Web site review No. 1

2006-10-22T00:10:00.000-03:00

NYIT

October 21, 2006

Web site chosen for evaluation is –learner.org. http://www.learner.org/index.html.

CRITERIA: Authority/Affiliation
A reputable institution should support the Web site without bias in the information.

EVALUATION
The Annenberg Foundation supports this Web site which focuses on professional development for K-12 teachers.

CRITERIA: Audience
The Web site should be written at an appropriate level.

EVALUATION
The main target audience is K-12 teachers and the material is very appropriate. However, Learner.org isn’t just for teachers many programs are also intended for students in the classroom and viewers at home.

CRITERIA:
Content The Web site should be well organized and the links should work.

EVALUATION
The content is appropriate for K-12 teachers and students. Links are provided for free videos which require Windows Media Player for viewing. A broadband connection is necessary and links are provided for the download of Windows Media Player.

CRITERIA; Currency
The information on the Web page should be current

EVALUATION
The information is current and seems to be updated regularly. Links are included for the Annenberg Channel and Web site viewers can sign-up for Newsletters.

CRITERIA: Design
The pages at the Web site should download quickly and be visually pleasing and easy to navigate.

EVALUATION
The Home Page is simple, functional, yet attractive. Pages download quickly. The links work and one can browse teacher resources by discipline and by grade.

CRITERIA: Objectivity
The Website should contain little advertising and be free of preconceptions.

EVALUATION
Due to the fact that this web site is supported by the Annenberg Foundation there is little advertising, and what advertising exists is connected to the purpose of the web site , for example educational videos produced by Annenberg. The information provided seems to be accurate. There are many Annenberg Media video programs and series on PBS stations as part of the Annenberg Channel

Criteria adapted from: Discovering Computers 2005, Shelly, Gary B. et al; 2004;Thompson Learning Inc.

Lesson 'Sources of Discord' 1945-1946

2006-10-16T20:07:00.000-03:00

Sources of Discord, 1945-1946
Lesson Plan One of the Curriculum Unit: The origins of the Cold War, 1945-1949
Subject: Global History
Time: Three 45 minute sessions
Grade 10
Introduction
This lesson will examine the U.S.-Soviet disagreements regarding Germany and Eastern Europe. Students will read excerpts from the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam, then, based on later documents, will study how these arrangements unraveled. Finally they will look at two opposing American views of the Soviet Union and of the strategy that the United States should use in dealing with it.
Guiding Question
From the American perspective, why did wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union collapse in 1945-46?
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, students should be able to:
Articulate the agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam regarding the nature of the postwar world
Explain the differences that emerged regarding those agreements in the months following the end of the war in Europe
Assess the strategic options available to the United States in 1946
Notes.
Franklin Roosevelt had repeatedly expressed optimism regarding the postwar relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. When differences between them emerged, he insisted, his personal relationship with Stalin would be enough to smooth them over. Whether he was right was impossible to say, but it became a moot point when FDR died in April 1945. Therefore it was Roosevelt's vice president, Harry Truman, who would be in the White House when serious problems developed.
At the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences of 1945 the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union had reached agreement on a number of topics, particularly the fate of postwar Germany and Eastern Europe. Most importantly, at Yalta they issued a "Declaration of Liberated Europe," in which they pledged "to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people."
But within a few months policy makers in the Truman administration had come to believe that Stalin was not living up to his side of those agreements. Instead it appeared as though the Russians were trying to create a series of puppet states in Eastern Europe. For their part, the Soviets argued that their security required "friendly" regimes along their border, and that Western-style democratic elections were unlikely to produce pro-Soviet governments. To Truman this seemed like a betrayal of everything that the Allies had fought for in their war against the Axis. Moreover, large numbers of Americans of Eastern European descent were inclined to agree with him.
As a result of this, the high hopes that FDR had for postwar cooperation had been largely dashed by late 1946, prompting a debate over what U.S. policy toward the Soviets should be. Some, like Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, argued that Stalin's need for security had to be acknowledged, even if it meant tolerating Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe. Others, like George Kennan, deputy head of the U.S. mission to Moscow during World War II, saw in the Soviet Union a growing threat to world peace—one that had to be met with firmness and, if necessary, military force.
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
Download and print out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Interactive map which accompanies this lesson. This map shows the most important events in Europe from 1945 through 1949. By clicking on the numbered locations, pop-ups will appear with more information and, in some case, links to additional EDSITEment-reviewed web sites. This lesson will encompass locations 1 through 7 on the map.
RESOURCES: Atlases, chart paper, flipchart markers, SMART Board, computers. Internet Explorer, UDL software (Browsealoud) for students with disabilities. Desks will be arranged in groups of four.
NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS
SOCIAL STUDIES
Standard 1: History of the United States and New York: Students analyze the United States involvement in foreign affairs and a willingness to engage in international politics, examining the ideas and traditions leading to these foreign policies.”
Standard 2: World History: Students will “analyze changing and competing interpretations of issues, events and developments throughout world history.” Students will investigate key events and developments and major turning points in world history to identify the factors that brought about change and long –term Effects of these changes.
Standard 3. Geography: Students will analyze how the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the Earth’s surface”
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Standard 1: “Students will read, write listen and speak for information and understanding.”
Standard 2: “Students will read, write listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.”
Standard 3: “Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction”.

Activities
1. Plans for Postwar Europe
2. The Breakdown of Cooperation
3. Why did Cooperation Break Down?
1. Plans for Postwar Europe
During conferences at Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July-August 1945) the Allies concluded agreements for the postwar world; the most important concerned the fate of Germany and Eastern Europe. In this activity students will consider those agreements so that they will understand how they later unraveled. Begin the lesson by dividing the class into two groups. The first will be responsible for reading excerpts from the proceedings of the Yalta Conference, while the second will do the same for the Potsdam Conference. Both of these documents are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resource The Avalon Project. However, excerpted versions of both are available on pages 1-8 of the Text Document that accompanies this lesson.
As they work their way through the documents, students in each group should complete the corresponding worksheet (page 4 for Group #1, page 9 for Group #2), noting the agreements reached at each conference.
Group #1: The Yalta Conference: (excerpts on pages 1-3 of the Text Document)
Group #2: The Berlin (Potsdam) Conference: (excerpts on pages 5-8 of the Text Document)
For background on these conferences, as well as reference to geographic locations, students should be directed to the interactive map.
After the students have read the documents and completed the worksheets (this might be assigned as homework) they should come together in class to list the main agreements reached at both Yalta and Potsdam. A good way of doing this might be to split up the groups, pairing each member of Group #1 with a member of Group #2 and having them compare their worksheets. The ultimate goal should be a comprehensive list of agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam.
For more advanced students, this activity might conclude with a class discussion comparing and contrasting the agreements made at Yalta with those reached at Potsdam. Students might also be asked to speculate on what problems they think were likely to arise from these agreements, and why.
2. The Breakdown of Cooperation
In the previous activity students will have learned about the agreements made regarding postwar Europe. In this exercise they will examine how the West and the Soviet Union had conflicting interpretations of these agreements. The result was a set of disputes that emerged in the first several meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was first established at Potsdam for the purpose of smoothing over relations among the former Allies.
Again divide the class into two groups. The first will read excerpts from accounts by U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes on the First and Interim meetings of the Council, while the second will read excerpts from Byrnes' account of the Second Meeting. All three accounts are available in their entirety at the Avalon Project; however, excerpts are included on pages 10-17 of the Text Document.
Group #1: First Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, September 11 - October 12, 1945: (excerpts on pages 10-11 of the Text Document)
AND
Interim Meeting of Foreign Ministers, December 16-26, 1945: (excerpts on pages 12-13 of the Text Document)
Group #2: Second Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, April 25 - May 16, 1946: (excerpts on pages 14-17 of the Text Document)
To view summaries of these meetings, as well as other events taking place in Europe at approximately the same time, students should consult the interactive map

Once the readings and worksheets have been completed the students should come together to compare their findings. As in the first activity, each student from Group #1 might be paired with a student from Group #2, or you could lead a discussion involving the entire class. In the end students should have a sense for which agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam were not successfully carried out and why.
As in the last activity, more advanced students might be asked to consider, based on Byrnes's comments, how realistic were the goals and objectives set by the Allied Powers at Yalta and Potsdam.
3. Why did Cooperation Breakdown?
The rapid breakdown of the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam left policy makers in Washington scrambling for explanations of why the Soviets were behaving as they were, and for ideas on how to manage relations between the two superpowers. In this activity students will read competing interpretations of recent events. These are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resources Teaching American History and History Matters, but excerpts are included on pages 18-26 of the Text Document.
To begin, divide the class into two groups and assign each one of the readings listed below. Inform the students that their task will be to explain to President Truman (played by the teacher) why cooperation with the Soviet Union has broken down and what the United States should do as a result.
Group #1: Excerpts from George Kennan's "Long Telegram," February 22, 1946: (pages 18-21 of the Text Document)
Group #2: "Achieving an Atmosphere of Mutual Trust and Confidence": Henry A. Wallace Offers an Alternative to Cold War Containment: (pages 22-26 of the Text Document)
Whichever group they are in, students should answer the following questions to guide their reading (available as a worksheet on page 27 of the Text Document):
Why, according to the author, had relations deteriorated between the United States and the Soviet Union?
Why, according to the author, did Americans distrust the Soviet Union?
Why, according to the author, did the Soviet Union distrust the United States?
What was the author's greatest fear regarding Soviet-American relations?
What were the author's recommendations for how U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union ought to be conducted?
Once the students have finished, select several members from each team (the number selected will vary according to the amount of time available) to offer their views on U.S.-Soviet relations. Based on these documents, members of the first group should argue for a policy of strength—that is, the threat of force—to resist Soviet demands. Members of the second group will most likely advocate a policy based on compromise, including a willingness to give in to certain Soviet demands.

Differentiated Instruction:

Students will be arranged in cooperative learning groups, where stronger learners will help the struggling learners. The lesson has a strong visual input, the use of drawing and computers will assist struggling visual learners. Students can visit a websites for information. Encourage students to use dictionaries, both from the class library and the computer. Teacher will circulate among students and give extra assistance to students with special needs.
Assessment
After completing this lesson, students should be able to write brief (1-2 paragraph) essays answering the following questions:
How, in the eyes of the Truman administration, did Soviet behavior regarding Germany conflict with the sentiments expressed at Yalta and Potsdam?
How, in the eyes of the Truman administration, did Soviet behavior regarding Eastern Europe conflict with the sentiments expressed at Yalta and Potsdam?
Compare and contrast the arguments of George Kennan and Henry Wallace regarding U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union.
Alternatively, more advanced students might be asked to write a single essay that incorporates all of the above issues:
What accounts for the breakdown in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II? Is there anything that the United States could have done to avoid it?
Students should be able to identify and explain the significance of the following:
Yalta Conference
Potsdam Conference
James Byrnes
George Kennan
Henry Wallace
Finally, students should be able to identify the following locations on a blank map of post-1945 Europe and explain their importance to the worsening relations between East and West:
Germany (East and West)
Poland
Rumania
Bulgaria
Extending the Lesson
In some ways the story of the decline of U.S.-Soviet relations can be played out in the words of one man—President Harry Truman. By looking at a series of his diary entries from June and July 1945 students should be able to get a sense for how Truman moved from optimism to pessimism regarding the ability of the United States and the Soviet Union to work together in the postwar world. Images of these diary entries may be found at the Truman Library web site (scroll down to the bottom of the page, under "Truman: In His Own Words").
Not surprisingly, the Soviets themselves had their own interpretation of events in 1945-46. The Soviet equivalent of Kennan's "Long Telegram" came from Nikolai Novikov, Moscow's ambassador to the United States, who tried to explain U.S. behavior in a telegram to the Kremlin. Teachers may wish to have students read this document, perhaps comparing and contrasting it to Kennan's. It is located at the EDSITEment-reviewed site Teaching American History.
One of the most influential speeches of the early Cold War years was given by Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, to students at Westminster College in Missouri. Although Churchill did not coin the term "Iron Curtain" (it actually was first used by German Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels in the final weeks of World War II), it was this speech that popularized it—so much so that to this day the address is usually referred to as the "Iron Curtain Speech." The relevant excerpts from the speech are available at the Internet Modern History Sourcebook, which is accessible via the EDSITEment-reviewed site History Matters

Using technology to successfully support the learning and teaching of skills and/or content.

2006-10-02T15:36:00.000-03:00

During the summer I visited the class of a colleague who was teaching summer school. His students were in an 8th grade class working on their exit projects. The students were using laptop computers to research the Internet for material for their projects. The students used search engines such as Google and visited various sites to get information for their Science and Social Studies projects.

Suggested sites were
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
www.askjeeves.com
www.ask.com
www.wikipedia.com

The most popular site was Wikipedia.com. The students researched the topic and made notes which were then used to create their project using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Students successfully used technology to acquire content for their projects while developing skills in both traditional and new literacies.

Anthony's Social

Web site review No. 1

Lesson 'Sources of Discord' 1945-1946

Using technology to successfully support the learning and teaching of skills and/or content.