Peace Corps

• Subject(s): Language Arts & Literature, Social Studies & Geography, Science
• Region / Country: Latin America & the Caribbean / Dominican Republic
• Grade Level(s): 6–8, 9–12
• Related Publication: Insights From the Field

Overview

Students will learn about the nature of hurricanes and examine in detail the effect of Hurricane Georges upon the Dominican Republic.

Background Information

Note to Teachers: There is a culminating performance task for this unit (see Assessment). Help your students prepare for this activity by asking them to complete one of the following activities:

• Create a series of diary entries, written during the week of Hurricane Georges. Write about the days preceding the hurricane, during the hurricane, and after the hurricane.
• Create a series of drawings or sketches made before, during, and after the storm.
• Write a script for a short play that enables you and one or two other fellow Dominican "citizens" to act out what happened for the reporter.Access a series of photographs and news articles about the hurricane from the Internet. Use them to tell your story.
• Write a letter that you, as a Dominican citizen, wrote to relatives living in the United States immediately after the hurricane, describing to them what happened and what it felt like to live through a hurricane.

Hurricane Websites
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Hurricane Research Division
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd
Hurricane Basics
http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/prepare
The Hurricane Hunters
http://www.hurricanehunters.com
USA Today: Hurricane Information
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/stormcenter/front.htm
Wikipedia: Hurricane Georges Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Georges

Objectives

• Students will be able to use primary source documents to determine the impact of natural disasters on developing countries, like the Dominican Republic.
• Students will be able to explain the way in which physical systems (e.g., a hurricane) can affect human systems (e.g., the life of a community or country).
• Students will be able to describe how working together to respond to a natural disaster can unite people from diverse countries in a common bond of humanity.
• Students will write a press release describing the impact of Hurricane Georges on the people of the Dominican Republic.
• Students will assume the role of Dominican citizens who are being interviewed about the impact of Hurricane Georges by a reporter from an international television network.

Featured Reading(s)

• About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Intermediate) by Natalie Woodward
• In the Aftermath of Hurricane Georges by Mary Bosy
• About the Impact of Hurricane Georges (Advanced) by Natalie Woodward

Materials

• Excerpts from articles found on the web

Procedures

1. Remind students that they have looked at maps, interviews, demographics, and videos to answer the question How does where you live influence how you live?
2. Explain to students that, in this lesson, they will explore the following essential questions:
   • How do natural disasters affect the life of a country and its people?
   • How can responding to a natural disaster bring a community together and unite people, no matter what their country, in a common bond of humanity?
3. Ask students to form pairs to discuss how they think a natural disaster might bring a community together. Then address the question in a class discussion.
4. Explain to students that in this lesson, they will read newspaper accounts regarding the impact of Hurricane Georges on the Dominican Republic. They will also read firsthand accounts from Peace Corps Volunteers who were in the Dominican Republic when the hurricane struck. They will explore the question How can responding to a natural disaster bring a community together and unite people, no matter what their country, in a common bond of humanity?
5. Ask students whether anyone in the class, or in their families, has experienced a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, avalanche, typhoon, or forest fire. If so, how did it affect their lives? How did it affect their community?
6. Help students see the connection between natural disasters and the place where you live. Are there some places that are more vulnerable than others? Focus on the impact of the disaster on the community.
7. One of the realities of living in the Dominican Republic is living in the path of Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico hurricanes during hurrican season (June 1?November 30).
8. This is an opportunity to look at the physical system of a hurricane (i.e., what a hurricane is, how it forms, why it is capable of doing widespread damage, the kinds of damage it can do, and when and where hurricanes may strike) to address the National Geography Standard: Students will be able to explain how physical systems affect human systems.
9. Ask students to read the information on the handout "What Is a Hurricane?" In addition, have them access the National Hurricane Center's website, www.nhc.noaa.gov. A list of related websites may be found in the Background Information section of this lesson plan.
10. Have students underline the most important information using a highlighter.
11. Ask the students to write a "two-minute paper" summarizing the big ideas they have learned about hurricanes.
12. Explain to students that, now that they know about hurricanes in general, they are going to have the opportunity to learn about Hurricane Georges, a hurricane that had a devastating impact in 1998 on the people of the Dominican Republic.
13. Have students search the Internet for the USA Today articles "Hurricane Death Toll in Caribbean Climbs to 370," and "Hurricane Georges' Damage Reports." Ask students to record information, such as lives lost, homes damaged, crop damage, impact on the economy, and impact on the country and its people. Students can find more information on the National Hurricane Center's website.
14. Explain to students that in this part of the lesson they will write a press release on Hurricane Georges, as if they were Peace Corps Volunteers in the Dominican Republic in 1998 when the hurricane struck. The press release is designed to be sent home to their local newspaper.
15. To prepare students for writing the press release, read to them, or have them read, the transcript of the interview with Peace Corps Volunteer Mary Bosy, who was living in the city of Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic at the time that Hurricane Georges struck. Remind students they have already "met" Mary Bosy in the Dominican Republic video.
16. Read to students, or have them read, excerpts from the interview with former Peace Corps country director for the Dominican Republic Natalie Woodward, who also was in the Dominican Republic during the hurricane. Please note: There is a condensed version of the Natalie Woodward interview for use with middle school students and a more extensive version for use with high school students.
17. As students read the interviews, they can prepare for writing the press release by looking for the answers to the questions provided in Worksheet #7.
18. Provide students with a self-assessment checklist (Worksheet #8) for writing the press release.
19. After students have written their press release, have them share it with a partner for proofreading and feedback. Ask students, as they are reading their partner's press release, to refer to the self-assessment checklist to determine whether all items have been addressed.
20. Provide time for students to revise their press release, based on their partner's comments and feedback. Ask them to give their revised press release to you.
21. Once you have read students' press releases and provided comments and feedback, give students one more opportunity for revision.
22. Then, lead a class discussion on the following questions:
    • How would you have felt if you had been in the Dominican Republic when Hurricane Georges hit? Why? Which relief efforts would you have wanted to be involved in?
    • If you had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic at the time of Hurricane Georges, how would you have felt?

Extensions

1. To reinforce oral communication skills, organize a "press conference" on Hurricane Georges. For example, four students might serve on the panel, and two students might serve as the interviewers from the press. The interviewers could ask the panelists such questions as those listed above. If all four panelists are "stumped" on a particular question, the interviewers can take responses from the rest of the class. When they are responding, students must cite the source of their information, and exactly where it can be found.
2. Have students research the impact of powerful hurricanes in their own country. Ask them to compare their findings with the information they have about Hurricane Georges. Have them look for evidence of the enduring understanding: Natural disasters can be tragic. However, they can bring people together, reinforce connections, and reveal surprising traits of heroism.

Framework and Standards

Enduring Understandings

• Natural disasters can be tragic. However, they can bring people together, reinforce connections, and reveal surprising traits of heroism.
• Working together to respond to a national disaster can bind people in a common bond of humanity.

Standards

National Council for the Social Studies
Culture (NCSS Theme I): Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity so that the learner can compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns.

National Geography Standard
Environment and Society. The geographically informed person knows how physical systems affect human systems.

Language Arts Standards
The learner demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts.
The learner demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process.

National Science Education Standards
Content Standard D: Earth and Space Science
Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives