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NYTimes lesson plan on Islamic Revolution (a lot of resources)

  • Feb. 16th, 2009 at 3:46 AM

 Exploring the Islamic Revolution

 

  • Author(s)
    Amanda Christy Brown, The New York Times Learning Network
    Kristin McGinn Mahoney , The New York Times Learning Network

     

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12
    Subjects: Current Events, Global History
    Interdisciplinary Connections

     

    Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students read an article exploring U.S.-Iran relations on the anniversary of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, research the events of that period, and write historical fiction based on photographs of Iran then and now. (Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.) 
    Review the Academic Content Standards related to this lesson.

     

    Suggested Time Allowance: 3-5 class periods

     

     

    Resources / Materials:
    -computers with Internet access and a projector, if desired and available, or copies of photographs from the slide shows cited below
    -copies of the article "Iran Offers 'Dialogue With Respect' With U.S." (one per student) 
    -copies of the Scholastic Upfront article "1979: Iran's Islamic Revolution" or the handout "Iran Overview" (one per student) 
    -copies of the article "A Million Marchers Rally for Khomeini in Teheran Streets", from the New York Times Archives (one per student) 
    -copies of the handout "Stories of the Revolution"

     

     

    Activities / Procedures:
    Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: Note to teacher: Iran is an incredibly complex country, and therefore, a potentially vast topic of study. This lesson presupposes some basic knowledge about Iran and helps students fill in gaps in their knowledge about the events of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and their effects through reading current and historical articles and exploring photographs from the time of the revolution and the present day. Teachers who wish to explore this topic further are encouraged to brainstorm additional questions for research with their students.Write the word "Iran" on the board and challenge students, working in pairs, to list at least 10 names, places, adjectives, facts, historical details, etc. that they associate with Iran. (Alternatively, you may wish to use a K/W/L/ chart.) Once they have finished, call upon students to come up to the board and add them to a common "what we know or think we know about Iran" brainstorm. Ask them to be careful not to repeat items already written on the board by their peers. Next, write the word "revolution" on the board, and call upon students to word-associate from there.When students are finished, look at the brainstormed details. Ask students to discuss why they've written what they have. Once everyone has shared, ask, Do you notice any overlap between these two subjects? Where? Do any details seem to oppose one another? Which ones? Why? Why is Iran in the news right now? What happened there thirty years ago? What do you know about the legacy of this event and its impact on American-Iranian relations?

    2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS:

    As a class, read and discuss the article "Iran Offers 'Dialogue With Respect' With U.S.", focusing on the following questions: 
    a. What news prompted this article?
    b. Why would President Ahmadinejad make these remarks during a rally celebrating the Islamic Revolution of 1979?
    c. From the third paragraph, what can you infer about the current relationship between the United States and Iran? How was that relationship before the Islamic Revolution in 1979?
    d. What sort of changes does President Ahmadinejad hope for?
    e. According to Saeed Leylaz, an economist and analyst, why would Iran seek ties with the United States now?
    f. What can you infer from this article about Iran's relations with Israel?
    g. Why would what happens in Israel's elections be important in hammering out a relationship with Iran?
    h. Why are Iran's nuclear ambitions of concern to America and Israel?
    i. How might direct talks with Iran help define President Obama's plans to "remake America's approach to diplomacy"?
    j. What risks are involved with talking directly to the Iranians?
    k. What has President Obama said publicly about possible talks with Iran?
    l. How has his rhetoric changed since being elected president?
    m. Who are the players in Iran's upcoming presidential election?
    n. What impact could this election have on US-Iranian relations?
    o. Why is the President Obama administration in a tight spot here?
    p. Is it possible to move forward diplomatically while carrying on a covert mission to disable the Natanz plant?

    3. ACTIVITY:

    Return to this quotation from the article: "That [the Revolution] ended the close relationship between Washington and Tehran and ushered in decades of confrontation that culminated in President Bush's description of Iran in 2002 as part of an 'axis of evil.'" Tell students that today they will be digging into the events of the Islamic Revolution, specifically the events of January and February of 1979, in order to better understand Iran and its relationship with the U.S.

    Print or display selected photographs from the collection of photographs of the Revolution of 1979 at the Iran Chamber Society . (Note that some of the content of some of these photos is violent and may not be appropriate for your setting, so be sure to preview them in advance.) Ask students to comment on what they notice. The captions will begin to shed light on the events of the period.

    Tell students that they will be working in groups to research an aspect of the Revolution of 1979 and return to some of these photographs with greater understanding a bit later. To provide context for their research, hand out the following: -copies of the Scholastic Upfront article "1979: Iran's Islamic Revolution" or the handout "Iran Overview" (one per student) 
    -copies of the article "A Million Marchers Rally for Khomeini in Teheran Streets", from the New York Times Archives (one per student) 

    Then, divide students into small groups and assign each group to focus on one of the following topics in their research:
    -The Shah
    -Ruhollah Khomeini
    -Youth in Iran (during the Revolution and today)
    -Women in Iran (during the Revolution and today)
    -the Martyrs
    -Islamic Fundamentalism
    -President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

    In addition to using the articles you provided, direct students to find one additional article to mine for information on their topic. The following Times Topics pages are excellent places to search:

    Iran

    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

    Ruhollah Khomeini

    Islam

    You might also direct students to the Additional Resources that follow this lesson.

    Tell groups to prepare to share ten important details they learned about their topic with classmates. Depending on class period length and technology access, students may need to complete their research independently at home and share findings with their groups during the next class meeting. If you used the K/W/L chart at the start of class, fill in group findings in the "L" column of the chart.

    When students have completed their research, bring them together to share their findings. Tell students that they will use what they've learned to write a piece of historical fiction to accompany the photograph of their choice. Remind students to take notes so that they will be prepared to write intelligently.

    Once each student group has shared, engage students in a discussion beginning with this quotation from the first chapter of Robin Wright's book "The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran": "The passions once evoked by Ayatollah Khomeini may have waned, even withered, as the tough realities of running a large country with a complex economy have taken precedence. But the idea behind the revolution led by the Imam still had historic importance two decades later — perhaps in some ways even more than when it started. Its significance also extended far beyond Iran, the Middle East, the broader Islamic world and even the twentieth century, for one simple reason: It is the last great revolution of the Modern Era."

    Ask students, Why might the Revolution of 1979 be considered "the last great revolution of the Modern Era"? In her book, Wright compares it to the French and Bolshevik revolutions. In what ways is it similar to these other "great" revolutions, and to the American Revolution? How is it different?

    Continue discussion by asking: What regime replaced the Shah? What is Islamic fundamentalism? What is theocracy? How is this kind of government different from democracy? Why did the Revolution lead to strained relations with the U.S. and Bush's characterization of the country as part of the "axis of evil"? How has the Revolution affected the lives of people living in Iran today? For example, how are the circumstances surrounding a woman wearing a hijab in the United States different from those around a woman wearing one in Iran?

    Then, take a look at selected images from the Times slide show "You Say You Want the Revolution". Invite students to comment on what they see, given the context of what they now know.

    Distribute the handout "Stories of the Revolution". Explain to students that they will be using what they have learned to write a short piece of historical fiction inspired by one of the images they've looked at in class today. This handout will help them plan their stories.

    Give students time in class or at home to write their stories and invite students to share them in class to reveal the humanity behind the history of the events of the Revolution of 1979 and life in Iran since then.

    Close class by sharing the following with students: According to a post on the blog Global Voices, "Mohmmad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president and reformist politician, says the Islamic Revolution was one of the most important events in human history 'where the flower replaced the bullet.'" Ask, In what way was this Revolution "one of the most important events in human history"? Even though we tend to think of the current regime in Iran as repressive in comparison to our country, what can you infer from this quote about the ways in which the Revolution was positive for Iran? If students have difficulty understanding the ways in which this change was good for Iran, you might share with them the first chapter of "The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran". You can also read the Times review of her book, "Mosque and State".

    4. FOR HOMEWORK OR FUTURE CLASSES:

    Students polish their writing and/or generate further questions for research on the topic. Finished pieces might be posted with the photographs that inspired them in the classroom or gathered together in a class book.

    Additionally, have students consider how they might counsel the State Department in its dealings with Iran, now that they have some context for our relationship with this country. The NPR program "On The Couch: Rethinking Iran: Perceptions on U.S.-Iran Relations" provides some more perspectives on relations between the two countries.

    Related Times Resources:

     

 

 


Comments

( 6 comments — Leave a comment )
(Anonymous) wrote:
Feb. 19th, 2009 09:22 am (UTC)
We Need Ideas, Not Just Tactics, Against Islamism
Melik Kaylan, 02.17.09, 12:00 AM EST
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/16/fighting-islamic-fundamentalism-opinions-columnists_0217_melik_kaylan.html?partner=commentary_newsletter

Historical knowledge can help reverse militancy.

I have met U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke a few times and found him to be a practical man, perhaps even a little too practical for his new role as the troubleshooter on Afghanistan. He will no doubt try to solve the problem of a resurgent Taliban in practical ways, by rejigging military deployments, moving money around or fine-tuning Afghan democracy.

My friend Ann Marlowe, expert on Afghanistan and general counter-insurgency theorist, suggested a menu of just such concrete measures in her recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. Solutions of that kind could certainly work--in the short term. But the problem will pop up elsewhere around the world, not least in nearby Pakistan.

We can deal with the Islamist threat country by country, indeed we will have to, but the West won't prevail without a full-blown macro strategy of the kind deployed in the Cold War. We need to launch a counter-insurgency of ideas to challenge the mullahs on their own turf.

Islamic societies are by no means all alike, but they are more alike than they once were. And there are enough similarities that certain generalizations can be made. It's often the case that extreme minorities hijack the rest of the society, even when the majority inclines in a different direction.

In such disparate places as Lebanon, Pakistan, Iran, Algeria and Syria, small groups have exerted greater influence than their numbers should have allowed. This echoes Islam's history, in which an austere and warlike faction grew by conquest to rule over larger tribes, and in which various dynasties took over the caliphate by being hungrier and bloodier than the established powers.

This historical psychodynamic is part of the scenario that Islamists and violent extremists implicitly appeal to nowadays, when they operate within target countries, such as Egypt or Pakistan. They invoke the revolutionary dialectic that existed at the beginning of Islam--the pure, hardened, inevitable and therefore divine force that comes out of the desert and sweeps over the too-comfortable urbanized stable community.

From the Prophet's lifetime to the Abbasids, Fatimids, Timurids, Ottomans, et al, the pattern repeated itself and with it always came a tighter code of warrior discipline, which merged easily with doctrinal Islam's core Puritanism and social discipline.

Comment On This Story
This same actuating principle is central to Wahhabism, Salafism and other forms of revolutionary Islam in our time. Such are the forces that the U.S. incentivized during the Cold War to spread out of Arabia (Saudi Arabia and the Gulf) to confront the secular socialism which at the time prevailed in many Muslim countries. Islamism has largely pushed aside secularism in Arab countries. Armed with a unifying formula and a coherent world view, it has set its sights on the rest of Islam.

| Reply | Thread
(Anonymous) wrote:
Feb. 19th, 2009 09:27 am (UTC)
Melik Kaylan, continued
...
What it confronts in much of the Muslim world is a heterogeneous, even heterodox, state of affairs from Malaysia and Indonesia to Central Asia to various parts of Africa. But because it has funds and a fully articulated world view, it has an advantage over the Muslim communities it confronts.

Rather than acknowledging or respecting their pluralism, modern Islamism treats these other Islams as incomplete and ignorant forms of the faith. (During the Bosnia wars, Islamic money from the Gulf insisted on leveling the decorative tombstones and mosque walls of Balkan Muslims before giving them aid.) Then, with money, narrow scholarship and intimidation, it proceeds to convert the non-Arabian faithful to the new, virulent Islamism.

Thus far, we've barely responded to the global challenge. Even controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who was refused entry to Britain last week, after his terrifying anti-Islamic film Fitna caused such outrage, doesn't bother to understand the thing he deplores. His film won't convince many Muslims, that's for sure. And if it wasn't meant for Muslims, what was the point?

It is no good arguing that Islam's ideas are manifestly hostile, warlike, anti-democratic and the like, and to assume that anyone's mind will change, when many value it for exactly those reasons. We respected the threat of Marxist-Leninism enough to study its underlying ontologies minutely, to parse its appeal and logic and to mount a coordinated intellectual response. Why not with Islamism?

It's worth remembering that until the mid 1980s, the Muslim world was not very Islamic. If the direction can be changed in favor of religion, there is no reason it cannot be reversed. One should remember also that almost all écoles and movements affecting the Muslim world for the last two centuries or so have either come from the West or were reinvigorated by the West: nationalism, democracy, capitalism, socialism, fundamentalism, medicine, transportation, communication and the like.

Even the increase in Islamism usually had its source in the West. Russia used the mosque as a way of imposing its rule on Central Asia in Czarist times. Britain unseated Amanullah Khan, the Afghan King who showed too much independence in the 1920s, by inciting conservative Pashtun tribes against him. Finally, the U.S. helped export Wahhabism by encouraging the Saudis to build madrassas abroad, notably in Pakistan, to bolster the mujahideen in their anti-Soviet struggle in nearby Afghanistan. It would not have happened without Western guidance--until then, Wahabbism was a tiny, localized force. But if it can be done in one direction, it can be done in the reverse. There is no law of nature that says Muslim countries are doomed to be ultrareligious.

What Westerners do not understand is that Islamic pluralism has always existed. Because Islam merged everywhere with differing customs, and ultimately merged with different forms of modernity or archaism, many aspects of the Quran simply could not be equally applied. So Islam, like Christianity, became a selectively applied and interpreted code. This meant that no one tradition held the absolute key.

That is how things stand in much of the Islamic geosphere to this day. A crucial part of the process of inoculating the populace against the in-rush of radical ideas is to encourage pride in the local faith--first by a form of religious nationalism with all the popular emotion centered on local history, and then by a form of rejectionism against the imposition of an alien brand of the religion, by identifying Wahhabism or Salafism as a form of imperialism.

The closer you look at Islam, the more fissures appear, from the Shia and Sunni division, down to the smaller Hanefi, Shafii and Hanbali branches and beyond. Caliphs through the centuries tried to unify the faith, forcibly and otherwise, but always failed.

Islam is a loose and baggy thing by evolution. How many in the West know that? The Islamists are trying to reverse the evolutionary narrative. Theirs is a more uphill road than ours is against them. It's a matter of caring enough, knowing enough, to mount an informed challenge.

---
Melik Kaylan writes a weekly column for Forbes. His story "Georgia In The Time of Misha" is worth reading too.
| Reply | Thread
(Anonymous) wrote:
Feb. 19th, 2009 09:38 am (UTC)
Georgia in the times of Misha
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/georgia-in-the-time-of-misha/page/1/print
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Feb. 21st, 2010 03:31 pm (UTC)
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