Excited for the 1950's

Last week Mr G. taught the Korean War. I was disappointed in his teaching to be honest. He did a powerpoint, showed the pilot episode of MASH, and that was it. I had so many ideas about the Korean War being the first integrated war, and also having the students read a story from the average Koreans point of view. I guess I'll just save my ideas for next time. I did learn by watching him do the powerpoint though. And I got to show some of the video The Atomic Cafe on Weds. Mr G. gave me good feedback about commenting during the film, and that was something I really wanted to develop.  That was really helpful.

This week coming up I am teaching about the 1950's. I am going to have the students start out reading a small section from the textbook in groups and developing skits to teach the rest of the class their sections. I know two of my classes will do really well with this. I always worry about 6th period though. After we do the skits, I am going to do a quick powerpoint and have the students work in groups to analyze some 1950s ads. I want them to see how much of our lifestyle today actually came from then. Finally, I want them to see the 1950's from the teenage perspective. I am going to do a powerpoint of teenagers. Then I'll have my students do a compare and contrast chart of their life as a teen now with teenagers of the 1950's. Finally I am having them do an open-note chart quiz about 3 ways life changed in the 1950's. The last day, I'll show them some clips from the movies Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock.