Glastonbury Foreign Language Program
Curricular Unit: Propaganda (Russian)
Grade: 11
Subject/Topic Area(s): History
Key Words: Cold War, WWII, Hitler, Stalin, Krushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Collectivization, Collective Farm, Five Year Plan, Komsomol, Pioneers, Subbotnik

Standards:

Major standards— 2.1, 2.2
Supporting standards— 1.1, 1.2

Brief Summary of Unit (including curricular context and unit goals):

This is a unit about propaganda, focusing on three main time periods and their individual themes.

Number of days for activity: 15

Materials and resources (including technology and multimedia):

-WWII propaganda posters
-Slides of propaganda posters
-Burnt by the Sun--video

Identifying Desired Results

•  What essential questions will guide this unit and focus teaching/learning?

-What types of media were used for propaganda in the Soviet Union?
-What were the messages and themes that the different leaders wanted to convey to the Soviet people?
-What kinds of newspapers existed in the USSR?
-When were the people of the USSR allowed to speak and write more freely?

•  What enduring understandings are desired?

Student will understand...

That the Soviet government used various types of propaganda (TV, radio, posters) to get across its messages; that over time the messages changed, depending on the current situation; and that freedom of the press and expression were not allowed during Soviet times until Gorbachev's policy of glasnost came into effect in 1987.

•  What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Students will know…

-vocabulary associated with various propaganda themes
-who the leaders of the US and USSR were during various periods

Students will be able to…

-identify the theme of a poster, and place it in its correct time period

Vocabulary:

Grammar:

•  What do they already know that will help them learn new information? Where and when did they learn it?

- WWII background from Russian 4 grade 10
-Cold War background from earlier in Russian 5

Determining acceptable evidence

•  What evidence will show that students understand?

Performance Tasks:
Project--design a political poster with an appropriate theme for a given time period

Quizzes, Tests, Prompts, Work Samples:
Quiz--vocabulary
Test--poster themes

Unprompted Evidence (observations, dialogues):
participation in class discussions

Student Self-Assessment:

Lessons:

Links to Relevant Web Sites:  

http://www.geocities.com/imants_silent/katalogs/z_katmain.htm

Assessment Blueprint (Performance Tasks)

Task Title: Propaganda Poster Project
Approximate Time Frame: 4 days
Standards: 1.3, 2.2
Purpose: check those that apply Formative – Summative – X
Description of Task:

Students will design their own propaganda poster for the Cold War period.

Evidence of desired understanding:

A thoughtful, well presented poster

Criteria of judgment:

-content of poster
-accuracy of language

Evaluative Tools: check those that apply
Analytic Rubric – x
Holistic Rubric – x
Criterion (performance) list –
Checklist –

Assessment Blueprint (Other Evidence)

•  What is being assessed?

•  Describe the assessment.  

•  What is the purpose of the assessment?      

•  Criteria of judgment/evaluative tools: