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Your Own Political Cartoon Lesson Plan Nicolas Sawicky Grade level: o 8th grade Duration: o 45 minutes Goals/rationale: o This lesson is the culmination of the previous two lesson plans. It is a fun way for the students to express their knowledge of Americas various acts of imperialism, which they learned in the previous two lessons. The goal of this lesson plan is for students to use their artistic skills to craft their own political cartoon on Americas imperialism. Students will be able to choose from a number of cases of imperialism and convey their own unique cartoon using an online drawing site. This lesson will strengthen not only their knowledge of Americas numerous acts of imperialism, but also allow them to express their knowledge using the arts. Big idea/essential question: o The big idea for this lesson is: Political Cartoons: A fun way to convey your opinion o Students will use their knowledge of American Imperialism and previous examples of political cartoons to create their own political

cartoon that is uniquely from their point of view; as if they were an opinioned artist from a newspaper during that time period. It is completely up to artist to decide which act of imperialism they want to cover, what their opinion will be, and how they will convey that opinion. o This lesson will target all 5 threads in one way or another. Each act of imperialism has its own geography associated with it and the location and abundance of resources are usually to reasons that the United States decided to intervene. o This lesson will also cover politics. Who is making the decision to intervene on another country? Who holds the power in each of these situations? o One of the big reasons for Americas entrance into imperialism was because of economics. Whether it is resources, labor, or just land. Dominating weaker countries could make Americans more money. o There are also sociocultural aspects to Americas acts of Imperialism. In many cases, the American intruders were considered in a class above the natives. Manifest Destiny played a key role in Americas expansions past the continental U.S. o American Imperialism is by definition a global act. American intervention could then either be viewed as a source of conflict between the Americans and the natives or something much more

mutually beneficial, but still encompassing some sort of change to the occupied nation. Objectives: o Students will be able to evaluate their knowledge of Americas acts of imperialism around the turn of the 20th century and decide on their opinion for the imperialist act they chose by selecting one act from a provided list and decide if Americas actions were just or unjust. (Evaluate Take evidence and form an opinion) o Students will then create a political cartoon based on the imperialist act they have chosen, using the opinion that they decided. The cartoon will display not only the students opinion of Americas actions, but accurately display what occurred through the use of creative drawing. (Create Take their opinion and draw a cartoon to convey their message) Core Curriculum o Social Studies Overview: Interdependence Reliance upon other in mutually beneficial interactions and exchanges Imperialism the domination by one country of the political and / or economic life of another country Political Systems Power

Human Rights

Unit Eight: The United States as an Independent Nation in an Increasingly Interdependent World I. The United States Expands its Territories and Builds an Overseas Empire o 5. To analyze the role played by the United States in international politics, past and present.

o Arts Standard 1: Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts. Standard 4: Understanding the Cultural Contributions of the Arts Students will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present society. Anticipatory set o Have you ever wanted to be a professional cartoonist? Well now is your chance! Lesson

1. Materials a. Access to school computer lab, each student must have their own computer and access to the Internet. b. Document: Opinion: List of American Overseas Interventions (Attached) i. This document will serve as the introduction to the assignment. c. Document: Imagine: You are a famous political cartoonist (Attached) i. This is the assignment guide. It gives instructions on what the student is to complete by the end of the class period. 2. This lesson is the culmination of the previous two lesson plans on Americas numerous acts of imperialism during the turn of the 20th century. Students will be asked to take the knowledge they learned in class and through their readings outside of class to pick one act of imperialism and give their opinion on it. From there, the student will take that opinion on convert it to a political cartoon. This will be a way to asses their knowledge of Americas acts of intervention in an illustrative matter, instead of the usual written format. 3. Class will start with a trip to the school computer lab. Students will bring their school bags with them, since they will be leaving for their next class from the computer lab. 4. Once everyone finds a seat in front of a computer, I will bring up the topic of American imperialism, something we have been covering all week. I will do quick wrap up our last lesson where students split into different centers and learned about various acts of American intervention. I will then remind them

that they should have learned that even though all of the examples were imperialist, some benefitted the people of that nation, while others were harmed. 5. With their memory jogged, I will then present each student with a copy of the Opinion: List of American Overseas Interventions (Attached) sheet. The main goal of this sheet is for students to look over the many examples we went over in class and pick one they are most interested in. From there I ask them three questions: 1) Which act did they choose, 2) briefly describe what happened, 3) whats their opinion of what happened? a. Students will have 10 minutes to finish this section of the lesson. 6. With a particular act of imperialism fresh in the students mind, I will then throw them a curve ball and ask them, Have you ever wanted to be a famous cartoonist? Well now is your chance! 7. I will then handout the Imagine: You are a famous political cartoonist (Attached) sheet and read it over with them. Students should excited to have a break from writing short essays to asses their understanding of the course material and will allow students who are more prone to illustration than writing to flourish. 8. The sheet builds up the students as famous cartoonists ands explains the importance that their political cartoons have on people from all around the world. 9. I want the students to be as creative as possible, so I also decided to let them decide if they were from America or the other country that is being discussed.

10. Students will use http://www.kerpoof.com/ to create their political cartoons. I have personally played around with the site and it corrects your drawings to make them look nicer (i.e. If you draw an almost straight line, it will correct it for you). This should allow the less artist kids from feeling too much frustration when trying to create their own political cartoon.

11. The sheet also lays out what my expectations are for their cartoon. I expect the cartoon to easily illustrate what is going on and what the cartoonists opinions are. I encourage the students to make use of symbols to convey their points.

12. I also encourage my students to use the World Wide Web to find some examples of political cartoons and see how those examples use symbols to portray their message. 13. Students have till the end of the class period to complete their cartoon. 14. I end the assignment sheet with a positive message to be creative and have fun. Assessment Students complete the Opinion: List of American Overseas Interventions sheet and hand it in at the end of class. o Answers all three questions posed to them What act of intervention did they choose Describes in at least three sentences what occurred What is their opinion of the act?

Students complete the directions on the Imagine: You are a famous political cartoonist sheet and hand in their printed political cartoon by the end of class with the assignment attached. o Cartoon should accurately detail what is occurring overseas, making it easy for the reader to understand. o The students opinion should be obvious to the reader o Cartoon is creative but not necessarily a work of art (Stick figures are allowed)

Student uses symbolism to convey a larger message that could otherwise only be conveyed using text.

o Student uses other political cartoons to draw ideas for their own works of art. Closing activity As students walk up to hand me their completed assignment, I will ask them one thing they liked about this assignment and one thing they think could be improved upon. This is my first time incorporating the arts so heavily into a social students lesson and I want to get some honest feedback on what my students thought about the lesson while it is still fresh in their head. Some things that I think they might say is, there was not enough time; they had trouble drawing what they envisioned; They wish they were more prepared to do this lesson because they had not read the assigned reading. Including where they got the ideas from

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