Briar Rose is an adolescent novel about a Holocaust survivor who recounts her experiences in storytelling form (told to her granddaughter).  It is a facinating look at one of history’s darker chapters, and the heroic journey of one woman through it. 

“This novel is a wonderful and creative way to teach students about the Holocaust. It helps students to develop the ability to make connections from literature to ourselves, the world, and other texts. The content is wonderful and the plot is engaging and exciting. If there are students in your class who have personal connections to the Holocaust, they may have emotional difficulty reading this book. Be sensitive to these students and be prepared to provide an alternate text for them to read.” …Audrey Smithey BYU ’09

Under the Index tab you can find a large list of Novelinks for other literary works…a great resource for Language Arts teachers.

For my recent research and presentation I chose the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) and particularly the impact of Mujahideen fighters who battled Soviet forces throughout the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.  This subject is very timely given the current United States War on Terror, and our own military involvement in the country. 

Below is information which I think will be helpful to both educators and students in understanding a critical aspect of Afghanistan’s history.  An exploration of the history, tribal societies, and culture of Central Asia will enable students to better connect with both 7th grade Social Studies curriculum, and current events in the region. 

Soviet-Afghanistan War Timeline

1933-1973: King Mohammed Zahir Shah rules monarchial Afghan government, with his cousin, Mohammad Daoud Khan serving as the country’s Prime Minister.  Shah’s rule is allegedly rampant with corruption and poor economic conditions.

1956: Soviet-Afghan military cooperation officially begins with signing of military agreement between both countries.  The Soviet Minister of Defense is responsible for training all Afghan military officers. 

1967: The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan rises to prominence and splits into two factions: the Khalq (headed by Nur Muhammad Taraki) and the Parcham.     

1972: Up to 100 Soviet military consultants and technical specialists are sent to Afghanistan to train Afghan armed forces.

July 17, 1973: Former Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan leads a near-bloodless coup and seizes power as Afghanistan’s supreme ruler.  Khan begins repressing PDPA leaders in an attempt to exercise complete control of the country.     

April 27, 1978: The Afghan Army (sympathetic to the PDPA) overthrows and executes Mohammad Daoud Khan along with members of his family.  Nur Muhammad Taraki, Secretary General of the (Marxist) People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, becomes President of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of newly formed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

July 3, 1978: President Jimmy Carter authorizes the US Central Intelligence Agency to conduct “covert propaganda operations” against the Taraki regime.

December, 1978: Soviet Union and Afghanistan sign a bilateral “treaty of friendship and cooperation” which permits Soviet deployment of forces in the event of an Afghan “request.” 

March, 1979: Afghan soldiers (led by Ismail Khan) mutiny and massacre approximately 100 Soviet military advisors.  Soviets (with PDPA backing) retaliate with bombing campaign that kills 24,000 inhabitants of Herat city. 

July, 1979: President Carter authorizes funding for anti-communist guerillas (Mujahideen) in Afghanistan.  Under the CIA’s “Operation Cyclone” arming of Afghan rebels begins.

July, 1979: Afghan government requests motorized rifle divisions (in addition to earlier requests of helicopters, tanks, and forces to guard the Kabul regime.  The Soviets comply.     

September, 1979: Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin seizes power after a gun battle in the country’s palace which results in the death of Nur Muhammad Taraki.

December, 1979: After more than two months of instability in Amin’s government (which included the purging Afghan resistance and Soviet sympathizers, as well as rumors of his seeking Chinese support) Amin requests Soviet ground forces to move into northern region of Afghanistan in hopes of averting a full civil war.

December 27, 1979: 700 Soviet troops (dressed in Afghan uniforms), KGB agents, and Special Forces units take control of governmental, military and media buildings in capital city Kabul.  Forces assault Tajbeg Palace and assassinate President Amin.  Elements of the Soviet 40^th Army enter Afghanistan from the north, along with airborne units which arrive at Bagram airport.  Approximately 1800 tanks and 80,000 soldiers are deployed. 

January, 1980: Foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference condemn Soviet aggression in Afghanistan and demands immediate withdrawal.  The United Nations General Assembly votes  for a resolution deploring the “armed intervention” by Soviet Union in Afghanistan.    

Summer, 1980: President Carter calls for boycott of Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, in protest to Soviet deployment of forces in Afghanistan.

March 1980-April 1985: Soviet forces occupy cities and communication infrastructure, while Mujahideen wage a guerilla war across the countryside. 

March, 1985: After five years of fighting, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev expresses his dissatisfaction with progress in Afghanistan; demands that a solution be found there, setting a one-year deadline.  Soviet forces are increased to 108,000.

1986: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan forces number 302,000 and are divided (along Soviet models) into three branches to avoid possible coup attempts (Ministries of Interior, Defense, and State Security).  Each group is plagued by desertions estimated at 32,000 per year.  Soviet forces begin implementing strategy of defensive operations while shifting offensives to Afghan army. 

January, 1987-February, 1989: Soviet withdrawal process is implemented in two phases.  DRA forces continue fighting Mujahideen; war is stalemated. 

February 15, 1989: Last elements of Soviet 40^th Army leave Afghanistan across over-land route. 

Statistics of the Soviet-Afghanistan War

Soviets:

620,000 Soviet troops served in Afghanistan (1979-1989)

14, 453 Soviet casualties recorded

417 Soviet servicemen listed as MIA (119 were freed from captivity)

469,685 Soviet troops listed as sick or wounded of this number…

415, 932 reported as sick (local climate and sanitation conditions contributed to acute infections among troops)

            115, 308 suffered from infectious hepatitis

            31, 080 suffered from typhoid fever

            140, 665 suffered from other diseases

11, 654 were discharged from service after being wounded

            92% were left disabled

Afghans:

Over 1 million Afghans were killed during the war

5 million fled to neighboring countries (Pakistan, Iran)

2 million were displaced within Afghan borders

In 1980 alone one out of every two refugees in the world was Afghan

1.2 million Afghans (Mujahideen and government soldiers) were disabled

3 million maimed or wounded non-combatants

25,000 Afghans were killed by land mines

15 million land mines were left scattered throughout the countryside after the Soviet withdrawal

3-4% of entire Afghan population was left disabled by landmines (many of them children)

Afghanistan’s second largest city (Kandahar) was reduced from a population of 200,000 to 25,000

A vast majority of Afghanistan’s infrastructure and resources were completely destroyed during the war.  During 1985, well over half of remaining farms had fields bombed, irrigation systems destroyed, and livestock shot.    

Mujahideen

Word Origin:  The root of mujahidin is J-H-D, which can mean “effort or sacrifice.”  Jihad can mean “struggle” and Mujahideen can mean “struggler.”  The verb stem J-H-D (found in both jihad and mujahid) means “to exert effort against”, or “to struggle.” 

In English, Mujahideen has been recorded since 1958.  In Pakistani context (from Persian and Arabic) Mujahideen is the plural of mujahid (“one who fights a jihad). 

During the late 20^th century Mujahideen became synonymous with various armed guerilla fighters who subscribed to extremist Islamic ideologies.    

Afghanistan Mujahideen:  Arguably the best known Mujahideen group(s); fought against pro-Soviet Marxist regime during the mid-late 1970s; would later engage the Soviet 40^th Army during Soviet-Afghanistan War (1979-1989).  Mujahideen elements continued fighting in the Afghan Civil War following Soviet withdrawal. 

During war with the Soviets, Afghanistan Mujahideen were financed (and armed) by US Central Intelligence Agency and governments in Saudi Arabia, The People’s Republic of China, Iran, Pakistan, and several European states.  Funds (and weaponry) were funneled through Pakistan with Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence serving as go-between. 

Afghan Mujahideen Organization:  During the Soviet-Afghan War, forces were organized into seven expatriate parties which were headquartered in Pakistan.  The Pakistani town of Badaber served as a base of operations for training and arming Mujahideen fighters.  Journalist Oliver Roy estimates that by the mid-1980s there were some 4,000 Mujahideen bases operating in Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan.  Mujahideen commanders typically led units of 300+ men, extending over several “bases” within a province.  Ahmed Shah Massoud led 10,000 troops near the end of Soviet occupation, and controlled northern regions of the country.  Massoud would later be assassinated by Al-Qaeda operatives on September 9, 2001 (two days before the 9-11 attacks in New York City).  Massoud’s death paved the way for Osama bin Laden’s protection and alliance with the Taliban regime following the 9-11 attacks. 

Areas of Operation Today:  The term Mujahideen has become synonymous with various Muslim extremist groups around the world…

Afghan Arabs:  Originally organized to participate in the Afghan-Soviet War, calls for Muslim Arabs from around the world to travel to Afghanistan and aid in repelling the Soviets did not go unheeded.  Maktab Al-Khidamat (Afghan Services Bureau) is believed to have been founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden to raise money for the Afghan rebels.  The organization (MAK) provided recruiting and monetary resources for Afghan Mujahideen fighters.  Azzam was killed by car bomb in 1989 after which bin Laden evolved the group into its present-day incarnation: Al-Qaeda.

Mujahideen fighters have been active in the following regions/countries (since the Afghan War):

Thailand, Chechnya (term is often used to refer to all separatist fighters in both countries),

Bosnia-Herzegovina (foreign volunteers seeking to avenge mass killings of Bosnian Muslims by Serb forces), Kosovo-Macedonia (Kosovo War 1997-99),

Iran (People’s Mujahedin of Iran),

Iraq (Mujahideen Shura Council, al-Qaeda in Iraq),

Kashmir (Pashtun Muslim fighters opposing Indian rule),

Philippines (Abu Sayyaf Group),

Myanmar (active in remote areas of Arakan),

Somalia (Islamic Courts Union).      

A legendary moment in BYU-U of U history…

The resources I discovered during our work will be very helpful in the future.  I limited my searches to a segment of grade eight Social Studies, and I feel a lot more prepared to “jump into” that world when/if the time arises.  The Learn NC site, the NC DPL site, and the North Carolina Museum of History site, are three that I will utilize regularly.  I think that finding and using creative lesson plans will make for a better experience for my students, and will aid me in becoming a better teacher.  I will definitely continue searching for resources that I can use in my classes.

As for keeping up the blog, I guess only time will tell.  I enjoy writing (as is evident by some of my long, boring posts) and I can see how blogging is a great outlet for both teachers and students to sharpen their skills and share information.  All of the technical “bells and whistles” we’ve discovered during this class will be welcome additions to standard curricular studies.  I can imagine a Language Arts class blog where students write and submit for publication works on different subjects.  The pride they will feel knowing their works are out there “on the web” will hopefully inspire them to continue their learning. 

All in all, I give this course **** four stars, for technical learning, good philosophy on reading instruction, and a nearly unlimited number of resources that all teachers can use.  Thanks Dr. Trathen.  J   

A Visit to Colonial North Carolina explores accounts of early explorers to the southeast region of America, and their motives for traveling to the new world.  It also allows students to investigate the geography, indigenous people, and resources of North Carolina.

Students will read excerpts from John Lawson’s New Voyage to Carolina and William Bartram’s Travels through North and South Carolina…  The class is then divided into groups for further exploration and discussion of the featured texts.  During this phase of the lesson, students will chart aspects of colonial travel, paying attention to items that would be included in a travel brochure from this era. 

Students will then reorganize themselves and share thoughts from their previous groups.  This provides an opportunity for them to “teach” each other.  The class will then (as a whole) list characteristics of North Carolina that they found in the text or thought of on their own. 

The class will then produce travel brochures featuring the characteristics they’ve learned.  The brochures should be written in a manner that would attract new colonists to North Carolina.  Microsoft Publisher, Word, or other publishing programs can be used to produce the brochures.  Attached to the lesson plan is a North Carolina Travel Brochure Assignment Sheet which will guide students in completing this assignment. 

There are two “extension assignments” listed with this lesson plan that enable further exploration within Social Studies curriculum. 

I think this lesson plan will work well with middle grades students and provide a creative outlet for them as they explore the colonial history of North Carolina.  The travel brochure portion of the assignment will be a good opportunity for them to use artistic ability as well as computer skills.    

The lesson involves students reading Washington Irving’s famed short story of a man who fell asleep in the forest and awoke (years later) to a new and somewhat frightening world, and  connecting the story with North Carolina’s own reputation as “The Rip Van Winkle State” during the 19^th century.

There are vocabulary activities associated with the lesson; an analysis of the story’s plot, setting, characters, and theme; geography exercises; discussion/interpretation of legends; and the opportunity for students to compose essays on changes that will occur in their own futures (what the world would look like if they “slept” for many years). 

The ability to connect a classic literary work with historical events is one aspect of this plan that I found attractive.  An exploration of the short story genre also makes this lesson a good one for middle grades students.  The story’s length makes it viable for this age group.  Tying Irving’s story to North Carolina’s history involves connecting reasons for the state being labeled with a somewhat unattractive nickname.  The lesson plan calls for students to “write a summary which explains the relationship/connection between the legend and North Carolina’s history.”  A creative writing exercise where students imagine what their surroundings would be like if they awoke after an extended sleep, shouldn’t be difficult to connect to the overall theme of this lesson. 

Connecting Social Studies and Language Arts curriculum, while addressing NC DPI goals, makes N.C. The Rip Van Winkle State a lesson that I would like to teach to middle grades students.

I found some of the provided links a little too complicated to navigate.  The Read, Write, Think site was one that I thought was more difficult to manage, given the information gathered.  NC Wise Owl was another site that (I felt like) didn’t provide easy access to lesson plans.

The two lesson plan resources that I found to be best were: Learn NC and the N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction site.  Both of these sites provide easy access to lesson plans that align with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.  There are several plans on these sites that I would use for grade eight Social Studies (N.C. History). 

A few of examples of plans found on these sites: A visit to North Carolina, where students explore literature written by early explorers to the region, and then produce their own “travel brochures” advertising the benefits of living in the Carolina colony.  Early North Carolina Exploration where students view art works from the colonial period and write down their impressions of the works.  In Topography of North Carolina and its influence on settlement students explore the state’s physical features using maps and historical references. 

I feel confident that the material contained on both NC Learn and the DPI site will aid teachers in planning lessons that meet NC DPI standards and are creative enough to hold students’ interest.    

An important point that is stressed in the article is the idea that students spend more time being exposed to “other” subject areas (outside of English) and should therefore be exposed to vocabulary instruction within these outside curriculums.  Another concept, the “rich representation of words”, allows students (through exposure to words with different environments) to develop a better understanding of vocabulary word meanings (aside from typical definitions).  Etymology (word histories) was also stressed as an important learning strategy for improving vocabulary; as was learning word features, related words, and word forms.  

One of the cited experiences that I found very interesting was that of Lucas Pasley, a second year high school English teacher.  Pasley assigned five words per week to his students, and then used several different exercises that required students to literally turn the words inside-out.  Students learned definitions, antonyms, synonyms, etymology, and related forms of each word.  This thorough analysis of vocabulary words not only exposed students to all elements of the words, it also exposed students to concepts and characteristics that could be utilized in an exploration of other words later.  Pasley’s final exam for this curriculum involved a very creative way for students to illustrate their knowledge, without traditional written exams. 

Another strategy (which we should all be familiar with) mentioned in the article was Literature Circles.  I am a big fan of Lit. Circles, and would love to utilize them in my own classes.  The organization of Lit. Circles provides for exploration of vocabulary by students participating.  I am interested in seeing its implementation in Social Studies classes (using terms from that field of study).  The article described its use in an Earth Science class, which was very interesting.

 I agree with the approaches to vocabulary instruction/improvement described in the article.  One of the things that attracted me to middle grades education was the possibility to work in both Social Studies and Language Arts, and hopefully “cross pollinating” both curriculums.  I think there are multiple opportunities for vocabulary instruction in areas outside of English.  I look forward to further exploring the concepts presented in this article, and implementing them in my own work.   …Chris.       

Moulton’s strategy was for students to work in a form of research other than the traditional research paper, which she asserts has become a “clip and stitch” project that students abhor.  She hoped to accomplish having students work in what she described as “an interpretive mode” requiring “that students think about what has been researched and interpret it from the subject’s point of view.” 

Moulton offers several other examples of projects that allow students to work outside the norm, while accomplishing the same learning strategies as traditional research papers.  “Mystery Papers”, “I Search Papers”, and survey based projects, all teach research and documentation skills yet may be more palatable to students who have become bored with index cards, footnotes, and citing sources. 

The main focus of Moulton’s article is the implementation of Multigenre research projects, and the success her students had in producing them.  Allowing a wide range of freedom in research sources (while requiring end notes for each source) provided the students the opportunity to be creative in assembling their works.  End notes contained information on where the material was acquired, as well as comments from the student on why the material was chosen or produced. 

The success of Multigenre research projects is illustrated in the comments from both Moulton’s students and a group of high school students who produced their own projects (while being introduced to them by one of Moulton’s students).  Comments featured students who were inspired by the work they had done, and felt a closeness to the research subject that may not have been attainable in a traditional paper project.  A few questions that come to mind when thinking about Multigenre projects and middle grades students are:

  The examples given in the article involved mainly college and high school students.   Could this same learning strategy be used with younger students?  

What modifications (if any) would need to be made for middle grade-aged learners? 

Can this same type project be used in a Digital Storyteller genre?  I would envision the same research, with the product being more visual in nature while providing the same information. 

Multigenre research projects will be a great addition to History and Language Arts curriculum.  Would it work for Science and Math teachers?  How?     

For some of us (teacher candidates) finding good instructional strategies that can be implemented in the classroom may be as difficult as finding the moose in the picture above.  In searching for strategies for use in social studies curriculum, I found a few resources that I would implement in my classroom.  I concentrated my search on the American Revolution which is studied in grade Eight Social Studies. 

The Montgomery County Public Schools website which provides examples of Reading Strategies was a big help to me, in understanding the different approaches (before reading, during reading, and after reading) to learning.  The site lists a number of specific strategies, and was a good starting point for me.  Two points that are mentioned on the site are very valuable: “give students explicit instruction in reading strategies that will enable them [students] to become more skillful and strategic readers”; “students become better readers when they know why they are reading.”

I found ReadingQuest.org to be very helpful in my search for social studies specific lessons and strategies.  The ReadingQuest site provides some very valuable information on three keys to reading comprehension: “the activation of prior or background knowledge, active engagement in content, and metacognition (thinking about thinking).”

The Information Institute of Syracuse’s Educators Reference Desk: Crossroads K-16 American History Curriculum provided some good resource information on specific lesson plans with attached charts and worksheets which can be used in the social studies field of study.   

I’ve be posting 5 of the best strategies I found throughout the week.  Hopefully you’ll find some useful information that you can apply in your classroom.