Lesson Plan 1
Teacher Candidate’s Name: Edward O’Connell
Subject/Grade Level: World History II
Lesson Title: From Russia…With Communism
Unit Title: What Causes Revolution?
Lesson Logistics
Standards:
 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the worldwide impact of World War I by
c) citing causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution.

Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to compare and
contrast the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution to the communist
revolutions of the cold war including revolutions in China, Cuba, and Vietnam.
Students will use the information to make a chart comparing the causes and
consequences of the Russian, Chinese, Cuban, and Vietnamese Revolutions.
Driving (or “overarching”) Questions of the Lesson
 Why did Russia erupt in revolution while fighting in World War I?
 How did communism rise in Russia?
 How were the motivations for the Russian Revolution similar to the motivations for
the communist revolutions in China, Cuba, and Vietnam? How were they different?
Key Concepts & Terms:
 Ruso-Japan War
 Tsar
 Landless Peasantry
 Bolshevik
 Lennin’s New Economic Policy
 Josef Stalin
Materials:
 Laptop
 Projector
 Internet
 Poster paper.
Motivation
Initiation Activity/Anticipatory Set:
 Students will watch a Brain Pop about Communism. (citation further in document)
Input
Lesson Plan 2
Teacher Driven Activity:
 Teacher will lecture on the Russian Revolution.




Questions:
Why did Russia erupt in revolution while fighting in World War I?
How did communism rise in Russia?
What motivated the people to revolt against the Tsar?
How did Lennin’s New Economy differ from policies under the Tsar?
Output
Student Driven Activity:
 For the student driven activity, students will research how communists were able to
seize power in Cuba, China, and Vietnam via revolution. Students will seek to answer
the following questions:
What were conditions like before the revolution started?
Who were the major players in the revolution (people and nations)?
How long did the revolution take from (from start to formal government takeover) and
how did the Communists finally take power?
How many people died during the revolution?
Students will put this information on the Revolution posterboard. Each panel of the posterboard
will feature a compare and contrast of the causes and consequences of revolutions and social
upheaval in the 1920’s and 1930’s to revolutions, dictators, and upheavals throughout history.
Culmination
Extensions
Homework:
 No Homework.
Assessment
Students will be evaluated on their findings (did they find anything relevant yes/no)
The information will also show up on their benchmark (designed by the school district)
Lesson Plan 3
Teacher Candidate’s Name: Edward O’Connell
Subject/Grade Level: World History II
Lesson Title: The Great Depression
Unit Title: What Causes revolution?
Lesson Logistics
Standards:
 The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and
cultural developments during the Interwar Period by b) citing causes and
assessing the impact of worldwide depression in the 1930s.

Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to compare and
contrast the causes and consequences of the Great Depression with economic
conditions that have led to other revolutions inc luding the French Revolution,
Mexican Revolution, and the Revoluton of 1848.
Driving (or “overarching”) Questions of the Lesson
 Why did the world experience depression in the 1930s?
 What political changes resulted from the worldwide depression?
 How have economic issues caused revolutions throughout history.?

Key Concepts & Terms:
 Depression
 tarriff
 Reperations
 Nazi Party




Materials:
Laptop
Projector
Internet
Poster paper.
Motivation
Initiation Activity/Anticipatory Set:
 Students will watch a Brain Pop about The Great Depression. (citation further in
document)
 Students will share their research with the class
Input
Lesson Plan 4
Teacher Driven Activity:
 Teacher will lecture on the Economic Depression in the 1930’s.

Questions:


What factors led to the Great Depression?
What political changes resulted from the worldwide depression?
Output
Student Driven Activity:
 For the student driven activity, students will research how economic conditions
have led to revolutions throughout History. Students will use the following
questions as guidelines:




What were the economic conditions like in the country before revolution?
What was the class structure like in the country before the revolution? What
about after?
How were the revolutionaries motivated by economic factors?
Are economics a viable reason for revolution?
Extensions
Homework:
 No Homework
Assessment
Students will be evaluated on their findings (did they find anything relevant yes/no)
The information will also show up on their benchmark (designed by the school districtO
Teacher Candidate’s Name: Edward O’Connell
Subject/Grade Level: World History II
Lesson Title: The Not-So-Great Dictators
Unit Title: What Causes Revolution?
Note: This is a two day lesson
Lesson Logistics
Standards:
 The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural
Lesson Plan 5
developments during the Interwar Period by c) examining events related to the rise,
aggression, and human costs of dictatorial regimes in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and
Japan, and identifying their major leaders, i.e., Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini,
Hirohito, and Hideki Tojo.

Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to compare and
contrast the rise of the of the 1920’s and 30’s dictators (and their regimes) to dictators
(and their regimes) that emerged during the Cold War (Examples include Pol Pot,
Ayatollah Khamenei, Idi Admin, Augusto Pinochet, ect). Students will use this
information to create a posterboard of the Not-So-great Dictators throughout history
Driving (or “overarching”) Questions of the Lesson
 Why did dictatorial governments emerge in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.S.S.R. after
World War I?
 How did these regimes affect the world following World War I?
 How have different dictators come to power and what were the human costs of their
regimes?








Key Concepts & Terms:
Five Year Plans
The Great Purge
National Socialism
Mein Kampf
Fascism
Militarism
Blackshirt




Materials:
Laptop
Projector
Internet
Poster paper.
Motivation
Initiation Activity/Anticipatory Set:
 Students will also be asked if they can name any dictators.
 Students will watch a Brain Pop about Adolph Hitler. (citation further in document)
 Students will share their research with the class
Input
Teacher Driven Activity:
 Teacher will lecture on the rise of the dictators in the 1920’s and 30’s.
Lesson Plan 6




Teacher will ask the students questions, including:
How did the Great Purge affect the USSR?
What allowed the Nazis to take power?
How did Japan expand its influence in the Pacific?
Output
Student Driven Activity:
 For the student driven activity, students will research some of the dictators the took
power during the Cold War.
 When doing their research they will focus on these questions:
What were the economic conditions like in the country before revolution?
What was the class structure like in the country before the revolution? What about after?
How were the revolutionaries motivated by economic factors?
Are economics a viable reason for revolution?
Students will put this information on the Revolution posterboard
Culmination

Extensions
Homework:
 No Homework.
Assessment
Students will be evaluated on their findings (did they find anything relevant yes/no)
The information will also show up on their benchmark (designed by the school district)
This unit was taught over three days (it was designed to be taught over four days, but we had
delayed opening yesterday so everything got bumped up half a class and we only got to half of
the dictators). The first lesson in the unit (The Russian Revolution) was taught on 1 March.
Students were told that we would be doing a unit on Revolutions/Social Upheaval and would be
comparing the social changed of the 1920’s and 30’s with revolutions/Social Upheavals of the
Cold War and on topics they may not have had enough time to learn about. Students went to the
library and were assigned the Cuban, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese Communist
revolutions to research.
Lesson Plan 7
The second lesson of the unit (the Great Depression) was taught 4 March. AT the start of class, I
told the students that even though the Great Depression was boring, it set the stage for the rise of
the dictators and World War II. I also told the students that we would examine the role that
economics and class structure plays in causing revolutions. This compare and contrast was also
helpful because in the previous class, students researched the Cuban, Vietnamese, Cambodian,
and Chinese Communist revolutions. After the lecture, students went to the library and
researched the role that economics and class structure played in the French Revolution,
Revolution of 1848, and the Mexican Revolution.
For the Not-So-Great Dictators, we spent the first part of class reviewing what the students
learned the previous class. Due to the restructuring of class schedules thanks to the delayed
opening, we were only able to make it through the lesson. On Friday, we will go to the library
again.
Effects on Student Learning
Framing the unit under the question of what causes Revolutions and Social Upheavals to
happen helped the students look at the SOL lessons as a part of a greater socio economic
issue. It also helps them meet the standards put forth by Virginia. On the first lesson, I
started the lesson off by saying, “An individual we’ll learn about in a few days, (Mussolini)
once said that ‘Blood Alone moves the wheels of History”. I told them that many of the
factors that lead to the rise of Communism, Dictators, and revolution between the World
Wars are not only exclusive to those events but have happened throughout history and into
the Modern day. Doing this, gave the students the knowledge that changes in society
throughout history tends to be motivated by Economics and great leaders. As students
continue their learning of History, hopefully they will be able to think to themselves, “What
factors led to this change. Was there a dynamic leader? Was it motivated by economic
factors? Were the changes good or bad?”
I wanted students to work on their skills at examining cause and effect since so much of
History is influenced by what happens before it. If a student is able to look at a historical
event and not only break it down but understand the factors that led to it and be able to
predict what happened afterwards, their ability to follow the course of History might be
improved. Having them look at the role that economics and social class plays in revolution
From a social standpoint, the unit is kind of weak. The students will share what they have
learned with the class, effectively boosting their public speaking skills. Another benefit of
having the students put the information on Posterboard is to give them a sense of
accomplishment and to boost their self esteem.
Edward O’Connell
7.3 What causes Revolution
Criteria
Descriptors
Novice
Ratings & Explanations
Conversant
Expert-Like
Lesson Plan 8
Purpose
Knowledge
Fidelity
Creativity
The work sample is
purposefully related to
the objective of the
lesson/assignment. For
a lesson, it reflects the
needs, interests, and
abilities of students and
curricular & instructional
expectations.
The work sample
illustrates the
candidate’s degree of
assimilation of the
information related to the
structure and elements
of the task.
The work sample is
specifically aligned to
the explicit procedural
knowledge (steps,
syntax, format, etc)
stipulated by the
definition
the lesson
The work of
sample
and/or assignment.
evidences
the
individuality and
originality of the author
and/or designer.
The backbone of the unit is
the SOLs but the Historical tie
ins were desigbned to tie into
socio and economic issues as
well.
The students did an ok job.
Their grasp of the Russian
Revolution was good as was
their understanding of the
great depression. I lost them
a little when I talked about
Stalin and Hitler. They
seemed to enjoy learning
about the dictators in the cold
war and about some of the
revolutions but seemed
confused by looking up the
economic factors that caused
revolutions (even if they
understood the sociological
faciotrs that cause
revolutions
The Unit was designed to build upon itself.
Every lesson draws a little bit from the lesson
before it. The student based research ties
directly into what students learned that day.
I designed, wrote, and edited
the lesson plans by myself
and created them from
scratch. I did get some help
from you though.