March 11

IB 30/35

I showed you a couple of videos today, one was called "Escape from Berlin" which discussed the construction and changes that were made to the Berlin Wall over time, and the second video was from the CNN Cold War series called "The Wall Comes Down (1989)". While you were watching the second video you were to have been taking copious notes. Most of the focus on this episode was on the breakdown of Eastern European governments in 1989, with the greatest emphasis on East Germany and Erich Honecker's government. On October 17, 1989 Honecker was voted out of the Politburo. The original crisis in East Germany had been caused in part over restrictions on travel. Egon Krenz's government started to make reforms for free travel for East Germans. Street demonstrations demanded more and more from Krenz's government. Many of the East German opposition members wanted Gorbachev-era inspired reforms such as glasnost and perestroika. In the end, a bureaucratic mistake led to East Berliners to mass outside of the gates to West Berlin because the East German government had said that travel restrictions had been lifted. East German border guards then allowed people to pass over to the West. The episode also touched on Poland's Solidarity movement under Lech Walesa, too.

I have noticed recently while I have showing these videos that some of you aren't paying attention as closely as you should be. I really hope that it is all sinking in and that you have been paying attention. Otherwise, there will be a reckoning very soon. Very soon.

Please remember that there's no school tomorrow due to Parent Student Teacher interviews. I will see you all again on Thursday. One week from today you will be writing a Social 30-1 Cold War Exam. Please see the study guide below for this exam.

Cold War Exam Study Guide:

On Tuesday, March 18th you will have a Cold War Unit Exam. Please see the study guide below. This test will be a Social 30-1 test and it will be all multiple choice test format.

Social 30-1 Cold War Unit Final Study Guide:

Make sure that you know all the Cold War concepts:

• deterrence
• disarmament
• isolationism
• appeasement
• collective security
• direct confrontation
• brinkmanship
• containment
• detente
• collective intervention

Be able to define the following key concepts:

• superpower
• sphere of influence
• arms race
• Suez Canal War 1956
• brinkmanship
• Korean War
• Cold War
• decolonization
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• detente
• NATO
• collective security
• know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study timelines. Please check under Social 30-1 Links on the blog for links to the Cold War timelines)
• know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Afghanistan) plus other key events from the timeline
• know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements), please study the notes that I gave you on this (detailed notes and the chart)
• know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact, SEATO, etc.) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
• know examples of American intervention in their "backyard" (Western Hemisphere, notes package plus notes from the CNN video useful here)
• anything that I gave you as a handout/notes on the wiki is testable material and should be reviewed!!
• know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences

IB 20 HOTA

We finally finished watching "The Patriot" today. I told you to go on to the wiki under Collaborative Notes to find the Causes, Courses/Practices, Events and Results chart for the Revolutionary War. Please modify this page on the wiki, and make sure that you have a hard copy of the chart in your notes. We also talked a little bit about the Common Sense and Declaration of Independence assignments that you had to complete previously. When I see you again on Thursday, we'll be looking at the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution. You have some homework due on Thursday as well, please complete the Declaration of Independence study guide sheet that you can find in Unit 4: Independence Movements section. Also, please adding events to the current events section for this week.