Blair's+Lesson+Plan


 * Course ** : Self-Contained Special Education US History
 * Grade Level:** 11th
 * Unit:** Civil Rights Movement

1. The student will describe the impact of the Marshall Plan and list countries that benefitted. 2. The student will analyze reasons why the United States provided financial support to countries after World War II. 3. The student will list similarities and differences in communism and capitalism.
 * Objectives: **

political cartoon [|marshall plan cartoon.doc] **Background**: **This unit will take place after the conclusion of the World War II unit and serve as an introduction to a 1950s/Cold War unit. **
 * Materials: **** Handout [[file:Marshall Plan stats.doc]] **
 * NARA worksheet [|**cartoon_analysis_worksheet.pdf**] **
 *  textbook **


 * Procedure:**  Students will be assigned to small groups or pairs. The teacher will distribute a handout with statistics and a chart. The groups will answer questions regarding the data in the chart. One group member can be designated as the recorder while the entire group contributes to the information. Next, students will use their textbooks to find information about capitalism and communism and the Soviet Union and United States during and after World War II. Most US history textbooks contain enough information about this topic for students to complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two countries and their political concepts. The teacher will list pages to find the information on the board.

When students are finished, the teacher will review answers and lead a discussion about the statistics. The teacher will ask probing questions depending on the students’ responses to make connections to the plan to contain communism in Europe. At an appropriate point the discussion will shift to the Venn diagrams. The groups will contribute ideas to a class-generated Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the United States and capitalism and the Soviet Union and communism.

Finally, the groups will be given a political cartoon. The students will use the information in their Venn diagrams to analyze the political cartoon and fill out an NARA worksheet about the cartoon. Again, this can be reviewed as a class, time permitting.

**Conclusion: **** This activity will promote critical thinking about communism and capitalism. It is imperative that students have a firm understanding of these concepts in order to fully understand the Cold War in American history.

This is a very interesting lesson! I really think your students will enjoy analyzing the cartoons and learning about this subject. **