Digital Unit Plan Template
Unit Title: Origins of World War II
Name: Eusebio Romero
Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level: 10th Grade
CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):
10.6 Students analyze the effects of the First World War.
1. Analyze the aims and negotiating roles of world leaders, the terms and influence of the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and
the causes and effects of the United States’ rejection of the League of Nations on world politics.
2. Describe the effects of the war and resulting peace treaties on population movement, and international economy, and shifts in the geographic and
Political borders of Europe and the Middle East.
3. Understand the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians.
10.7 Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I.
1. Understand the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin’s use of totalitarian means to seize and maintain control (e.g., Gulag).
2. Trace Stalin’s rise to power in the Soviet Union and the connection between economic policies, political policies, the absence of a free press, and
Systematic violations of human rights (e.g., the Terror Famine in Ukraine)
3. Analyze the rise, aggression, and human costs of totalitarian regimes (Fascists and Communist) in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, noting especially
Their common and dissimilar traits.
10.8 Students analyze the cause and consequences of World War II.
1. Compare the German Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Soviet
Hitler Pact of 1939.
2. Understand the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United States prior to the outbreak
Of World War II.
Big Ideas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wars have the power to change society. Societies make good and bad decisions during wartime that should be analyzed thoroughly.
Political decisions made after the closure of a war have far reaching implications and consequences that help shape the postwar world, such as the case with World
War I.
Isolationism in the United States and appeasement by European countries generated a political vacuum that totalitarian forms of governments filled in Germany,
Italy, and the Soviet Union.
Analyzing the causes and implications of political, social, and economic turbulence increases our understanding of our present world.
Unit Goals and Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
Students will identify the effects of World War I by completion of guided notes which demonstrate that they were attentive during lecture and thus were engaging
in critical thinking which can be observed in their development of well thought out responses to the essential questions.
Students will be able to link the effects of World War I to World War II through their completion of a flow chart that states some of the major effects of World War I
and how they led to World War II.
Students will be able to identify figures, events, and countries that played a major role in the interwar period by their completion of a timeline in which they select
significant dates and events as well as who was involved.
Unit Summary:
This unit discusses the political, social, and economic environment that was created after the end of the First World War, and aims to gain a deeper understanding as to how
these circumstances enabled the rise of dictators that would push the world into another global conflict just twenty years after the culmination of World War I. Key topics
that are discussed and analyzed thoroughly are the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles and its effects, nationalism, self-determination, economic depression, the creation of
new boundaries, revolution, and the rise of Communism and Fascism, The exploration and analysis of these multiple factors that contributed to the beginning of WWII will
allow students to attain a deeper understanding of how political, social, and economical issues intertwined with each other in order to produce the horrible results that
culminated in World War II. Through this more in depth understanding students will be better able to comprehend their own government, society, and political affairs that
go on in their city, county, state, and country. Activities for this unit include text book reading, key term exercises, viewing documentaries, online research, the completion of
a study guide, lectures, and class discussions.
Assessment Plan:
Entry-Level:
This unit will begin with an entry level assessment in
the form of a quick write in which students write
everything that they remember about the factors that
led to the outbreak of World War I. Students should be
able to name the major factors that contributed to the
beginning of WWI and thus they will have a preliminary
understanding of the situation that was created after
the end of WWI.
Formative:
During the first teacher lecture students will be asked
to follow along with the lecture by filling out their
guided notes and responding to questions prompted by
the teacher as well as the short answer questions
included in the guided notes. This activity will reinforce
student learning during this unit and it can also be
utilized as a section of the study guide for the test on
the material covered in this unit.
As an addition to the guided notes students will also be
asked to find the definitions of various key terms from
the first lesson in order to ensure that they have an
understanding of and are familiar with the terms that
are an essential aspect of this unit. Furthermore, they
will develop well thought out responses to the short
answer questions provided on the added guided notes
worksheet.
Summative:
The first summative assessment will be a unit paper.
Students will write a three to four page paper that
illustrates their comprehension of the events that led to
World War II as well as their opinion on whether the
war was inevitable or something could have been done
differently by the allies to avoid World War II. This
assessment will measure the overall understanding
that students have of the major topics covered in this
unit.
The final summative assessment for this unit will be in
the form of an exam. Students will be assessed on their
comprehension of the material covered in this unit
through the use of a test which will consist of multiple
choice, fill in the blank, and two short answer
questions.
Students will complete a Webercise activity as a
formative assessment. During this second lesson
students will go to the websites given to them in the
assignment in order to answer various questions
dealing with Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Through this
assignment students will attain a deeper understanding
of how totalitarian regimes rose to power after the end
of WWI.
After students have a better understanding of the
factors that shaped the post-World War I world, factors
that lead to the rise of totalitarian regimes after WWI,
and how various nations went about trying to expand
their empire students will develop a timeline in which
they selected at least 15 significant events that
occurred between the end of WWI and the outbreak of
WWII.
Lesson 1: Teacher Lecture
Student Learning Objective:
Student will be able to
identify the effects of World
War I.
Content Standards:
10.6: 1, 2, 3
Acceptable Evidence:
-Students answer
discussion questions and
share their answers with
their group before
discussing the various
questions as a class.
-Students correctly fill out
the guided notes, which will
also be a useful study guide
tool.
Lesson 2: Webercise
Instructional Strategies:
☒ Communication
☒ Collection
☒ Collaboration
☒ Presentation
☒ Organization
☒ Interaction
Lesson Activities:
Lesson 1 is an introduction lesson supported by a Prezi presentation. The lesson
will be a lecture and will consist of quick writes, videos, photographs, and will
also require students to fill out the guided notes that will be provided for them as
well as the vocabulary handout. During the lecture we will stop at various points
to engage in group and class discussions.
Student Learning Objective:
Students will be able to link
the rise of totalitarian
regimes to the causes of
WWII.
Content Standards:
10.7: 1, 2,3
Lesson 3: Graphic Organizers
Acceptable Evidence:
-The correct completion of
the Webercise.
-Well thought out one page
paper in which students
discuss the post WWI politics.
Student Learning Objective:
Acceptable Evidence:
Students will be able to
identify major figures, events,
and nations of the interwar
period.
-Accurate information on
historical events between
WWI and WWII presented
in a insightful and welldesigned timeline.
Content Standards:
10.8: 1, 2
Unit Resources:
Instructional Strategies:
☐ Communication
☒ Collection
☐ Collaboration
☒ Presentation
☐ Organization
☒ Interaction
Lesson Activities:
This lesson, done in the form of a Webercise will revolve around the rise of
totalitarian forms of government in Germany, Russia, and Italy. Through the
completion of this lesson students will gain a deeper understanding of not only
how these dictators rose to power but also receive an indication as to why they
came to power.
Instructional Strategies:
☐ Communication
☒ Collection
☐ Collaboration
☒ Presentation
☒ Organization
☐ Interaction
Lesson Activities:
Lesson 3 will be focused on the completion of timeline that spans from the end of
World War I and the outbreak of World War II. Students will select at least fifteen
significant events that transpired during this time span and create a well-designed
timeline that included accurate information about the selected historical events.
Students will create this timeline through the use of Time Toast website, which is
an excellent site for adding detail to historical timelines.
Prezi Presentation: Road to World War Two
Road to World War Two Guided notes
Road to World War Two Added Guided Notes
World War II: Dictators Threaten World Peace Webercise
From WWI to WWII Timeline: student example
Links to websites used
Useful Websites:
Library of Congress
National Archives
PBS
History
History is happening
SilvaPages
The United Kingdom National Archives History Learning
Econlib
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
BYU World War I Documents
http://search.archives.gov/query.html?qt=WWI&submit=GO&col=1arch&col=social&qc=1arch&qc=social
http://search.archives.gov/query.html?qt=WWI&submit=GO&col=1arch&col=social&qc=1arch&qc=social
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/index.html
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i
http://www.youtube.com/user/Historyishappening?feature=watch
http://ibatpv.org/projects/great_war/effects.htm
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/aftermath/just_peace.htm
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-i/resources/global-effect-world-war-i
http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/