edTPA Task 1: Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan 3: Combating Communism

Unit: The Cold War: 1945-1991

Course: U.S. History, 1877-Present

Grade: 9th Grade

Lesson #: 3 of 5

Date: February 14, 2020

Class Information

Theme: This course examines the history of the United States of America from 1877 to the
present. The federal republic has withstood challenges to its national security and
expanded the rights and roles of citizens. The episodes of its past have shaped the
nature of the country today and prepared it to attend to the challenges of tomorrow.
Understanding how these events came to pass and their meaning for today’s
citizens is the purpose of this course. The concepts of historical thinking introduced
in earlier grades continue to build with students locating and analyzing primary and
secondary sources from multiple perspectives to draw conclusions. This course
also utilizes the Founding Documents as a background for historic
application/exploration.

Size: 24 Students; Ages 14-17

Learning Information

Central Focus: What were the causes and effects of the Cold War?

Topic: The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(U.S.S.R.) emerged as the two strongest powers in international
affairs. Ideologically opposed, they challenged one another in a series
of confrontations known as the Cold War. The costs of this prolonged
contest weakened the U.S.S.R. so that it collapsed due to internal
upheavals as well as American pressure. The Cold War had social
and political implications in the United States.

Content Standards: 23. The United States followed a policy of containment during the
Cold War in response to the spread of communism.

25. The Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Vietnam influenced
domestic and international politics.

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Goals: - Students will engage in meaningful discussions about primary
source and secondary source information in both a small
group setting and together as a class.
- Students will be able to display their growth of knowledge in
multiple ways, focusing on the ways that best suit them.
- Students will connect new information to past knowledge and
will combine it with their understanding of today.
- Students will analyze and understand the connections
between events during the Cold War.
- Students will display their knowledge through class
discussions.

Objectives: - Students will show their expansion of knowledge through their

bellringer review.
- Students will follow along with the presentation through guided
notes.
- Students will analyze different events and changes during the
early Cold War.
- Students will analyze the connection between these Cold War
events and how the different events were both effects of past
knowledge and causes of future learning.
- Students will display their growth in knowledge through class
discussions.
- Students will analyze the containment policy and how it relates
to the principles of communism and capitalism and then
analyze the effects of the containment policy.
- Students will analyze the escalation of events that ultimately
leads to wars such as Korea and Vietnam.

Procedures and Instruction

Bellringer: - Review from the Nuclear Age Lesson (5 minutes)

- Use a timer on the smartboard to keep track of time and keep pacing.
- If need be, allow time for discussion of ​Duck and Cover ​(1951) if not
covered the day before. (5 minutes)
- Take attendance.
- Write the covered standards/big ideas on the board.
- Upon completion, we will go over the answers as a class and students
will turn them in for their weekly grade.

Lesson: Combating Communism

Supporting Question #1: Supporting Question #2: Supporting Question #3:

What policies and actions How did the policies set forth a What could be the long-term

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did the United States enact series of events that caused results of such actions and
to stop the spread of even more changes and led to policies?
communism and how an escalation of the Cold War?
effective were they?

- At the beginning of the lesson, cover the standard and point out where it is written on
the board.
- Students will follow along with the presentation through the use of a guided notes
sheet.
- The lesson should make the connectivity of events clear. (i.e. one thing led to another,
which led to this, which led to that.)
- During the presentation, I will ask the students both higher-order, fact-based, and
reflective questions.
- Discourse: A ​ t the end of the lesson for the day, there are a few discussion questions
about the information they just learned. We will take the time to discuss these
questions and see where that discussion leads. If the discussion becomes stagnant at
all, ask questions about the connection, focusing on students’ analysis of said
connections to make sure they are understanding the connections.
- Due to the amount of information being learned today, there will be no activity outside
of the discussion at the end of the lesson.
- At the end of the lesson, after the discussion, students will complete a brief exit slip on
Google Forms. The purpose of this exit slip is to act as intervention and review as this
particular lesson has a larger amount of vocabulary terms and important concepts
students need to remember and understand.

Expansions/Adaptations

- Students on 504s and IEPs will be given ample time to complete the bellringer. Since
the notes are more complicated and longer than many of the other days, students on
IEPs may have completed copies of the notes if they feel they need it. Students on
IEPs and 504s also have the option to show their depth of knowledge during the
discussion section or can record a video through FlipGrid if they so choose. The exit
slip will be completely multiple choice so it should not affect students on 504s or IEPs.

Resources

- Bellringer: The Nuclear Age Review

- Slide Presentation
- Guided Note Sheet
- Exit Slip

Academic Language

Berlin Airlift​: airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of West Berlin when the

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Russians closed off land access to Berlin.

Blockade​: an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or
leaving.

Containment​: A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in
which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and
helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances

Domino Theory​: A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then
neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Iron Curtain​: A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII,
restricting their ability to travel outside the region.

Marshall Plan​: A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe
(1948-1952).

Truman Doctrine​: 1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to
any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.

Past Knowledge: So far in the unit, we have discussed the basic differences between
communism and capitalism and students should have that pretty well
down by now. We have also talked about the growing threat of nuclear
warfare through the arms race and how that has formed new alliances.
This should inform students on further measures to contain the spread of
communism, which relates back to lessons one and two.

Future Learning: Just as we see a mounting escalation in the effects of foreign policy,
students should see further troubles coming, both internationally and
domestically, as we see such an escalation in the Cold War during this
lesson alone. When we discuss McCarthyism and the Red Scare in the
following lesson, students will see how the fears of communism
spreading that the government had were also reflected by the American
people and by American society and culture. Beyond that, students will
see how Vietnam is an even further escalation of the Cold War.