Asking Questions about the Korean War Nov. 10

Bellwrite #30: What do you already know about the Korean War? Brainstorm a list of questions about the Korean War.

Today in class we worked on shifting responsibility for learning history to students. One of the best ways for students to learn is by asking questions, searching for answers, reasoning about what they learn, and relating what they learn to themselves (in other words, 4 R-ing). Students were paired to work on developing questions and answers about the Korean War. Tomorrow in class, they will work with their pair to four-R the Korean War.

I suggested that there are two types of questions: convergent (factual) and divergent (opinion). Students should be asking both types of questions, though the latter will require deeper levels of reasoning.

We also discussed the types of sources students can use in their research:
a brief overview (to get the big picture of the War--we are using the first four minutes of a video for this purpose)
a detailed narrative (for example, a full-length documentary, a chapter from a history textbook, or an article from an online encyclopedia)
primary sources (from people who actually experienced first-hand the War; I will provide a primary source from President Truman tomorrow)
secondary sources that examine the long-term significance of the war (for example, an opinion article from the Internet)
a source that helps us understand non-Western perspectives (in class we read a portion of an article by a former North Korean who says North Koreans are taught the war was started by an invasion led by the U.S. and South Korea).

We spent some time practicing evaluating sources by considering the aforementioned article. We reasoned that because North Korea does not allow its citizens to publish information on the Internet, any source we have must come from a North Korean defector. Although this information is likely to be biased against North Korea, this article does provide reliable information on how many North Koreans are taught to understand the War. The author herself admits that she had a hard time accepting a different version of the story of the War than the one she had been taught in North Korea. Her open discussion of her skepticism increases her reliability. Furthermore, she has first-hand experience living in the country for nearly 20 years. Thus, we accept her account tentatively, alert to possible fallacies in her thinking, but willing to accept her account as a reasonable reflection on North Korean beliefs.

In class we also used a demonstration to help us understand the general movements of the War. We played tug-a-war across our own "38th Parallel" in the classroom. We reenacted three phases of the war:
1) The initial invasion by North Korea of South Korea.
2) The counteroffensive by U.S. troops acting in the name of a "United Nations" police action which pushed the North Koreans back past the 28th parallel and nearly into China.
3) The counteroffensive by China-backed North Korean troops which ended in a virtual stalemate around the 38th parallel.

We also revisited the overview video, with student pairs developing questions they will research tomorrow in class to extend their understanding of the War.

Homework: NOTE!!! The Red Scarf Girl essay due date has been moved to Thursday to accommodate choir rehearsals tonight and tomorrow night.
Each partnership should bring an electronic device with Internet access to class tomorrow.

Homework: Find and print sources on Vietnam War, bring electronic devices for research in class