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Continuing with the theme of using my own teaching experiences to show how to engage and involve students in a wide variety of ways, this lesson about the Cold War and Berlin Wall came about when I was asked by former students to come to Short Mountain Elementary School in rural Cannon County, Tennessee.

The Hook—Start the Lesson

Many of the lessons I teach begin with questioning. Asking questions draws students in, gets their brains working and engages them in important discussions that will set the stage for learning. Here are the questions I started with:

• Have you ever known of two people who have a disagreement, didn’t like each other, and physically fought each other?
• Have you ever known of two people who have a disagreement, didn’t like each other, but didn’t fight physically, but just used words or other ways to continue the disagreement?
• What physical war did you just finish studying that resulted in millions of deaths all over the world?
• Now what war have you been studying that is like two people having a conflict without physically fighting?

Get Moving

Movement and music captures attention and sustains the focus in any lesson. I used a PowerPoint® presentation with slides of Winston Churchill (cigars included), the northern (Stettin on the Baltic) and southern (Trieste on the Adriatic) ends of the Iron Curtain, as well as political cartoons, Checkpoint Charlie, and photos of the fall of the Berlin Wall. To make the connection, I had the students point to Europe, Germany, and Berlin using a map inside their textbooks. Next, I played a segment of Winston Churchill’s 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech (available on iTunes) at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. After listening to the first segment, students repeated the statement “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.” Repeating the phrase as Churchill said it, the students forcefully brought down their vertical open hand on their text map on the Iron Curtain demarcation.

Moving from Churchill’s speech, we shifted our focus to the Berlin Wall pointing to it and tracing over its path through Berlin on a worksheet. We pointed to photos in the PowerPoint® presentation of places where people had been killed trying to escape into West Berlin, as well as Checkpoint Charlie. At this point in the lesson, it is important to ask questions to reflect on history.

• Would someone have to be desperate and very unhappy to risk his or her life to cross the Berlin wall to flee into West Berlin?
• Would it be possible that the Berlin Wall separated families or other people who loved each other?
• Does Checkpoint Charlie look like the Cold War is serious and could be dangerous?

To solidify the realities of the Berlin Wall, students drew a female figure in West Berlin and a male figure in East Berlin to represent a young couple separated by the Berlin Wall. I then asked them if they thought it was possible that someone might write a pop music song about something so world famous and serious as the Berlin Wall. Students agreed that a pop song was indeed possible and we then wrote a verse and chorus about a couple separated by the Berlin Wall. I told them that we would now listen to an actual pop music song, West of the Wall, about a young couple in love who were separated by the wall. I shared that this song upset the Soviet Union and then asked: “If the Soviet Union disliked this song, would it be part of the Cold War?" Students agreed that West of the Wall could be part of the Cold War since it was a war of words and ideas as opposed to fighting. Realizing that discussion can only get a lesson so far, I instructed the students to sing with artist Toni Fisher the words to West of the Wall. Each time they heard the phrase “west of the wall” they placed their vertical, open hand on the Berlin Wall. After two times, we added making a heart shape with both hands over their hearts when Fisher sang “my heart will wait.” Students then suggested other movements appropriate to the West of the Wall lyrics. Talk about engagement, involvement, hands on, repetition, and sustained focus!!

Planning Your Own Lesson on the Cold War and the Berlin Wall?

My Cold War playlist includes:

• Yertle the Turtle by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Yes, Dr. Seuss can be used to deal with Cold War, as it’s a Cold War analogy!
• Blues in Berlin by Bluesman Josh White.

What other Cold War related songs can I add to my Cold War playlist? In addition to different tunes I can add to my song library, are there any children's and young adult literature titles with a Cold War theme?

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