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What is conflict? |
2/12/18 |
Truth springs from argument amongst friends.
The unit began by reflecting on conflict. Students brainstormed words that came to mind when they hear the term conflict. It becomes quickly clear that our associations with conflict are negative. Does conflict have to be negative, though? After realizing that conflict does not have to be negative, students were challenged to find terms that communicate a constructive conflict. Students were then asked to describe a conflict at school, in family life, among friends, and on a global level. After describing the conflict, students were asked to explain the response and consider alternative responses. Finally students were asked to complete the sentence starter, "When conflict is handled positively..." Students described that relationships can grow stronger, mistakes/problems can be corrected, better solutions are created.
After meditating on conflict, students will read the classic Indian tale of the Blind Men and the Elephant in order to reflect on issues of perception, conflict and resolution. |
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What does peace look like? |
2/13/18 |
Peace is not the absence of conflict,
it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
Ronald Reagan
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How do you respond to conflict? |
2/14/18 |
The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (from Stride Toward Freedom: the Montgomery Story)
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What are conflicts about? |
2/15/18 |
Students examine that conflicts are about the strategies we go about meeting our needs. We all have the need for survival, safety, belonging, freedom, fun, etc. The interests and strategies we have in meeting those needs varies from person to person. When we can distinguish between wants and needs, we begin to untangle what a conflict is about. Students examine their interests and strategies by reflecting on how they meet their needs in various categories.
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What is the difference wants and needs? |
2/16/18 |
Students examine how conflict over needs is typically about the issue over limited resources. There is only so much time in a day or money to spend, How we use those limited resources is often the source of conflict. The decisions we make about the use of limited resources often reflects something about our values. Students examine their values in order to reflect on how it feels to give up our values, responding to clashing values, and the possibility of shifting values.
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What is a Cold War? |
2/19/18 |
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How did the values of the US and USSR differ? |
2/20/18 |
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How did the atomic bomb fail to manage the conflict? |
2/21-22/18 |
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How did Cold War tensions develop in Europe? |
2/23/18 |
Students will examine how the political leaders of the time spoke about the developing conflict. Analyzing the language of a conflict helps identify how the conflict is framed on each side and the intensity of the emotions that are developing. Each side sees the other in ideological terms--communist and capitalist-- and as expansionist. Nevertheless, the US describes itself as protecting democracy, while the Soviet Union sees itself as protecting itself from imperialism.
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What is a proxy war? |
2/26/18 |
With the decline of Europe after WWII, much of the colonized world began to move toward independence. In the midst of the Cold War, this "third world" not aligned with the West or East was drawn into the conflict. As many nations struggle to form governments, some were drawn to the communism. In their experience of European colonization, capitalism meant inequality and exploitation. Nevertheless, the US saw communist movements in the world as expansion and they were committed to a policy of containment. The "third world" therefore became central to the US and USSR as the attempted influence the direction of these nations. These developed into proxy wars, an indirect war between the superpowers in areas around the world.
Students examine the Cuban Missile Crisis as an example of this type of tension. They attempt to bring the conflict to a resolution through a mediation simulation. |
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How did the Cold War impact the rest of the world? |
2/27-3/2 |
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How did the Cold War end? |
3/1/18 |
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