Cold War Introduction Lesson Plan U.S.

is to blame for the Cold War

James Lindberg

Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to source a document, therefore state the whom, when, and where.
Students will be able to view the Cold War from both viewpoints.

Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8
Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.9
Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and
identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.

Materials and Preparation

The smart board
Pieces of paper to write-on
Pencils/pens
Packet of primary documents and questions
Exit slip paper

Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues

Students are seated in pairs, 3 rows of 5 columns, all facing the front of the classroom. There are
a couple of students seated at the table at the front of the room, but they are also facing the board.
I will start the in the front of the room but plan on walking around during almost the entire lesson
to view student work, and listen to conversations. I want to make sure that I state that my
expectations for the students are the same as Ms. S. Students will be working individually, in
partners, and as a whole class. I will also have my phone ready if I need to give or take away
ClassDojo points.

Plans
(Hook- 15 minutes)
I am going to start the lesson with a do now, which students will have to write down with 4
complete sentences. Ms. S and I will check to make sure students have completed and then have
a brief whole class discussion about the questions, What do you know about the Cold War? I
will then give a short 5 minute lecture introducing our central historical question, Who started
the Cold War? and an answer to that question, The U.S. After my presentation, I will hand
our their packets for the day and next day, which contains primary documents, and the questions
they will have to answer. We will go to the first document as a class, and I am going to model
how I source a document and how I expect them to do it as well, and why it is important. I will
then tell students that they need to read the first two documents and answer the questions with
their partner in the next 20 minutes.

(The Body - 25 minutes) Students will be reading the documents and answering the questions,
while I walk around, helping answering questions, and making sure that everyone is keeping up
the pace. I will give a 10-minute mark, a 5-minute mark, and a 1-minute time for students to be
able to pace their work. If I see that a lot of the students have not completed the work by the end
of the 20 minutes, I will allot 5 more minutes for students to finish. Once the 20 or 25 minutes
are up, I will bring the whole class back together to begin our discussion.

(The Closure 10 minutes) I will ask students some of the questions that they have just
answered but then push them furthering, asking where in the text they found their answer, or
whether they believe it to be true. After we go over a couple of answers, I will ask them about
the CHQ, Who is to blame for the Cold War? I will allow students a 1-minute turn and talk
with their partner before bringing them back. I want to let students try and drive this discussion
and take notes to see how they interact during it, because I would like to set up discussion norms
in the classroom during our next lesson. After students have discussed and a couple of different
students have shared, I will collect the packets and hand students their exit slip. This will ask
them to write down one thing that theyve learned today, who they think is responsible for the
Cold War and one reason why, and a blank space for questions or comments. I will collect these
and the class will be over.

Anticipating Students Responses and My Possible Responses

I believe that not many students will have a lot of knowledge about the Cold War, as it is often
not taught in depth and is tough to understand because it was not an actual war. I also believe
that I will receive some backlash from students for suggesting that the U.S. is to blame, as I am
sure that if they have heard anything it was that the U.S. was on the right side of the war. I
hope this gets them thinking before I present that it was the USSRs fault the next day. I think I
may have some trouble getting a lot of participation during the whole class discussion so I am
going to ask a student who does not normally share to speak up if I think they have a good
answer, or a thought-provoking answer. I also believe that the student run discussion is going to
be painful for some students, as well as other students not being as respectful, which is going to
help lead me into my creating classroom discussion norms in the next class.

Assessment of the Goals/Objectives listed above

As I listen to students speak, and read what they have wrote, I will be marking down notes to
myself about individual students or different partner groups. The questions from the reading will
help me to see if students are citing specific textual evidence for their responses. The exit slip
will also help me see if students can distinguish between fact and opinion, and let me know if
students have any questions that they were afraid to ask out loud.

Accommodations
For two students in particular, I will not be expecting them to write four full sentences at the
beginning, and when I am grading their work, I am not going to be grading them on their English
or grammar skills. Students are going to be working in partners, that my teacher has already set
up due to some students needing a little bit more help from their partner.