The Walls Around Us

Introduction:
After my visit to China and the Great Wall with the American Forum for Global Education, I started thinking about the ways in which walls have been used around the world for both political and personal reasons. The lesson plan that follows seeks to identify and discuss the impact these walls have on society.

Objective:
To have the students demonstrate comprehension of the political and personal reasons for the existence of walls in the world by comparing and contrasting different walls.

Materials:
· Various Pictures of "Great" walls around the world;
· Reference materials (Primary Source Documents that have to do with the specific walls in the lesson: Vietnam Memorial Wall, Berlin Wall, Western (Wailing) Wall, and The Great Wall of China, etc.);
· Student checklist for evaluation.

Procedure:
Do Now - (Put questions on the board: "What are some uses of walls throughout history?"; "What do walls symbolize?") Have students write answers in their notebooks and then illicit responses from students.

Next, ask the students what they know about any of the famous walls throughout the world. Brainstorm and list some of the walls on the board: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Berlin Wall, Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem, and The Great Wall of China.

Break the students into groups to research one of the walls for 10-15 minutes (one wall per group). Have the students come up as a group and give an oral report to the rest of the class about their wall. Take notes on the board, as the students discuss what they found. After all the groups have reported, discuss the reasons for each wall's existence with the class. Ask about examples of walls in the classroom or at home. Are all walls bad? Why do people build walls? Is there an alternative to walls? Have a class discussion on these questions and any others the students bring up about walls.

The next step is to have the class go to the computer lab and the library. Students will work in groups to research their assigned wall, e.g. to find information about its history, and to learn what has resulted in the country where the wall had been erected (and in some cases, taken down).

Students will present their in-depth research in class following two weeks of research.

Evaluation:
Evaluate the students' comprehension on the basis of the presentation of their research.