Teacher Name: Henry Grubbgrade Level(S):10 Grade Course: World History

Lesson Plan
Cuban Missile Crisis

Teacher Name: Henry GrubbGrade level(s):10 grade Course: World History

Describe the classroom or homework activity to be performed(individual assignment, cooperative learning, cross curricular, technology based, using artifacts and/or primary sources, etc.)

• The students will engage in a cooperative learning assignment on the Cuban Missile Crisis. They will work in groups to explore the presidential decision making and the US, Cuban and USSR perspectives on the 1962 Crisis.

Rationale (why are you doing this?)

• The assignment will help the students understand the Cold War. It will attempt to put the Cuban Missile Crisis in the context of the time, in so doing present the real fear of a nuclear war.

Required time frame: 1 day= 80 minute block

Where in the teacher conference did you get the idea for this activity or assignment(speaker, document,photograph,activity, audio recording, other)?

• Even though when Nancy McCoy gave her presentation on the 13th. I also remember the Crisis as a 7 year old but I didn’t understand what was going on. It intrigued me.

Lesson objectives – the student will:

• To understand the background of the Cold War and the Cuban Revolution.
• To understand the chronology of the Crisis.
• To gain an understanding of the reaction of the American public to the Crisis, specifically the specter of nuclear war.

District,state, or national performance and knowledge standards/goals/skills met (be specific when referencing):

• National Standards Era 9-1. How post- World War II reconstruction occurred, new international relations took shape, and colonial powers broke up. B. Why global power shifts took place and the Cold War broke out in the aftermath of World War II
• Missouri Standard 7. E.- Knowledge of the use of tools of social science inquiry. E. Distinguish between fact and fiction and analyze sources to recognize bias and points of view.

• Missouri Standard 2. B.-Knowledge of principles of governance systems. B. Compare and contrast governmental systems, current and historical, including those that are democratic, totalitarian, monarchic, oligarchic and theocratic, and describe their impact.

Secondary materials (book, article, video documentary, etc.) needed – cite title and other detailed information:

• The World on the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missle Crisis @

Primary sources (document, photograph, artifact, diary or letter, audio or visual recording, etc.) needed – cite detailed information:

• The LIFE Magazine article, September 15, 1961
• Documents 1-19 in packet from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum packet- Perspectives on: The October Crisis, The Caribbean Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis documents include: 1. MRBM Launch Site, October 14, 1962; 2. Cuban Map October 1962; 3. Soviet Military Build Up in Cuba, October 1962; 4.Top Secret Missile Range Map of North America; 5. Audio recording (transcript) after evening meeting about the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 18, 1962; 6. Minutes from the October 22, 1962 meeting of the Presidium; 7. Letter to President Kennedy from the Soviet Premier Khrushchev, October 23, 19622. Cuba map, October 1962; 8. Presidential Doodles, October 25, 1962; 9. Letter from Fidel Castro to Soviet Premier Khrushchev, October 26, 1962; 10. Copy of Outgoing Ciphered Telegram No. 20076, October 27, 1962; 11. Minutes of the Presidium October 27, 1962; 12. Letter from Soviet Premier Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 27, 1962; 13. Letter from Soviet Premier Khrushchev to Fidel Castro, October 28, 1962; 14. Letter from President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev, October 28, 1962; 15. Letter from Soviet Premier Khrushchev to Fidel Castro, October 30, 1962; 16. Letter to Soviet Premier Khrushchev from Fidel Castro, October 31, 1962; 17. Press release of the United Nations reprinting Fidel Castro’s letter of November 15th to U Thant, Acting Secretary of the UN, November 16, 1962; 18. Political Cartoons;
• The World on the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis click on Education and Public Programs 2. For Teachers or for students 3. Materials, Resources and Activities 4. World on the Brink

Fully describe the activity or assignment in detail. What will both you and the students do?

Two lectures on the background. First on the origins of the Cold War, followed by an walk through the major crises up to 1962. The second one will cover the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro.

• Then I will divide the students into groups of four or five and give them the 19 documents in the packet.
• Each group will spend one class period reading and evaluating the documents.
• Each person in the group will create an interview with an “realistic but fictional” person from 1962. Each group must have a person from the United States, The Soviet Union and Cuba. That person is to tell about living through the crisis from their perspective.
• The students are all to write a personal reflection what it would be like to live under threat of a nuclear war
• Each student will also be able to be able to explain one other document.
• The following day we will cover the documents by asking someone to report out on each document. Hopefully, all documents will be covered, if not the teacher will explain the remaining ones.
• One student from each group will report on their interview.
• There will be a discussion about living under the threat of nuclear war.

Assessment: fully explain your assessment method in detail or create and attach your scoring guide:

• Each student will be expected to hand in their evaluation of one document, the interview of someone from the period and their personal reflection about nuclear war.

A student who does all three assignments well and works together cooperatively with the group and presents once, will receive an A.

A student who does all of the work more than satisfactorily with no presentation or an average presentation will receive a B. (However a student doing satisfactorily but with a great presentation could get an A)

A student who does all the work satisfactorily will receive a C. (However, if the student does a good presentation they could get a B)

A student doing all the assignment poorly and no presentations will receive a D. (However a goog presentation could get C)

A student doing two or less assignments and no presentations will receive an F. (However, if they do a really good presentation they could receive a D)