Mr. Niebergall
Harry S Truman High School
It is 1961 and the East German government with
the approval of the Soviet Union built a wall to divide the city of
Berlin. Berlin was the capital of
Germany until the end of World War II in 1945.
From that moment on, Germany became a divided nation, split by the
Western democracies and the Soviet Union.
West Germany under the guidance of the West (United States, Britain and
France) developed a democratic government while East Germany under Soviet
influence developed a Communist government.
The former capital of Germany became divided by the four powers as the
rest of the country. West Berlin like
West Germany became democratic while East Berlin under Soviet influence became
Communist and the capital of East Germany.
You are an American journalist in 1989 watching the people of East
Berlin demand freedom. You see the
demand for change grow and are covering the story for the news media and will
prepare a report to explain what is happening in East Berlin and its relation
to the reunification of Germany.
Your job is to be part of an investigative
team that will research the problems of East Berlin in 1989. You must prepare a speech to be written and
given to the class about the changes taking place and the fall of the Berlin
Wall in 1989. Your speech will discuss
the social problems in East Berlin and East Germany dues to the lack of freedom
from the Communist Government. Through
the TIPS worksheets you will complete using the resources to complete a final
product of a speech to the class on the social problems and the public policy
that was used to deal with it. The
public policies of both the West German and East German governments must be
examined.
The class will be divided into small groups. Each group
should have:
·
Researcher
·
Editor
·
Graphic Artist
·
Facilitator
·
Presenter
Each member of the group must
complete the following TIPS worksheets
What is the problem? (Worksheet)
Where
is the evidence? (Worksheet)
What
are the causes? (Worksheet)
What
policies are already trying to take care of this problem? (Worksheet)
What
should be done to solve this problem? (Worksheet)
What
is the best solution? (Worksheet)
The
TIPS worksheets will be completed with the aid of the following website
resources:
The Historical Background of the Berlin Wall
Deconstructing the Berlin Wall (Wall
as East German Public Policy)
The
Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
Eyewitness
Accounts of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
East
German government opens Frontier to the West for Migration or Travel; Thousands
Cross
East Germany’s Cabinet Resigns, Bowing to Protest and Mass
Flight
The
Berlin Wall 20 Years Later
Finally
your group will give a speech that utilized all the worksheet to describe the
public policy to deal with the social problem.
Speech will be graded based on the rubric below. Students in the group are expected to produce
a written speech that will last at the minimum of 15 minutes in duration. Each group member is expected to participate
in the speech with the presenter leading and the other members discussing their
research and images to explain the social problem and the public policy to deal
with the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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Grade of A--10-12 Grade of B--7-9 Grade of C--4-6 Grade of F--1-3
West and East Berliners stand on top of the wall in the days
before it was torn down.
The
Fall of the Berlin Wall led to many changes in Germany,
Communist East Germany and democratic West Germany. Not long after the East Berlin demonstrations
came the fateful moment when the wall was torn down on November 9th,
1989. By the next year Germany is
reunified, the Cold War division is over.
As part of a group of journalists, you have investigated the social
problems and public policies to discover the real picture of what was happening
in Berlin in 1989. Your speech will
give your fellow Americans a better picture of what was happening in Berlin and
Germany.
Memorials of East Germans who were shot for attempting to cross the
Berlin Wall
Social
Studies Standards
Standard 2:World History
Students will use a variety of
intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras,
themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad
sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
Standard 3:Geography
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we
live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places,
and environments over the Earth’s surface.
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental
system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution;
the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles,
rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of
participation.
LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS
Standard 1:Language for Information and Understanding
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding.
As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas;
discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge
generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers
and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted
conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit
information.
Standard 3:Language
for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and
evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas,
information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established
criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that
follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a
variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas,
information and issues.
Standard 4:Language
for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction.
Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted
conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a
wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social
communications of others to enrich their understanding of people.
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS:
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital
sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information
while avoiding plagiarism.