Uganda

I'm going to have the students study the history and culture of Ugandan kids and teens. They will study the civil war that is currently going on in this country and then will do an outreach project as the assessment.

**Grade:** 7th **Ability level**: All **Subject:** Social Studies **Area**: Uganda

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**Goals**: Competency Goal 7 The learner will assess the connections between historical events and contemporary issues in Africa, Asia, and Australia. **Objectives** **7.01** Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues. **SWBAT**: 1. Locate Uganda on a map 2. Understand the chaotic history of Uganda. 3. Identify three current events that directly link to the country’s history. 4. Understand the connection between child culture in relation to current events. 5. Work together to create an outreach project to send over to students in Uganda

**Materials**: -projector -power-point presentation to present the history of the area. -brainstorming groups prepared for the students to create their outreach ministry. -An outreach ministry in Uganda for the students to send their materials to students in that area.

**Procedure**: **Bell Work**: 5 minutes Students will write about this question: “If you had a gun pointed to your head, what thoughts run through your mind?”

**Bridge**: 15 minutes *Get school approval before doing bridge. The teacher will have two men come into the classroom masked and carrying baseball bats. The teacher must acted scared and try to protect the students. The two men will come in and take one male student. Two minutes later, they will come and take another. This will continue for ten minutes. After ten minutes, the teacher will stop the exercise and explain what is going on. The students will discuss what they felt, what went through their minds, and why it was frightening for them.

**Lesson**: 15 minutes -The teacher will present a power-point lesson that shows where Uganda is on a map, will present a brief history lesson on Uganda, and will dictate how history has affected the lives of current Ugandans and plague them with Civil War. This -Power-point should provide a map of Uganda first. -Next, it will tell the story of Uganda as a Bantu speaking Nomadic group which were eventually colonized by Britain. It was granted its independence in 1962. From thence, it has endured decades of Bloody Civil War. There has been countless military coups ousting government leaders under the name of freedom and peace. -The leaders begin with Obote who came after the newly granted freedom. - Next was Amin. He began the genocide that plaques Uganda today. He ruined any chance of economic stability and religious uniformity. He is rumored to have killed between 100,000 to 300,000 citizens. -Since Amins removal, Uganda tried to find peace within itself by forming the Uganda National Liberation Front under Lule’s rule. This government; however, was met with resistance by the National resistance Movement who is trying to create civil rights within this nation of turmoil. ---Once again, this group fights against Lord’s Resistance Army. This is a group of vigilantes who oppose the government and terrorize the locals. They are rumored to have kidnapped at least 20,000 young boys and forced them at gun point to serve in their “army.” This group sent at least 100,000 refugees out of the country and murdered just as many. The leader claims that he want to run the country in line with the Biblical Ten Commandments and claims that his “war” ensures victory. -The LRA leader, Joseph Kony, claimed to want peace in 2006, but has failed to attend any treaty signings and continues to terrorize families. -So what does this mean for the local community and culture? They live a life of fear and tribal warfare. There is never any safety, government stability, or protection. Children learn at young ages to fight and boys know that the army will come and get them at any time. There is no way to create protection within communities because the rebels have free reign. Boys are also doomed to live a life of terror since they are forced to participate in heinous crimes against other humans and babies and then left to deal with the emotional and mental results. But there is hope. -There are missionary groups that are out there fighting against the rebels to help the children who are just like you. -In class today, we are going to compile a list of things we can collect to send to the boys in Uganda and let them know there is hope. -Now, separate into your groups and begin compiling a list of what you think they will need.

**Group work**: 20 minutes -Students will work together to create a list of things to collect for their boys in Uganda. They will turn their list into the teacher who will then send an email to parents asking them to contribute to their students list.

**Closing**: 5 minutes -Teacher will conclude the lesson and go over what has been talked about today. Students will turn in their compiled lists to the teacher and will work tomorrow on compiling their goods to send over to Uganda.

**Assessment**: -The students will include a letter they write to the students and will continue this pen pale relationship throughout the school year. -The teacher will look at the lists compiled by the students and see how they took the information gained during the lesson and applied it to the lists made.

**Lesson Plan In Narrative** I chose to choose do my lesson on Uganda. This fits into the 7th grade curriculum well with competency goal 7.1: “Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues. The competency goal 7 states “the learner will assess the connections between historical events and contemporary issues in Africa, Asia, and Australia.” I chose this issue because it is a controversial topic and would really hit home with the students because it relates to their age and relates to global issues. It is also a current issue that can be applied to the class all year long. I chose this topic because it is an interesting situation that is going on over there, and the UN has yet to resolve it or actually become highly involved. The topic also came to my mind because of the research I have been doing in my inquiry paper. The topic of Uganda went perfectly into the course of study, and it also allows me to teach current issues and take my class global through pen-pals. There are many things that I want my students to know because of this lesson. The first thing I want them to really understand is how it feels for the children who are being captured in Uganda. This can first be accomplished through a demonstration. This must be approved prior to being implanted and should have the parents warned. The students would start with a warm-up writing about what they would feel if a gun was pointed to their head. After that (if approved by school officials), I would have some male school teachers enter the classroom masked and dressed in camouflage. They would enter the room and tell all the students to get into a circle in the middle of room. For the next ten minutes, the students will be taken-one by one- from the room. The male “abductors” will take the students into another room, reveal who they are so they are not scared, and then repeat the process. After ten minutes, I would stop the exercise and then explain what has been going on; I would then ask the students to talk to me about how they feel. This explanation will lead perfectly into the 20 minute lecture on Uganda. In this lecture, the students will learn where Uganda is located on the African map. The students will learn about the Bantu, colonial and current history of Uganda. They will learn who the leaders are and what political uprisings have been taking place. This discussion should link back to the activity that took place as the bridge of the lesson and a discussion on the culture that the Ugandan children are forced to grow up in. I would ask them to think back on how they felt before they knew that the men were their teachers, and to think how the Ugandan children must feel knowing that men will be coming to get them, but these men are not friendly. That is the culture that the Ugandan children must grow up in; they live with a civil war going on, rebels coming into their village, their parents getting killed, and then being kidnapped to go and kill other people. These boys do not get to be boys because they are forced to become men at the age of ten or a little older. After explaining this, I will then share the good news that there is hope for these young boys. There are missionary groups that are reaching out to them and giving them hope. They are creating small villages for the boys either before or after they have been captured. They are educating them, helping them deal with the trauma, and letting them have their lives back. As a class, we are going to writing letters to the boys in those villages and sending them some materials to help them out. Based on the information you know about the area, what would you want to tell them in a letter and what goods should you send to them. The letters and the list of goods should be turned into me in twenty minutes. After I receive the letters, I will read over them for appropriateness and also look over the lists the groups have completed. I will send out a letter to parents explaining what is going on and if they can help contribute to the materials by either purchasing them or giving money, it would be helpful. The goal of this is to create a pen-pal relationship with the boys in Uganda and create global awareness in the students. After the twenty minutes is up, I will have the students finish up and then I spend five minutes to close the lesson with an recap of what is going on, a preview of tomorrow’s lesson, and to remind them that the goal in these letters and materials is to create a pen-pal relationship with the boys from Uganda and to understand another culture and life. The assessment will be ongoing, but the main assessment for this lesson will be the goods the students feel will benefit the Ugandan boys and the letters they write to them. At the end of the day, I want the students to be aware of current global problems that are going on. I want them to think beyond themselves (pass the egocentric stage in Vygotsky’s development) and move into thinking about others and their needs.