Oklahoma Social Studies USH.C.6.3.D
The Standard
- USH.C.6
- Analyze foreign events and policies during the early Cold War Era.
- USH.C.6.3
- Analyze the escalation of international tensions by examining the series of events and their long- term foreign and domestic consequences during the height of the Cold War.
Explain President Kennedy’s foreign policy as expressed in his inaugural address, including the establishment of the Peace Corps and reaction to the completion of the Berlin Wall.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · USH.C.6.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain Kennedy's call for service and his pledge to defend freedom during the Cold War. They connect those goals to the Peace Corps and his response when East Germany built the Berlin Wall. They distinguish his public support for West Berlin from military action against the Wall.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use a line from the inaugural address to explain why Kennedy created the Peace Corps. They can use his 1963 Berlin speech to show that he condemned the Wall and backed West Berlin without promising to remove it by force.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the Peace Corps was a military force or a response to the Berlin Wall. It began months before the Wall went up. Students may also think Kennedy built the Wall or tore it down after his speech.
How to Assess It
- For an exit ticket, give students short excerpts from the inaugural address, a Peace Corps description, and the 1963 Berlin speech. Ask them to link the Peace Corps and Kennedy's Berlin response to goals in the inaugural address, citing one detail for each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
On a 1961 Berlin map, pairs trace the Wall with yarn and mark a route between East and West Berlin that it cut off.
Show an inaugural excerpt, a 1961 Peace Corps flyer, and a 1963 Berlin speech excerpt; ask, 'What goal links all three?'
Give groups six cards with inaugural promises, Peace Corps facts, and Berlin speech claims; have them build and explain two evidence chains.
Read a current Peace Corps volunteer job listing; have students name one skill it requires and connect that skill to Kennedy's call for service.
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