Should we have started the Iraq War?

A lesson plan created by Christopher Bauer, MSU College of Education Senior

Context:

This lesson plan was designed by an MSU student in the TE program which will be used at a local high school.  This is designed to fit into the “Current events” chapter of a Middle East geography unit.  Indeed, this lesson is designed to establish a baseline of knowledge in the student before encouraging a debate on whether or not the United States should have invaded Iraq in 2003.

Rationale:

The reasoning behind the US-led invasion has been debated since before the actual invasion on March 20, 2003.  For students in the classroom, who may become involuntarily involved in the conflict, understanding why this war is being fought and forming educated opinions regarding this war is of the utmost importance.  Indeed, the skills required to form an educated opinion is not a naturally occurring skill, but rather a learned process, honed by practice.  This can be considered the beginning of a larger unit to hone those skills.

Goals:

Develop educated opinions.

Develop understanding of the current world’s issues.

Develop persuasive writing skills.

Develop oral debating skills.

Develop critical reading skills.

Objectives:

Understand the issues regarding the beginning of the Iraq War.

Establish an educated opinion regarding the legitimacy of the Iraq War.

Develop skills of persuasion and debate regarding the Iraq War.

Analyze teacher-given essays to develop educated opinions.

Materials:

Worksheet outlining major events and asking students to define and make a time line (1 page)

Bastardized Wikipedia article regarding the Iraq War (7 pages, Wikipedia, 10-24-06)

Pro-Con article regarding U.S. entry into the Iraq War (www.usiraqprocon.org, 10-24-06)

Constructed response Worksheet (1 page)

Procedure:

1.                  For the day in question, ask students to develop a timeline of the events outlined in the worksheet, establishing a common set of knowledge.

2.                  On the day, make an “official” outline of the timeline, and discuss the different events on the timelines (10 minutes).

3.                  Pass out the two essays and ask the students to read the two essays, and outline the arguments of both sides (10 minutes).

4.                  Ask the students to write down their thoughts regarding the legitimacy of the Iraq War (5 minutes).

5.                  Ask a student to outline their thoughts.  Ask if there was another point of view.  If there isn’t supply the opposing argument.

6.                  Ask for reactions to these thoughts, and allow students to constructively argue amongst themselves, playing devil’s advocate when necessary (15-25 minutes).

7.                  Ask the students to write a paper for them, outlining their position and explaining why the students believe in their position (Until close of hour)

a.       Also could discuss proper debating procedure

b.      Could discuss proper writing procedures.

Assessments:

Ideally, there would be four assessment points.  The first would be the timeline and identification, grading based on completeness and accuracy.  The second would be participation during the discussion, based on observations and impressions of the teacher.  The third assessment point would be the paper, based on solidity of the argument, proper form.  The final assessment would take form of an essay question, relating to a similar, although hypothetical situation, asking for an extension and expansion of knowledge.

Standards and Benchmarks:

Depending on how the discussion heads, this lesson plan could fulfill the following high school benchmarks:

Historical Standard 3.3

Contemporary problems in the world.

Historical Standard 4.3

Analyze key decisions

Historical Standard 4.4

Evaluate pivotal decisions in the US, regarding core democratic values

Geographic Standard 1.1

Describe how major world issues and events affect various people

Geographic Standard 5.1

Explain how geography and major world processes influence major world events

Geographic Standard 5.2

Explain the causes and importance of global issues involving cultural stability and change

Civic Standard 5.1

Describe the influence of the American concept of democracy and individual rights

Civic Standard 5.2

Evaluate foreign policy positions in light of national interests and American values

Inquiry Standard 2.1

Report the results of their investigation including procedures followed and a rationale for their conclusions

Public Discourse Standard 1.1

Generate possible alternative resolutions to public issues and evaluate them

Public Discourse Standard 2.1

Engage each other in elaborated conversations that examine public policy issues

Public Discourse Standard 3.1

Compose elaborated essays expressing and justifying decisions on public policy issues

What follows is my critique of a lesson plan that I printed out, but failed to note down the entire URL, meaning it has been lost to me to the big WWW.  Turned in for grading in October of 2006.

The lesson under analysis was created by a Mary Jane McReynolds, from a New Mexico school in May of 1994.  Ms. McReynolds attended a Columbia Education Center’s Summer Workshop, which networked teachers from 14 western states.  This particular lesson plan, entitled “Consumer Borrowing and Saving,” understands the rise of personal bankruptcies and personal debt and seeks to educate juniors and seniors on the rightful place and purpose of consumer credit.

This, although not stated in the lesson plan itself, is actually a mini-unit.  The lesson plan itself designates this lesson as an “Economics or Social Studies lesson.”  I would agree, because ideally it would be placed in an Economics classroom, alongside discussions of other forms of payment: cash, loans, etc.  Should this not be possible, it would also work well in an Economics classroom during a discussion on supply and demand, particularly with the meeting of supply and demand, namely payment.  Outside of an Economics classroom, I could see it falling into a Mathematics classroom during a unit on interest, or compound interest, or in a History classroom, discussing the origins of credit.

I believe this lesson can do much to connect the larger ideas presented in the units before or after with the smaller, more concrete information regarding credit cards.  Indeed, in an economics classroom, it could be discussed how credit affects supply and demand, either aggregate or otherwise.  Also in an economics classroom, this lesson could be used to generate other awareness of various forms of payment, which, again, relates to when suppliers meet demanders.  Although not stated in the lesson plans, I also believe that having a foray into this topic from a linking topic in mathematics would help students understand how interest is calculated and how these formulas apply to their life outside of the mathematics classroom.  Indeed, in a history class, this sort of tangent would relate a “current event” to the “dry subject matter” covered in history.

Essentially, the student is expected to read from the book and participate in teacher-lead discussion on the pros and cons of credit use, other forms of payment, and deciphering which credit offers are superior to others.  The textbook is used to instill a basic understanding of terms and ideas, while discussion is used to takes these basics and turn them into something more meaningful.  Soon after meaning is established, credit offers and loan statements are used to teach critical thinking skills, as students must decide which are better than others, and why.  Understanding is ultimately evaluated by written responses originating from group work where the teacher outlines a situation and asks the students to respond with what they would do in that situation, based on the knowledge that was gained during the unit.

Personally, I believe this lesson plan would fit well into my teaching philosophy as it would help students become good critically thinking citizens.  One of the primary objectives of the lesson would be to give the student the tools and knowledge to choose between credit offers to pick the one that is the best.  Another is to provide students with the knowledge to know when one should buy with credit, or should attempt to buy it some other time or in some other fashion.  Overall, I would hope that this sort of mini-unit would prepare the students for a future outside of the classroom, by bringing this into the classroom.

One of my main concerns behind this sort of lecture, however, is who is privileged and who is disadvantaged in this lesson plan.  Obviously those who cannot critically read or take notes on the textbook would be at a disadvantage on the onset, while those with those skills would be at an advantage.  Later on, auditory learners would have the advantage, due to the class discussions, as well as those who can put forth their ideas to the classroom, whereas those who do not have those skills or who are apathetic to the “school-thing” would be in a weaker position.  This would be a good opportunity, however, for the teacher, who is acting as a guide or facilitator during the first half of the lesson, to help the first group develop those skills, to pick out the important parts of a discussion, to develop the skill of voicing opinions.  Perhaps even the direct connection to the “real life” outside of school will interest the apathetic students, or perhaps the apathetic students will react more favorably to being treated not as a bank account, but rather treated as an active learner, who constructs a body of knowledge.

I believe that I have already alterations to the original lesson plan, in order to make it my own and tailor it more to my teaching style.  Among these changes was the emphasis on class discussion to construct the basic information into a greater understanding of the material.  I believe the lesson plan originally calls for a smaller amount of class discussion, and an increase in small group work to come to the same conclusion that I would hope to extract out of the discussion.  I would favor a class discussion over small group work, because that would allow me to direct the class towards the objectives and reduce the amount of time associated with small size group work.

Another alteration I have already made would be its application to courses other than Economics.  I believe that it would prove interesting to the students if we began talking about concrete, “real life,” examples of what we were learning in a math class, or the consequences of, and the resulting evolution of society due to, the rise of credit.

To specifically alter for introduction of a math class, I would have to provide the basics for the mini-unit from the school’s economics book, the internet, or from my own personal collections.  From this I would also introduce into the lesson mathematical ties, such as how the APY works, or how interest rate is computed or determined.  Finally, in a mathematics class, the final evaluation would have to be changed to reflect the mathematical focus in the unit, meaning I would alter the situations to have the student computing interest rates and other quantitative analysis that would be complementary to the mathematics program that I would be placed in.

For an introduction into a history class I would have to make many of the same changes that one would expect for the mathematics.  Initially I would have to wait until the proper point in the history class, namely the introduction of mass credit.  Then I would have to provide not only the basic ‘lingo’ of credit, but also specific instances on how credit has affected public policy and society in general.  After that, I would direct class discussion on how credit has evolved into present day before launching into the lesson proper.  The analysis would remain much the same, except span over time as well, giving situations that might have historical significance.