
Missile Crisis.

Instructional
Strategies:
Communication
Collection
Collaboration
Presentation
Organization
Interaction

Lesson Activities:
Graphic Organizer: Students will use the ColudsoverCuba.com
website to collect the key events that transpired regarding Cuba.
They will organize these events into a timeline and also provide
geographic locations of the events in order to give spatial awareness
of the global reach of Communism and the policy of Containment.
Essay: Students will complete a summative essay on the causes and
effects of the Cold War, and synthesize how the Cold War has lasting
implications on the modern world today.
Multimedia Group Project: In groups determined by the teacher,
students will work together to complete a multimedia project to
demonstrate an understanding of the different perspectives during
the Cold War.

Lesson 2
Student Learning
Objective:
Students will examine
the effects of the Cold
War on various places
around the globe.

Lesson 3
Student Learning
Objective:
Students will focus on
the events that occurred
regarding Cuba, and
examine the events that
shaped modern day
Cuba.

Unit Resources:

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/coldwar/
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/
http://digitalvaults.org/
https://history.state.gov/milestones
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/maps/koreaintro.html
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/webspecials03/koreanwar/
http://korean-war.commemoration.gov.au/cold-war-crisis-in-korea/korean-war-strategic-map.php
http://cloudsovercuba.com/
http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/
http://foundationnationalarchives.org/cmc/microsite/#/intro
http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx
Useful Websites:

http://communismandthecoldwar.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/2/5/46256907/guided_notes_the_cold_war.docx - Guided
Notes for Teacher Lecture download link
https://prezi.com/xi8m3upweart/overview-of-the-cold-war/ - Teacher Lecture Presentation
http://communismandthecoldwar.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/2/5/46256907/webquest.docx - Webercise/Webquest
Download link
http://myhistro.com/ - Graphic Organizer Web Timeline Creation site. Students will be required to create an account.
http://quizstar.4teachers.org/indexs.jsp - Quizstar, online quiz. Students will be required to create an account and
register for class in order to complete quiz.
https://quizlet.com/_19ygo3 Quizlet, online flashcards and study resource.
http://communismandthecoldwar.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/2/5/46256907/cold_war_dbq_packet.pdf - DBQ Packet
download link
http://communismandthecoldwar.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/2/5/46256907/digital_unit_plan_multimedia_project.pdf Multimedia Project instructions download link