S+Towle,Matthew+Raymond

**Office: 223** **Office Phone: (207) 555-6289** **Office Hours: 2:30pm-4:30pm** ** E-mail: matthew.towle@maine.edu **
 * Teacher: Mr. Towle**

=Summary of Unit= Welcome to class! The goal of this unit is for students to understand the major enduring themes and historic influences in the U.S. and world history during the Post-World War II time period. This includes the roots of democratic philosophy, ideals and institutions throughout the world. Students will strive to answer three essential questions that each correspond to similar essential understandings. How do the concepts and themes of the Post-War U.S. reveal themselves today? How do enduring historical themes reveal themselves in this time period? In what ways did the Cold War/Post-War U.S. affect other political powers throughout the world? Students will demonstrate their understandings of this topic by completing a final project where they will be asked to take up the role of a radio host assigned the task of interviewing an important historical figure. Students will not only need to understand the historical figure they choose to interview, but also all of the events that this character both affected and was affected by.

=Establish Goals= Maine Learning Results: Social Studies - E. History. E1 Historical Knowledge, concepts, themes and patterns. Grade 9-Diploma "World War II and Post-War U.S. 1931-1961." Students understand major eras, major enduring themes and historic influences in the U.S. and world history, including the roots of democratic philosophy, ideals and institutions in the world.

= = =Students will understand that= The concepts/nuances of the Post-War U.S. affect the world today. There are enduring themes occurring before, during and after the Post-War U.S. The Cold War/Post-War U.S. affected other political powers throughout the world.

= = =Essential Questions= How do the concepts and themes of Post-War U.S. reveal themselves today? How do enduring historical themes reveal themselves in this time period? In what ways did the Cold War/Post-War U.S. affect other political powers throughout the world?

= = =Students will know= Key factual information regarding political relations: U.S.+U.S.S.R., N. Korea+S. Korea, N. Vietnam+S. Vietnam, E. Germany+W. Germany.

Important events and people that affected the time period: Korean War, Vietnam War, Berlin Airlift, Construction/Destructionof Berlin Wall,Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Khruschev, Gorbachev.

Sequence and timelines of important, shaping events (listed above).

= = =Students will be able to= Exhibit how history includes studying the past based on a variety of resources. Evaluate ways in which history can help one better understand and make informed decisions about the present and the future. Decide how the roots and evolution of democratic ideals and constitutional principles are present/affecting. Analyze how evidence is used to support different interpretations. Be open to varying interpretations of historic people/events. Reflect on implications these events have today.

**Performance Task Overview** As one of the foremost and hip radio DJs in the town of Farmington you have been given a special task. You are to research an important historical figure from 1945-1961 and conduct an "interview" with him/her on air. This interview will be broadcast to all of your listeners. However, other DJs have been given this same assignment. When your listeners hear the interviews they will be calling in on a special line to vote for the most interesting/exciting interview.

=Expectations= Students are expected to come to class on time with all materials necessary. This includes a positive attitude, willingness to learn and excitement. Students are also expected to bring in all assignments on time before established deadlines.

As you all know, plagiarism is illegal. I will remind you all of our district's rules on plagiarism in that any assignments turned in that are not your own work will not be accepted.

Although emergencies do occur, it is very important that you all come to every class. Although homework and tests can be made up upon meeting with the teacher, material covered and assignments completed during class can never be fully repeated. In order to catch you up as much as possible, please try to meet with me as soon as possible following an absence. I also communicate through email if that is easier to get into contact with me.

=Benchmarks (360 points total)=
 * Lesson 1** (45 points) For this lesson students will be creating an interactive presentation using the online tool PreZentit to demonstrate understanding of the following topic: Students will be able to decide how the roots and evolution of democratic ideals and constitutional principles are present/affecting . With this presentation, students will demonstrate their understandings of the differences between democratic and communistic ideals. Students will be graded based upon a rubric that they will be given upon assignment of this project.

**Lesson 2** (45 points) The assessment for this lesson will involve students researching a current event and connecting it to an important event during the Post-World War II time period. Students will be exploring the effects that historical events have on the future. Students will demonstrate their ability to reflect on the implications these events have today by creating a Glogster, an interactive poster.

**Lesson 3** (45 points) For this lesson, the final product will be a Wiki page that describes students' findings on important events in the Korean War. Students will demonstrate their ability to exhibit how history includes studying the past based on a variety of sources. Students will be graded on the information in their wiki pages and the creativity put into their page.

**Lesson 4** (45 points) At the conclusion of this lesson students will participate in an in class debate. Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze multiple sources to support different interpretations. Students will also learn how to construct strong arguments to support their side of the argument. Students will be graded based on their participation and research contributions.

**Lesson 5** (45 points) For this lesson, students will research an influential speech given during the Post-World War II period and create a blog describing the positive and negative opinions as well as their own opinions. This project will demonstrate that students they are open to varying interpretations of historic people/events. Students will be graded on the content of their blogs.

**Lesson 6** (45 points) The final product for this lesson will be a ComicLife that supports a political figure from the Post-World War II era. This project will demonstrate that students can evaluate the ways in which history can help one better understand and make informed decisions about the past and future. After this project students will have a better understanding of political advertisements and propaganda. Students will be graded on creativity and content.


 * Final Product** ( points) For your final project you will take up the roll of a radio DJ. As one of the foremost and hip radio DJs in the town of Farmington you have been given a special task. You are to research an important historical figure from 1945-1961 and conduct an "interview" with him/her on air. This interview will be broadcast to all of your listeners. However, other DJs have been given this same assignment. When your listeners hear the interviews they will be calling in on a special line to vote for the most interesting/exciting interview. This project will demonstrate student understanding of all of the essential questions: How do the concepts and themes of Post-War U.S. reveal themselves today? How do enduring historical themes reveal themselves in this time period? In what ways did the Cold War/Post-War U.S. affect other political powers throughout the world? This project will be graded using a rubric.

=Grading Scale= **A** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76), **C-** (70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59).