An Immovable Object v.

An Unstoppable Force: Daniel Pardi: (55 minutes)

Context of Lesson: My U.S. History class is starting our second day of our Cold War
unit. They had time in class yesterday to work on their Ch. 15.1worksheet. The
first assignment they would receive for the unit. This is also the start of a new
semester. I have lost many of my former students, less than half remain in my
room. Many are new students, but they all are coming from other teachers in our
department who would have finished on the same unit as we did, WWII.

Overview: Today, class will begin with us checking with Ch. 15.1 worksheet from
the day before. We will be checking it together, students trade their worksheet
with someone at their table and write their name at the bottom of their partners
paper, and we cover the specific questions that are going to be essential to our
tests, so they know how to use their worksheets to study. Once we finish this, we
will begin our first PowerPoint on the Cold War. While completing the PowerPoint
students will be asked to follow along with their guided notes.

Central problem/ Essential question: After learning about the U.S. in the first
semester we got a glimpse into how we rebuilt our country after the civil war, and
how industry returned to our country. Then, during WWI we learn how we initially
get involved in the worlds affairs, play a big hand in delegating the treaty, and how
we decide at the end of the day (1919) to remain isolationists. Our country goes
through a period of rough economic times, and finally WWII begins, we get
involved again with the worlds affairs and now we come out as a superpower
nation. The only problem is the only other country that emerges as powerful as
us, is the USSR, who have become our bitter rivals.

Objectives
Big Ideas: The U.S. and the U.S.S.R., the two strongest nations, use all their
resources to compete without escalating into full scale war with each other.

Learning Target: SWBAT understand what caused the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to be rivals.

Objectives: 8.1.1 Origins and Beginnings of Cold War – Analyze the factors that
contributed to the Cold War including • differences in the civic, ideological and
political values, and the economic and governmental institutions of the U.S.
and U.S.S.R. • diplomatic decisions made at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
(1945) • actions by both countries in the last years of and years following World
War II (e.g., the use of the atomic bomb, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine,
North American Treaty Alliance (NATO), and Warsaw Pact) (National Geography
Standard 13, p. 210)
8.1.2 Foreign Policy during the Cold War – Evaluate the origins, setbacks, and
successes of the American policy of “containing” the Soviet Union, including •
the development of a U.S. national security establishment, composed of the
Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the intelligence
community (National Geography Standard 13, p. 210) • the armed struggle with
Communism, including the Korean conflict (National Geography Standard 13, p.
210) • direct conflicts within specific world regions including Germany and Cuba
(National Geography Standards 5 and 13; pp. 192 and 210)
Anticipated student conceptions or challenges to understanding: Since my
school has 9th grade freshmen take U.S. History, most of them have not had a
government or civics lesson. Most students take government in 10th grade at our
district. (L’Anse Creuse) With this obstacle it will be difficult to explain different
government styles, much less comparing and contrasting why they are opposites.
Still, we live in a democracy, so I will use real world examples to try and help
students see how those same rights and liberties we have would compare in a
government system like the U.S.S.R.’s.

Materials/handouts: Worksheet from the day before: Ch. 15.1

PowerPoint from today: PowerPoint on the Cold War