Introduction to this UDL BookBuilder: Goals and Supports
I selected President John F. Kennedy's "We Choose to go to the Moon" speech for a middle school Social Studies class because it is a fascinating intersection of history, politics, economics, and science. I imagine that I would use this BookBuilder after introducing the Cold War to my students. The two instructional goals for my students would be:
1. Understand and explain how the space program was motivated by Cold War tensions.
2. Analyze President Kennedy's speech for going to the moon and make a case for your support or opposition to his argument.
The supports I used to make President Kennedy's speech accessible and engaging include images, audio, coaches, and the glossary. I love learning about history through photographs and I have found that for almost all students, images enable them to feel closer to the past. Recognizing that some students cannot see and lots of students also enjoy putting themselves in the shoes of people of the past, I also embedded excerpts of President Kennedy's speech, including the famous line "we choose to go to the moon". These resources support my objectives by enabling students to see and hear President Kennedy's persuasive speech.
I named the coaches Buzz and Neil after the astronauts who would eventually be the first men on the moon. They give reminders about what my students would be learning in class. They also ask open-ended questions to help students interpret President Kennedy's speech, decipher the impact of the Cold War era, and apply their own ideas about a manned mission to the moon.
Finally, I use the glossary to clarify subtle references that President Kennedy's audience would be aware of, but students of today would likely need explicit descriptions. This supports student understanding of President Kennedy's tools for addressing the nation, as well as how palpable the ongoing conflict with the Soviet Union was at the time.
Happy reading!
