Lesson on Monday, May 1, 2017

Aim: How did the Reagan administration respond to the domestic and international social, political, and economic concerns of the 1980s?

How did international events affect the United States in the 1990s?

Bell Ringer: PowerPoint slide:

“The absence of war is not peace.” Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States.
Ask students to share ideas about the meaning of the quote. Ask for student volunteers to try to define the term “foreign policy.”

Objectives:

1. Students will analyze the foreign policy of the United States as it relates to Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Agenda:

2. Bell Ringer (5 min)

3. Share definition: Foreign Policy: a policy pursued by a nation in its dealings with other nations, designed to achieve national objectives.

4. Foreign policy is not synonymous with defense policy, but on the contrary, if used appropriately can often avoid the use of force. (5 min)

5. You will be creating a graphic organizer of the main points of foreign policy since 1976. Distribute Attachment B. You may work in pairs reading pages 444-446, 464-477, 486-487, 492-495, 500-505 in McGraw-Hill’s United States History & Geography. These pages present key information and ideas of foreign policy issues, decisions and events in the presidential terms of Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama.

Use the information in these pages and your textbooks and/or classroom computers with internet access to identify and list key events in the graphic organizer. (15/20 min)

6. Once you have completed the graphic organizer, use Attachment A to discuss student responses on the graphic organizer.

7. Discussion: “The United States must occasionally intervene militarily in regional conflicts” vs. “The United States should not intervene militarily in regional conflicts”

8. Use the assigned pages for reference/information and also the completed graphic organizers done as classwork (showing the different interventions the United States has been in).

Home Learning: Students can compare and contrast the following (could be completed as Journal 80): What do you think are the strongest arguments for and against military intervention in regional conflicts? Students can debate/write about any side.