The period between the end of the Second World War in 1945 and the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 was known as the Cold War, when the United States, her democratic allies, and their colonies and dependencies around the world stood in a tense stalemate with the Soviet Union, her allies, and her satellites.  In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded her first atomic bomb, and Chiang Kai-Check’s Republic of China was overthrown by the Communist Mao Tse-Tung.  America and the Soviets would compete in the space race, striving to see who could be the first to put a man in space, or on the Moon.  Through proxies, the free and communist worlds would fight in Korea, Viet-Nam, and elsewhere.  Life would also change within the United States.  Americans were prosperous, but many were unsatisfied.  Blacks, women, and other groups would demand equality, and more and more people would ‘drop out’ of society, forming an alternate, counter-cultural society.  Over all this hung the constant threat of mutual assured destruction.  This is the Age of the Atom.  When you see the flash, duck and cover!

    Your group will teach the class one day this term.  The entire 90-minute period will be yours to do with as you see fit, within certain guidelines:
· Activities must be instructive, and you must cover all the important material in your assigned chapter.
· You must spend most of the time teaching through a presentation, and every member of your group is expected to speak or lead some part of the class.
· You will prepare two pages of notes (no more and no less) on the chapter, and must make enough copies of this to distribute one to everyone in the class (including yourselves) and three to the teacher.  These must be given to the teacher on the day you teach the class, except for chapter 29, which must be turned in early.
· Your lesson will include at least two visual or auditory aids, one of which should be a poster.
· You will prepare and lead an activity for the class lasting 15-25 minutes that is connected with the chapter you are teaching.
· You may assign class-work or homework, but you will grade it and then submit the graded work to the teacher.
· This is history, the basis of all excitement in the world. Have fun!

19 November: Work Day
20 November: Chapter 26 The Cold War Begins
21 November:   Chapter 27 Postwar Years at Home
(Chapter 29 notes due to teacher)
24 November: Chapter 29 Kennedy and Johnson Years
25 November: Test (Chapters 26, 27, 29)

1 December:  Chapter 28 The Civil Rights Movement
2 December:  Chapter 30 The Era of Activism
3 December:  Educational Film
4 December:  Educational Film and Review
5 December:  Test (Chapters 28 & 30)
 

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