Title: People, Place and Environment
Lesson Author: Sara Skubal and Elizabeth Richardson
Key Words: Mandate system, League of Nations, United Nations, SykesPicot Treaty
Grade Level: 10th grade
Time Allotted: 45 minutes
Rationale/ Purpose (so what?)
As students progress into becoming global citizens, they must gain a critical awareness of
the world around them and how people, place, and physical environment converge together
to shape the world they live in. At some times, these concepts can create politically-charged
climates and students should have a solid foundation of understanding on people, place, and
ideas that may be different than their own.
Background/Context:
This will fit in a lesson after an introduction to the mandate system and treaties such as
Sykes-Picot and the McMahon-Hussein agreements and the Balfour Declaration and before
a lesson on Golda Meir and Gamal Abdul Nasser’s respective roles in Israel and Egypt within
a Cold War context.
Key Concept(s) include definition:
Mandate System: Beginning with the League of Nations agreement after
WWI, certain territories in Africa and the Middle East were highly
contested and transferred from the control of one country to another,
based on internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the
territory on behalf of the League.
League of Nations: A pre-cursor to the United Nations, this League was
created after World War I with the intention of creating a globalized
network of countries to defend and ally with one another. Established
the mandate system.
Balfour Declaration: Dated November 2, 1917, it was a letter from James
Balfour (British Foreign Secretary) to Baron Rothschild (leader of the
British Jewish community) for transmission to the Zionist Federation of
Great Britain and Ireland, in which Palestine will be established as a
national home for the Jewish people.
United Nations: Intergovernmental organization to promote
international co-operation after World War II.
Sykes-Picot Treaty: Also called the Asia Minor Agreement, it was a
secret agreement between UK and France to divide Arab territories
from the Ottoman Empire after WWI and was in direct contention to a
previously-agreed upon declaration, the McMahon-Hussein
Correspondence, which asked for Arab cooperation in rebellion against
the Ottoman Empire with the promise of an independent Arab state.
NCSS Standard(s)
SOL Information
*As written in the Virginia SOL “Curriculum Framework” for the grade level
NCSS Theme (s) with indicators: People, Places, and Environment

Why is location important? How do people interact with the environment
and what are some of the consequences of those interactions? How does
physical location effect history?
SOL* : WHII.14c:

The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and
cultural aspects of independence movements and development efforts by
describing the end of the mandate system and the creation of states in the
Middle East.
Essential Knowledge
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
Mandates in the Middle East:
 Established by the League of Nations
 Granted independence after World
War II
 Resulted in Middle East conflicts
created by religious differences
French and British mandates in the Middle
East:
 French:
o Syria
o Lebanon
 British:
o Jordan (originally Transjordan)
o Palestine (a part became
independent as the State of
Israel)
Essential Skills
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
Identify geographic features
important to the study of world
history (WHII.1c)
Identify and compare
contemporary political boundaries
with the locations of civilizations,
empires, and kingdoms (WHII.1d)
Analyze trends in human migration
and cultural interaction (WHII.1e)
Guiding Question(s): What were the results of the United Nations’
decision to end the mandate system in terms of states created (locations)
and their subsequent problems?
The day’s big question: Why does place matter?
Lesson Objective(s):
Obj. 1 Students will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and
cultural aspects of independence movements and development efforts by describing
the beginning and end of the mandate system in the Middle East through
explanation card analysis of the Balfour Declaration, Sykes-Picot Treaty, McMahonHussein Agreement, and the final drawing of political boundaries.
Obj. 2 Students will identify the process by which Middle Eastern states were
created and see how political boundaries changed, stayed the same, and were
contested over time through an in-class web 2.0 mapping activity.
Assessment Tool(s) to be used- Everything above- goes to what you want them to
know/understand do- So what assessments are you going to use to help you manage
and monitor that they have got it-informal and formal—make one over-riding
assessment connect to your closure.
Assessment 1. Informal assessment of explanation card activity.
Assessment 2: Formal assessment of student presentations on the map activity.
Materials: Historical Source(s):
Additional
Materials/Re
sources: List
here and include
copies in materials
section- textbooks
etc page numbers,
websites etc

(Material A): Balfour Declaration: The Balfour Declaration
(it its entirety)
Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His
Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy
with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to,
and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the
achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that
nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in
any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the
knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
Material B: Sykes-Picot Agreement
Material C: McMahon-Hussein Agreement
“I feel it my duty to state, and I do so definitely and
emphatically, that it was not intended by me in giving this
pledge to King Hussein to include Palestine in the area in
which Arab independence was promised. I also had every
reason to believe at the time that the fact that Palestine was
not included in my pledge was well understood by King
Hussein.”
Material D Map of Ottoman Empire Before Collapse
Material E Post-WWI Agreement
(Material F) Web 2.0 website on “Mapping the Middle East”:
http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east
(Material G)
Rubric for Presentation and Guiding Questions:
1.) Did every student participate in the presentation?
Yes __________
No ______________
2.) Did the group identify the 5 most important maps?
Yes _________
No ______________
3.) Did the group say why they chose those maps?
Yes ________
No ______________
Guiding Questions (answered independently):
1.) What do these maps show you?
2.) How do these maps help us understand the Middle East
today?
3.) How does place matter?
Procedure/Process:
Instructional sequence:
Just
do it.
Trans
ition:
Objec
tive
#1
Trans
ition:
Objec
tive #
2
Students will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, Students will
social, and cultural aspects of independence movements and review these
development efforts by describing the beginning and end of
sources and answer
the mandate system in the Middle East through explanation
specific questions
card analysis of the Balfour Declaration, Sykes-Picot Treaty,
about each source:
McMahon-Hussein Agreement, and the final drawing of
What is the
political boundaries.
audience? What is
the message? What
 Students will use Materials A-E as explanation cards
is the implication of
and write key features of each map/primary source
the message?
(audience, message, implication)
 Students will be reviewing these sources (they have
learned what the documents did, but have not seen
the documents themselves).
Students will share with the class over what they have learned about the
agreements they previously learned about and make predictions for what will
happen next in world history.
Students will identify the process by which Middle Eastern
states were created and see how political boundaries
changed, stayed the same, and were contested over time
The worksheet will
through an in-class web 2.0 mapping activity.
be graded as a
 Students will fill out the worksheet accompanying the formal assessment.
Web 2.0 activity.
3) Closure-
Modifications/Accommodations for Diverse Learners:
Teacher will recognize all student IEPs and construct lessons around individual
student needs. In this context, immediate adaptations that could be made are:
captions on videos and additional scaffolding on worksheet assignment through
think-pair-share groups.
Materials (one resource per page- so it becomes a teacher or student handout, or
overhead directions or ppt presentation. Include photocopies if need be. Can you
provide elements of choices in materials or enrichment or support/anchor materials
for different students?.
(Material A)
The Balfour Declaration (it its entirety)
Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government,
the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has
been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done
which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the
Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
Material B: Sykes-Picot Agreement
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Material C: McMahon-Hussein Agreement
“I feel it my duty to state, and I do so definitely and emphatically, that it was not
intended by me in giving this pledge to King Hussein to include Palestine in the area
in which Arab independence was promised. I also had every reason to believe at the
time that the fact that Palestine was not included in my pledge was well understood
by King Hussein.”
Material D Map of Ottoman Empire Before Collapse
Material E Post-WWI Agreement
Material F: Web 2.0 website on “Mapping the Middle East”:
http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east (Material B)
(Material G)
Rubric for Presentation and Guiding Questions:
4.) Did every student participate in the presentation?
Yes __________
No ______________
5.) Did the group identify the 5 most important maps?
Yes _________
No ______________
6.) Did the group say why they chose those maps?
Yes ________
No ______________
Guiding Questions (answered independently):
4.) What do these maps show you?
5.) How do these maps help us understand the Middle East today?
6.) How does place matter?