Jayda+Smith+-+1989 

**1989 - End of the Year Recap**
The year of 1989 is finally coming to a close and we must say, it’s been a pretty intense year! It seems as if we have made some real changes socially, politically, and technologically.

It seems like what's in and what's out changes every month. However the fashion trends that stuck around this year included hoop earrings on men, Hawaiian shirts, gold chains, aviators, and leather jackets. Women were rocking faux fur, animal print, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, as well as Donna Karan sportswear.

The entertainment industry kept us on our toes this year. The big screen was on fire with the release of action movies such as //Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones,// and //Back to the Future.The Little Mermaid// introduced the first non-human Disney princess and //Say Anything// set the bar for high school relationships. //The Simpsons// debuted on the small screen, joining shows like //Saved by the Bell// and //Family Matters//. Paula Abdul, Madonna, Prince and Janet Jackson dominated the music scene, with multiple Billboard top hits and iconic music videos. On a sadder note, the world lost amazing artists and entertainers, including Salvador Dali and Lucille Ball.

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals at Super Bowl XXII and Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage at WrestleMania V this year.

Strides in technology came in the form of the release of the Nintendo GameBoy, the first HDTV broadcast, and the first GPS satellite was put into orbit.

In world news, the Berlin Wall finally came down! German citizens are finally able to travel to West Germany for the first time in decades, marking the end of the Cold War. The Tiananmen Square protests led to massacre in Beijing while the rest of the world watched it unfold on TV. George H. W. Bush is elected as 41st President of the United States. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill happened on the watch of a drunken captain.

This year was full of excitement, scandal and promise. Overall, this year was a turning point in history because now we are entering the last decade of the 20th century. The 1990’s are among us and we can't be more stoked.


 * Pedagogical Implications:**

If I had to scaffold this for a middle school class, I think that I would make the instructions a bit less broad. I would probably limit them to a specific century. I would have them focus maybe specifically on one topic like entertainment, world events, or technological advances. I think this activity might work a little better if the students were even in groups so we could have multiple people doing research on a specific year and then putting together a presentation of all the research that they found. I think middle school students would have an easier time doing an end-of-year recap or child's account of the year (considering they are still children) rather than something like a song or a poem.