Lesson Plan
Year 9: 20th Century World
Lesson Title: Was General Douglas Haig Butcher of the Somme?
3 lessons
Aims/Key Questions:
What was the Battle of the Somme: What was the plan and what was the reality?
What was Haig’’s role?
How has Haig’s reputation changed over time?
Was Haig butcher of the Somme?
Learning Outcomes:
Knowledge – By the end of these lessons, students will have acquired a broad range
of knowledge on General Douglas Haig and his involvement in the Battle of the
Somme. The students will have looked at a range of source material – both primary
and secondary, to help them reach a judgement on Haig.
Skills – The skill within this assessment is interpretation.
Context
Students have had 4 lessons the First World War. 2 of these lessons involved looking
at the causes of the First World War and a piece of peer assessment. The students
then will have had 2 lessons on trench warfare, 1 of which will involve them studying
lots of images, 3 written sources and an extract from Blackadder. The second lesson
is a lesson on art from the First World War. Both of these lessons requires students
to focus on the conditions in the trenches.
Resources
Power-point presentations
Booklet on Haig
The plan: the reality sheet
Card sort on the Somme
Assessment task sheet
Model answers
Lesson 1
Starter
Students to study a picture of Haig and discuss what they think it reveals about him.
Episode 1
Students are introduced to the Battle of the Somme through a Power-point. The third
and fourth slides take the students through some basic facts about the battle.
Episode 2
Students are then required to focus on the plan and the reality of the Battle. They will
be given a worksheet with this explained and a diagram of this on the Power-point.
Students have to create 2 mind-maps which outline the plan and the reality of the
battle.
Plenary
Students are asked to consider why they think the Battle of the Somme was a turning
point. They must also consider why this would have affected people’s opinions on
Haig.
Lessons 2 and 3
Starter of lesson 2
Students to read the fact-file on Haig on the front of the booklet and explain what
they think it reveals about him.
Episodes for lessons 2 and 3
Students to begin reading through the booklet on Haig. There are activities that can
be completed either orally or as formal written answers.
There is also a card sort to be completed that looks at what went wrong at the Battle
of the Somme. Students are given a selection of cards and they have to make up
headings (4-6 headings), to put the cards under. (Example headings could be poor
leadership, faulty equipment etc). The students then have to write out the headings in
their poor and put one example under each heading, using the cards to help them
(they must summarise the card, not copy it).
The card sort can be done at any point during lessons 2 and 3. It depends on how
quickly the students read through the booklet.
At the end of the booklet there is a source from Blackadder – play the clip (it’s the
last episode in the series Blackadder Goes Forth) to accompany the source.
Students then to be given the assessment task sheet. This explains the task and
outlines the levels and what is needed to reach levels 4-7. There is also a set of
model answers which can either be used before the task or after.
Once the students have worker their way through the booklet and have looked at the
assessment task sheet they should be ready to begin the assessment. The quality of
their work, especially their ability to explain interpretations and Haig’s reputation, will
very much depend on how much in-put you have given them during these 2 lessons.
I would recommend spending a fair amount of time on the booklet, discussing
sources and reputation and also trying to get across the idea that world events since
the Somme have affected Haig’s reputation and opinions on him vary hugely,
depending on background, experience etc.
I give some lesson time (sometimes a whole lesson) to begin the assessment. This
enables me to iron out teething problems when the students begin the assessment.
This may or may not be appropriate.