Caribbean History and Current Events (1900-Present)

Objective:

1.  Students will be able to familiarize themselves with the historical timeline of each of the following Caribbean countries: Cuba, Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Haiti.

2.  Students will be able to perform one important event from the last 100 years for each Caribbean country mentioned above.

3.  Students will be able to identify the main focus of each presented event.

Essential Questions:

  1. How do nuclear weapons affect the world today?
  2. Washington’s list of “Axis of Evil” includes countries like North Korea and Iran that are trying to develop biological weapons. The initial reason the United States’ government gave for going to war with Iraq was due to the suspicion of weapons of mass destruction possession. It is ironic that the United States criticize and forbid other countries to have WMD when we actually possess the largest arsenal of WMD in the entire world.
  1. How do natural disasters affect the economy of Caribbean countries?
  2. Since hotels and clubs can be totally damaged by hurricanes, this would have a deep effect on a country that is significantly run by the tourism trade. Also, since independence, countries like Jamaica and the Bahamas have been trying to progress their country economically by building up various communication services. If these are knocked down and damaged by natural disasters, they are set back again in their hard-earned economic progress.
  3. How do the Caribbean nations contrast with their common façade (i.e. on travel brochures)?
  4. Most people that do not live in the Caribbean think of the area as a tropical paradise. Travel brochures and advertisement of numerous vacation spots in the Caribbean region allow us to believe so. However, when we step aside from the crystal clear oceans and white sand beaches, we can find something totally opposite in the same small island. There are devastating social problems in the inner-city communities, like poverty, poor housing conditions, HIV/AIDS, unemployment, and illiteracy, just like we can find in any other country in the world.
  5. Why do countries that gained independence much earlier suffer more from political instability and severe economic problems than the countries that gained independence much later?
  6. Countries that gained independence much earlier, such as Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba received their freedom in answer to a national revolution. After that, the young country was left on its own to survive in the harsh world. The countries that gained independence much later, such as the Bahamas and Jamaica, received their freedom through peaceful ways. More importantly, their economy and government had been well-established before the countries were left to fend for themselves on their own.

Activity:

Preparation

  1. Christine will collect the homework “Review of Timelines” from the night before. The homework served to familiarize the students with the historical timeline of each of the five Caribbean countries. The homework will be graded for completion.
  2. Lisa will hook up the MacBook and display the prepared PowerPoint presentation on the SmartBoard.
  3. Lisa will briefly introduce the Skits Activity described below.

Skits Activity

  1. Lisa will give brief background information on the important event that would be acted out using the PowerPoint.
  2. Christine will draw names written on little slips of paper from a bag to determine who is playing what part in each skit.
  3. Lisa will give the chosen students scripts & props to represent their role.
  4. Skits will be performed with a picture in the background on the SmartBoard while the other students watch.
  5. Lisa will identify the main focus of the event using the PowerPoint presentation.
  6. Lisa will ask the essential question using the PowerPoint presentation. They will be answered by multiple students in the audience.
  7. This activity will be repeated for each of the following Caribbean countries and their corresponding events. Lisa and I will also switch roles for each country/event. New names would also be picked each time to act out the skit.
  8. Cuba: Cuban Missile Crisis: Led by Lisa
  9. Jamaica: Hurricane Gilbert & Ivan: Led by Christine
  10. The Bahamas: Urban Renewal Project: Led by Christine
  11. Dominican Republic: Parsley Massacre: Led by Lisa
  12. Haiti: Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Presidencies and Exiles: Led by Christine

After Activity Homework

1.  If time permits after the Skits Activity, students will be allowed to get a head start on this homework. Christine will explain the homework. The homework is to be finished and handed to either Lisa or Christine by Thursday, June 7th.

2.  Students will access the document “Current Problems and Leaders from BBC” under the section “Files for Homework” on the Caribbean Current Events Wikispace.

3.  Students will go to the BBC country profile for each Caribbean country.

4.  Students will fill out three current problems, the current leader(s), and their goals on the document for each country.

5.  This homework serves to increase awareness of the ongoing, current problems that the Caribbean countries have to face.

Materials:

-  Scripts

-  Props costumes

-  SmartBoard

-  MacBooks

-  Prepared PowerPoint Presentation with pictures and information

Assessment:

Essential questions will be asked on the PowerPoint presentation after each skit, and a survey of the class will be taken to determine the answer.