Learning Goals and Objectives

Learning Goals

1. Students will be able to investigate and analyze the origins of the Cold War. Correlates with Arkansas Curriculum Framework CUS.19.AH.1. (ADE, 2006)
2. Students will be able to identify, assess, and examine international alliances and conflicts and how they affected international relations during the Cold War. Correlates with Arkansas Curriculum Framework CUS.19.AH.4, 5, 7. (ADE, 2006)
3. Students will be able to assess and examing the various changes and influences to society during the 1950s. Correlates with Arkansas Curriculum Framework CUS.19.AH.2, 6, 8. (ADE, 2006)

Objectives

Learning Goal #1:

1. Using primary source documents, students will be able to identify and analyse the causes of the breakdown in relations between the USSR and USA at an 80% success rate.
2. Using primary source documents, secondary source documents, and a short documentary, students will be able to identify and analyze the policy of containment, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Airlift at an 80% success rate.

Learning Goal #2:

1. At an 80% success rate, students will be able to compare and contrast world leaders during the beginning of the Cold War and analyze the affect they had upon international relations by writing a comparitive essay using notes from student presentations.
2. At an 80% success rate, students will be able to create a reaction piece to the personal stories from veterans of the Korean War.
3. At an 80% success rate, students will be able to write a newspaper column/personal journal reflecting upon a press conference addressing the Cold War during the 1950s.

Lesson Goal #3:

1. Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge and opinion of McCarthyism during the 1950s after being subjected to a McCarthy-like hearing in class.
2. Students will be able to write a two point essay at an 80% success rate using information on societal change during the 1950s to express what they believe it would have been like in the 1950s for minorities after reading a play on the Little Rock Nine.

My unit of study will be in a 9^th grade regular United States History class. The students will have just finished a unit on World War Two, and will have prior knowledge of political philosophies (communism, capitalism), world leaders (Stalin, Truman, Eisenhower), and countries (US, USSR). My unit consists of 10 lessons to help the students understand the Cold War, the policies which were born out of it, and how the United States society was affected by this on the home front.

My first learning goal is that the students will be able to investigate and analyze the origins of the Cold War. This aligns with the state standards because the students will be able to identify the significance of the Potsdam and Yalta Conferences, what would happen with Germany and Poland, and assess the opinions of Ambassador George Kennan and Secretary Henry Wallace. The students would also be able to identify how containment, the Marshall Plan, and the Truman Doctrine changed foreign policy, and how the blockade of Berlin was solved peacefully.

The second learning goal is that students will be able to identify, assess, and examine the roles international alliances and conflicts played during the beginning of the Cold War. This aligns with state standards because the students will be able to identify world leaders and how the alliances they formed and policies they supported and created helped foster a hostile diplomatic environment during the Cold War. They will also be able to understand the reasons used for foreign conflicts such as the Korean War, and analyze the Eisenhower administration during the 1950s.

The third learning goal is that students will be able to assess and examine the various changes and influences to society during the 1950s. This aligns with the state standards because students will be able to analyze how McCarthyism affected the society of the US during the beginning of the Cold War, and they will also be able to analyze how race relations were going during the 1950s.

All of these learning goals and objectives will help shape this unit of study in US History. By having these written before the creation of the assessments, I will be able to accurately design the unit of study and assessments that determines the progress of the unit. It will also help student become more prepared for moving on from the 9^th grade.

References

Arkansas Department of Education. (2006) Curriculum Frameworks. Retrieved March 23, 2014 from http://www.arkansased.org/divisions/learning-services/curriculum- and-instruction/frameworks.