Cultural+Units

//Ideas for units/projects focusing on cultural events or ideas.// =Berlin Wall= With 2009 being the 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall, I took the opportunity to really focus on what it meant for the people of Germany. __Teacher's notes__: When I did this with my class during the recreation we used a roll of paper for the recreation phase, and then 'built' a wall. We divided our classroom and watched videos from the fall of the wall, as well as from the 20th anniversary celebration. It was a great experience for the class.
 * **Phase I - webquest**: Prior to doing the webquest, I showed this short video "@Walled In". Begin with a webquest to introduce the history of the wall and teach basic facts about its building, life with it, and when it came down. The final portion of the webquest has students viewing art from the East Side Gallery and beginning to speculate on the meanings of some of the graffiti.
 * **Phase II - research**: During this phase students will choose on piece of artwork from the East Side Gallery. They will research this artwork and its artist to learn about the meaning behind the painting as well as peoples' reactions. They will include their opinions of the artwork in a short report.
 * **Phase III - recreation**: The final phase will involve a recreation of the artwork previously researched. Alternatively, students could create a new painting with a political message fitting to the situation of a country divided.