Seton Hall UniversityCollege of Education & Human Services

Interactive Lesson Plan

Name: Joseph Perna Date: 24 February 2012

Setting/Grade Level: 9 University Linked Course: World History

School: West Orange High School Lesson Theme or Topic: WWII Causes and Events:

Predicting European

Responses

Learning Objectives

Through a designated class activity and discussion, students will be able to intelligently predict the responses of Allied nations (France, Great Britain, Poland, the USSR, and the USA) to Hitler’s aggressive actions before and during WWII.

Through a designated class activity and discussion, students will be able to compare and contrast the different responses of the Allied nations to stopping Hitler.

Through a short essay homework assignment, students will be able to analyze and assess the decisions of the Allied nations in response to Hitler’s aggression.

Through a short essay homework assignment, students will be able to intelligently assess the foreign policy of appeasement.

Procedure for Teaching

Time Allocated: 80 minutes

Procedure:

Step 1: Introduction to the students: (about 10 minutes)

Students will enter the classroom and be given a country worksheet of one of five Allied powers: France, Great Britain, the USSR, the United States, and Poland. They will then be placed in certain sections of the room corresponding to the nation on their worksheet. Once students are seated in their groups, the new unit of World War II and its causes will be introduced to them. This lesson in particular focuses Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy and appeasement as the diplomatic response by the Allies. The students will be introduced to the concept of appeasement through analogies. They will then read the provided background information on their countries and discuss it as a group.

Step 2: Activities: (about 60 minutes or about 10 minutes per event)

After this introduction the class will then proceed to the group activity which involves students predicting responses to several events of Hitler’s aggressive acts before and

during WWII. For each six events ranging from Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia to his invasion of the USSR, students view a slide, read a summary of what happened, and discuss in their groups how they think their country responded. Students will base their decisions on their packet that includes several possible foreign policy responses ranging from declaring war, neutrality, negotiation, etc. They are encouraged to use what they know about their country and consider the actions of their allies. Afterward, presenters from the groups will share their predictions with the rest of the class while the teacher explains how each country actually responded to the event. The teacher will then keep track of how accurately the groups predicted.

Step 3: Closing: (about 10 minutes)

The class will end with a discussion based on what they learned through this group role playing activity. The short essay assignment will also be introduced to students and they will have the opportunity to ask any questions they may have about it.

Assessment:

Oral or written quiz/test Observation Self evaluation Drawing Worksheet Learning log/Quick

write/Journal Peer editing/evaluation Interview/Conference Other: Short Essay homework assignment

Homework / Wrap-up

Short Essay

Type a three paragraph essay to be handed in on Wednesday 2/29.

1st Paragraph: Summarize the decisions your country made and their reasoning behind these decisions; did all of the decisions follow the same reasoning? Explain.

2nd Paragraph: Summarize the policy of the Allied nations (France, Great Britain, Poland, US, USSR) as a whole toward Hitler’s expansion. How aggressive was their response toward Germany? Did this change over time? Explain.

3rd Paragraph: Do you think appeasement is a good foreign policy approach? Explain.

*25% off if handed in on Thursday 3/1*50% off if handed in on Friday 3/2*Don’t bother after that. All information can be accessed via EDMODO