Foldenauer 1

Joe Foldenauer
EN-209
May 14, 2014
Pragmatism Lesson Plan:
Michigan Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks: USHG Era 8Post-world war II United States (1945-1989)
Unit Outcome: Cold War and the United States
o Identify, analyze, and explain the causes, conditions, and impact of the Cold War
Era on the United States.
Lesson Outcome: Origins and the beginning of the Cold War
o The outcome for the students is to be able to learn about how the cold war started,
who were the world leaders of this time, what were some significant actions taken
because of the start of the war and why did it occur.
o Students will also begin to learn how the war has created the world we live in
today (especially with the Russia/Ukraine crisis occurring)
Purpose of this lesson:
o The Cold War formed the actions that took place from 1940s to the early 1990s
and since then has affected the world we live in today. If it wasnt for the Cold
War, the Taliban armies in the Middle East may not have received the weapons
they used to defeat the Russians which would later influence attacks on the U.S
like 9/11. The situation with Russia and Ukraine can date back to the U.S.S.R
trying to spread its control over Ukraine has led to this eventual taking of it by
Russia. Students need to understand the significance of the Cold War, because it
has greatly affected the lives we live today. Through this lesson they will learn the

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background information about it and will continue to study into how dangerous
this war really was.
Assessments:
o As a warm-up I will ask the students to take out a piece of paper and answer three
questions- What is communism? What is democracy? How are they different
from each other? I will give the students seven minutes to complete this then I
will ask the class to give me their responses.
o Because my class seems to enjoy my PowerPoint presentations I have made one
for this lesson. To go with this I have made a fill in the blank sheet for students to
fill in the missing words on the sheet from the PowerPoint presentation
o After a brief lecture I will discuss with the students how the U.S tried to fight the
war and if they could think of any other justifiable means of combating it

From this discussion I want my students to write a brief essay on what

they thought of the actions done by the U.S and western Europe to fight
the Cold War and what else they could have done.

Material Required:
o Brief PowerPoint presentation describing the causes and origins of the Cold War
o Paper for the students to complete the warm-up and brief essay.
o Fill in the Blank formatted papers for the class
Introduction:
o As the students begin to enter the classroom I will welcome them and remind
them to grab a piece of paper on the desk as they just enter the room. Once all the
students have entered I will address them all at once and tell them to answer three

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questions I will have posted at the start of my PowerPoint presentation. What is
communism? What is democracy? How are they different? The students should
be aware of this because we have previously discussed Communism with
discussions on Karl Marx, the early years of communism, and because we live in
a democracy. I will allow them seven minutes to answer the question and then
following this I will randomly pick students to present their answers. After the
discussion of the difference between communism and democracy I will explain to
the students what we will be doing for the rest of the day.
o I know my students well enough at this point that they know they can easily come
to me and ask for help and I will help them find it on their own, and that I am just
the guide of the classroom.
Procedure
o Following the discussion that is student led about difference in communism and
democracy I will ask a student to take the stack of fill in the blank papers and pass
out one copy to each student. I will as they are passing it out explain the process
for what we will be doing today and then I will begin my PowerPoint. The
presentation will first introduce a second question to the students: What is a cold
war. I will ask the class this and most of them will probably say a war that is
fought in the cold. After a quick laugh at this I will tell them what a hot war is (A
war involving fighting and conflict) and I will slowly help the students realize that
a cold war is war with political and military tension, that involves very little
fighting. Then the PowerPoint will touch base on topics like the Iron Curtain,
Joseph Stalin, Eisenhower, Truman, Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan and

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how the ending of WWI was a major cause into the start of the cold war.
Following the PowerPoint I will begin a discussion about what was involved in
the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan with actions likes providing financial aid
to countries fighting communism and Berlin Airlift. My Students will discuss
their feelings of the subject and I want them to really think about the war as if
they were stuck behind the Iron Curtain or if they were the U.S political leaders of
this time to develop an idea of what would they do to help combat the cold war.
Would they continue to follow the actions of Truman and Marshall? Would they
send troops in to end the communist spread (like in later years)? Or would they do
nothing because they either agree with communism or feel that it is not their
problem.
Homework:
o From the discussion we had as a class, I want my students to write a brief essay
on how they feel about the Cold War and what they would do to end it with
justification of why and how
Closure:
o As we would wrap up the end of the discussion I will assign a small essay (at least
one page) on how they feel about the Cold War and what they would do to end it
with justification of why and how. I would then let the students know they could
further research the topic if theyd like to or they may use the notes from the
discussion we just had.
Evaluation:

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o I feel the lesson went very well for this interesting topic. Because this is just the
introduction to the Cold War, my students will continue to learn more about it as
we progress through the school year. The discussion went very well and I was
interested in hearing students opinions on the U.S trying to combat the Cold War.

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Work Cited
Michigan State Board of Education. "High School Content Expectations-Social Studies."
Michigan Department of Education, n.d. Web.