INSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN

Sequence and Organization

At the beginning of the unit, the class started with the basic necessary
information to better understand the events of the Cold War. The most important
aspect of this section was to define what the Cold War was, and to address the
causes and events leading up to this era of political tensions.
Throughout the middle section of the unit, I wanted the students to
comprehend the importance of the differing political ideologies of this time period
around the world, which (in its simplest form) caused the hot wars and other
political events from about 1945 to 1990.
To round out and synthesize the unit, the students analyzed the fall of the
Soviet Union and its connection with the decline of communist tendencies globally.
Questions that were answered at this point in the unit included: What was
considered the first domino in the fall of the Soviet Union? Who was principally
responsible for the end of Soviet Russia? How did these events correspond with the
decline of communist sympathies globally and the end of the Cold War?
All of the eight lesson plans written for this unit involve the three sections I
have split it up into. The unit will span a total of three weeks with nine periods. The
last period will be reserved for the completion of the Cold War unit test. The
beginning of the unit will encourage the students recall information we had gone
over in our previous unit and will mainly cover basic definitions and concepts the
students need to know. The core and middle of the unit will be to address differing
ideologies and beliefs which were the cause for many of the events which took
place during the Cold War. The last week will allow the students to see how the
sequence of events led to the downfall of the Soviet Union, and the end of
communist sympathies for much of Europe. The close of the unit will also give
students a glimpse and chance to connect some of the themes which will be talked
about in the next unit.
Literacy, Numeracy and Technology
I was able to incorporate literacy throughout the Cold War Unit relatively
easily. We looked at numerous primary sources during the course of the unit, and
the students often had to read aloud to the class or to each other in small groups.
Most of the literacy integration in this unit is found in writing activities, from
constructing a thesis statement to writing 20 word summaries, the students were
able to receive a lot of repetitions of their writing skills.
A large part of numeracy in this unit came from organizing a timeline of
events which occurred during the Cold War. During the units individual lessons, we
did look at graphs and charts, particularly when we talked about the hot wars
which took place during this period. Technology was used daily by myself and by the
students. Poudre High School supplies students with a personal laptop, so the
students were able to perform a good deal of research and writing using their
computers. I incorporated technology a good deal during lectures with Power Points,

videos, pictures, music and more. I believe that often it helps several different
learning styles to involve different types of technology in their learning process.
Although I do not believe teachers should completely rely on technology, it is
important to incorporate it in this day and age.