Bright Ideas Lesson Plans
It’s in the Baghdad
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CNI-Criminal News Investigators
This activity combined current events and historical awareness. We read the paper daily finding articles and editorials on the war in Iraq. We discussed these articles and studied the reasoning behind acts of war and our military response. We brainstormed how things could be improved and discussed the U. S. involvement. We studied the civilian quality of life in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad. We kept track of American casualties daily.
We created a class notebook arranged by topic (i.e. the American intervention, casualty count for Americans, civilian life in Iraq, civilian casualties in Iraq, civilian response by Americans, families of military and strategy.)
The students enjoy projects that have hands on components. We decided that if the United States was invested in the reconstruction effort of Iraq and Baghdad, then we should be as well. The class decided to use the remainder of the newspaper to rebuild Baghdad to its former grandeur. We took a map of pre war Baghdad off the Internet and laid it out on a card table. The students researched what the buildings and landmarks looked like pre war and then fabricated miniatures out of newspaper, tape, wire and paint. The students experienced a wide variety of emotions; ranging from awe and disbelief to disgust and rage as we ventured into this subject area. This was a high interest, extreme impact project.
Kim Pertler, Julia Mitchell, Rhonda Adams and Elvira Thrasher
SED Standard Diploma
DeLand High
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