Coming at the end of a study of the Cuban Missile crisis, students have to consider the ways in which the crisis might have been viewed by the USA and the Soviet Union. To stimulate discussion they are shown a short extract from Khrushchev’s motives (Slide 2 of the PowerPoint presentation) as they come into the room. Ask them to think who wrote this and when. The provenance of the source is then revealed. How close did students come? The source clearly gives a very favourable view of Khrushchev but what would Kennedy’s view have been? Working in pairs they have to quickly compose a short excerpt, of some 60 words only, that might have appeared in Kennedy’s diary, looking back on the anniversary of the ending of the crisis.
BUT FIRST to prepare for this creative task, students have to sort the ideas cards that have been provided as Resource Sheet 1 (RS1). There are 19 of these which you should cut up into small cards to promote better group discussion and re-shaping of ideas. You might want to add a couple more or use less with lower-attaining students. The idea is to go beyond simply working out the
