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Concept: “The Classroom Wall”
Concept Questions:
 | What
kinds of walls do we build in our character? |
| Why
might you think we build these walls? |
| How
do they affect us in life? |
| Are
we aware when we are not treating people fairly? (Not every act is as obvious as The Berlin Wall) |
| How
do you stand up for equality? |
| What
are the affects of doing so and is it possible in all situations? |
Goals:
| To
gain an understanding of why the Berlin Wall went up |
| To
tie in the ideas behind the Berlin Wall to the “classroom wall” For
example, to make them understand the unfairness that the people in East
Berlin felt compared to the “East Berliners” of the classroom |
Activities:
| The
“classroom wall”- The students would pair up with another student
depending on their particular interests.
They would then pair up with another set of students and repeat this
until the whole class was divided in two. They would then be made to go on two separate sides of
the room with half-gallon milk cartons representing the Berlin Wall.
The smaller of the two groups would represent “the East
Berliners” and the rest of the class would be the rest of Berlin.
The teacher would them start by giving “the class” a snack, but
not “the East Berliners.” |
| They
will first do a 10-minute free-write on their first feelings they had of
being separated into two groups. |
| Then,
there will be a teacher facilitated class meeting-30 minutes long:
containing an explanation of the significance of the “classroom wall.”
The teacher will only explain what is necessary for the students to
realize that they are not really being treated inhumanely.
They will be able to ask a few questions and prepare themselves for
the rest of the day. This
“historical” activity is to be taken seriously and the teacher must
treat the “East Berliners” unfairly compared to the rest of the class.
They should stick to what they started in order for the students to
have the most successful experiential learning experience. |
| Then,
only the rest of the class would get a break and be able to go outside or do
whatever they wanted and the “East Berliners” would have assigned
reading to do in the classroom of an author against The Berlin Wall. |
| Afterward,
they would watch a 30-minute video on the history of the Berlin Wall and
take notes: This activity would
allow the class to gain more factual knowledge on the history of the Berlin
wall. The teacher will warn
them that there will be a quiz on the video at the end of the day. |
| The
class will then head to lunch for 40 minutes and the “East Berliners”
would have to wait two minutes before the last member of “the class” was
out of the room. |
| After
lunch, the teacher would read “the class” a story while the “East
Berliners” had to write out spelling words from the board that applied to
The Berlin Wall and look up the words in the dictionary. |
| They
would all then go to PE two minutes after the rest of the class left for it. |
| When
they got back, they would take the movie quiz so the teacher could get a
better feel for their note taking and comprehensive skills.
This would be for no grade. |
| When
they got back, the teacher would make them go on their separate side of the
wall and have them respond to the question, how do you feel about this whole
situation? How do you think the
people in East Berlin felt about the wall? Why was the idea of this wall so unfair? |
| She
would then have them all come on one side of the wall and facilitate a
classroom discussion using the concept questions stated above.
The “East Berliners” would be asked how they felt first. |
| The
former “East Berliners” would then share with the rest of the class, the
meanings of the spelling words that they looked up on the board. |
| They
would then be told that the wall was going to be used to learn more about
architecture and geometry when the whole class would destruct the wall the
next day. |
| They
would then share how they were affected by this “classroom wall”
experiment. |
| Lastly,
they would fill out a questionnaire on their personal feelings about the
theme of “breaking down walls." |
Evaluation: Measurement
of student learning:
| Quiz
on Berlin Wall video |
 | Did
they do well on the quiz as a whole? |
| Individually? |
 | What
questions did they have the most trouble with? |
| "Classroom
Wall" Concept Questions |
| How
much depth did they gain in their answers? |
| How
well did they apply what they learned in class to answering the questions? |
| Take
notes on students |
| Did
the students follow directions well today? |
| How
well did they listen in class today? |
| Did
they show excitement and attentiveness for today’s lesson? |
| Did
any of “the class” treat the “East Berliners” unfairly just
because that was what they were? |
| What
could they have done differently to support the classroom environment
more? |
Measurement of teacher
learning:
| Survey |
| How
much depth have I brought to the classroom discussions that they have not
outwardly expressed before? |
| Quiz
on video |
| Were
there any questions that most of the class got wrong because of the way I
worded the question? |
| How
could I go about teaching this experiment differently depending on how the
class reacted to it? |
| How
well did I manage the class today? |
Materials: Half-gallon milk cartons, video, paper, pencils, quiz,
notebook
Standards: Mathematics
2.B.4a, History 16.A.3c
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