Intro+to+Model+UN

LESSON ONE: [[image:UN.jpg width="300" height="223" align="right"]]
What is the United Nations?

DESCRIPTION:
Students learn about the work of the United Nations as the world’s parliament.

TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The first step to experiencing a successful conference is for students to understand its goal. The goal of a MUN conference is for delegates to create one or more resolutions. The purpose of these resolutions is to help solve the issue being discussed at a regional or global level. Novice delegates often seem to mistakenly expect that a MUN conference is a modified debate with a clear winner and loser to be determined by the end of the day. This is not quite accurate. While delegates often represent opposing interests, the goal of their negotiation is to reach consensus –in the form of a passed resolution - to the greatest extent possible.

Not all resolutions will pass, but all countries should be able to find enough common ground in order to vote ‘in favor’ of at least one resolution. There will and should be heated debate throughout the conference. But ultimately the goal of this intense negotiation should be to join together in a mutually agreeable resolution.

The rules of debate force this compromise. For example, no resolution can even be presented that does not have the support (in the form of signatories) of one fifth of the countries represented. In addition, a resolution requires a simple majority to pass.

PREPARATION:
Print out class materials and preview.

STEP BY STEP PLAN:
//Anticipate//: Ask students what they already know about the UN? What they would like to know?  Popcorn share Wordle: Prompt: What is the UN?

//Allow//: Students to complete the Introduction to the UN worksheet 

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Show//: YouTube Clip: “The World in a Day: Behind the Scenes with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Discuss//: What surprised you about the Secretary General’s day? What would be most challenging? Would you want to be the Secretary General?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Checks for Understanding//: Consider one or more of these culminating activities for exit tickets, homework assignments, or formative assessments.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Identify//: Ask students to complete a Frayer model for the terms, Secretary General and/or world’s parliament. or

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Possible Skill and Content Extensions:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Skill Building Extension: Consider activities in the ‘Understanding the goal of a conference section’ on pages 3-6 of the Preparing Students for a MUN Conference – Mini Activities that Build Social and Academic Skills

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Content Extension (The UN): Examine the different organs of the UN. Have students visit [] and ask students to summarize a different body of the UN and report back to their classmates.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Content Extension (International Affairs): Instruct students to view the short video “7 Billion “produced by National Geographic: [] Ask students to consider the challenge of living in a crowded world. Why does this make the UN even more important?