Goals & Objectives
Students will learn about the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party prior to World War II. Students will chronologize Hitler's life (along with the rise of the Nazi Party) from being a soldier in World War I to the onset of World War II. Students will relate post-World War I German problems with the objectives and successes of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Students will compare and contrast Adolf Hitler with Joseph Stalin.
CALIFORNIA STATE CONTENT
AND COMMON CORE STANDARDS
CA History-Social Science 10.6 Students analyze the effects of the First World War.
3 Understand the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values
that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians.
CA History-Social Science 10.7 Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I.
3 Analyze the rise, aggression, and human costs of totalitarian regimes (Fascist and
Communist) in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, noting especially their common and
dissimilar traits.
CA History-Social Science 10.8 Students analyze the causes 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 Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide
an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation
or analysis.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or
similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective
accounts.
3 Understand the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values
that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians.
CA History-Social Science 10.7 Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I.
3 Analyze the rise, aggression, and human costs of totalitarian regimes (Fascist and
Communist) in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, noting especially their common and
dissimilar traits.
CA History-Social Science 10.8 Students analyze the causes 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 Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide
an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation
or analysis.
ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or
similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective
accounts.
Lesson Introduction
Pass out to each a student a copy of the provided half-page passage from Hitler's Mein Kampf. Not knowing from what it was excerpted, students in groups of four collaboratively read the passage. Each group writes one copy of: a synopsis of the passage, identification of its theme/main point, and hypotheses about its author and historical context. Then discuss as a class, revealing the source at the end of discussion, and collect the group evaluations of the reading.
Vocabulary
The vocabulary for this lesson is comprised mostly of specific names (vs. concepts or academic language), so students will be asked to identify and share names and terms they think are important during the reading activity. Then, as the lesson closure, student teams will compete in a vocabulary game that will summatively assess the students’ learning from the lesson (described in “Lesson Closure”).
anti-Semitism Aryan Brown Shirts chancellor
der Führer Gestapo Kristallnacht lebensraum
Mein Kampf Nazism Nuremburg Laws Reichstag
right-wing Schutzstaffel swastika Weimar Republic
anti-Semitism Aryan Brown Shirts chancellor
der Führer Gestapo Kristallnacht lebensraum
Mein Kampf Nazism Nuremburg Laws Reichstag
right-wing Schutzstaffel swastika Weimar Republic
Content Delivery
The teacher will lead the class in a combination read-aloud/think-aloud/pre-reading. The non-class textbook excerpt used (the last paragraph on page 911 through the first [partial] paragraph on page 914) is linked below, and will be projected on the screen for students to see. The activity is like a read-aloud in that the teacher has questions about the reading prepared to pose to students during the reading (questions are linked below). The activity is like a think-aloud in that the questions are not shown to be pre-written; the teacher reads the text aloud as if for the first time – first pre-reading topic headings, captions, highlighted words, etc. – and thinks aloud those prepared questions, comments, connections, etc., as they come up in the reading. The students will discuss those questions and comments as necessary. The students will take notes of the aloud thoughts and stressed words (vocabulary).
Student Engagement
After the teacher-guided reading activity with the linked textbook, student groups (same groups throughout the day) will read from their textbooks Chapter 27, Section 4, subtopic “Hitler’s Germany” (pages 826-827). The textbook excerpt is also linked below. Students will collaboratively read the section using the techniques modeled in the previous teacher reading (pre-reading and thinking aloud, all the while posing questions hoped to be answered in the reading, taking noted of seemingly important vocabulary and names). Using their notes from the previous reading, student groups will fill-in a squared-off (for bigger/better overlapping section) Venn Diagram graphic organizer (one per group) that organizes information presented only by one author/text, information presented only by the other author/text, and information presented by both. Copies of blank graphic organizers are provided, and both the template and a filled-out assessment guide are linked below. After this period of group work, the assignment will be summatively assessed as a class by students, group-by-group until all major points of information are covered, adding information to the appropriate areas of a large version of the graphic organizer (simply using three columns to organize information will suffice for this) created on a butcher paper poster taped to the wall. Following this, the class will discuss the similarities and differences between the two texts, analyzing the reasons for and importances of the distinctions between the two texts. Those comparative analyses will be recorded on the back of each group’s graphic organizer. Collect the graphic organizers.
Lesson Closure
After all reading activities have finished, groups will double up (making teams of eight) to compete in a closing activity that summatively assesses the learning from the lesson using vocabulary terms. There are five differently toned bells/chimes (to accommodate a maximum of five teams) arranged along a table. Teams line-up behind the bells, and one team member at a time competes against other teams to ring-in a vocabulary answer to match the definitions/clues read by the teacher. To make the game work, the following rules apply: (1) In each round, the first student to ring a bell gets to present an answer; (2) Once a student rings a bell, the definition/clue reading stops; (3) Once a student rings a bell, that student must provide an answer; (4) Team members may not help the student at the bell; (5) Once a student rings a bell, that student may not ring-in again for the same question. Each of the 16 vocabulary terms has two definitions/clues (making a total of 32 definitions/clues). Those 32 definition/clues will be read at random. With five teams of 6-8 students each, each student should get a chance to answer 2-3 definitions/clues. The definitions/clues are linked below. The winning team is awarded class points.
Homework
Following the lesson closure, two homework assignments are given:
• Students will read the selection from Hitler’s 1920 speech, “The Nazi Party’s Goals,” found on page 829 of their textbooks (also
found here in the textbook link under “Student Engagement”). With at least a paragraph each, students will answer the two
associated questions in the text (in the future, students will analyze the change in Hitler’s audacity over the years, using this
1920 speech, the introductory activity’s selection from 1924’s Mein Kampf, and future readings about Hitler during WWII).
• Modeling the graphic organizers made in class, and using knowledge from the past lesson about Stalin (and the textbook as
source material), students will create a Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting Hitler with Stalin.
• Students will read the selection from Hitler’s 1920 speech, “The Nazi Party’s Goals,” found on page 829 of their textbooks (also
found here in the textbook link under “Student Engagement”). With at least a paragraph each, students will answer the two
associated questions in the text (in the future, students will analyze the change in Hitler’s audacity over the years, using this
1920 speech, the introductory activity’s selection from 1924’s Mein Kampf, and future readings about Hitler during WWII).
• Modeling the graphic organizers made in class, and using knowledge from the past lesson about Stalin (and the textbook as
source material), students will create a Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting Hitler with Stalin.
Assessment
Formative • The student groups’ introductory lesson assignment, the evaluation of the Mein Kampf passage, will be collected
and graded to assess the students’ comprehension of the reading. Extra credit points will be given for correct
guesses of Hitler as the author. They will be annotated, copied for all group members, and passed back.
• The student groups’ Venn Diagram graphic organizers comparing/contrasting the two textbook samples will also be
collected, graded, annotated, copied, and passed back.
• Both homework assignments will be collected the following class meeting and graded. They will demonstrate
understanding of the assigned reading and cross-lesson learning within the unit, respectively.
Summative • The class-collaborated comparison/contrast of the two textbook selections (on the large butcher paper poster) will
informally assess the classwide understanding of the information presented about Hitler, as well as assess the
class’s ability to critically differentiate multiple sources of like information.
• The lesson-closing vocabulary game will summatively assess the absorption of important names and terms
throughout the lesson.
and graded to assess the students’ comprehension of the reading. Extra credit points will be given for correct
guesses of Hitler as the author. They will be annotated, copied for all group members, and passed back.
• The student groups’ Venn Diagram graphic organizers comparing/contrasting the two textbook samples will also be
collected, graded, annotated, copied, and passed back.
• Both homework assignments will be collected the following class meeting and graded. They will demonstrate
understanding of the assigned reading and cross-lesson learning within the unit, respectively.
Summative • The class-collaborated comparison/contrast of the two textbook selections (on the large butcher paper poster) will
informally assess the classwide understanding of the information presented about Hitler, as well as assess the
class’s ability to critically differentiate multiple sources of like information.
• The lesson-closing vocabulary game will summatively assess the absorption of important names and terms
throughout the lesson.
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS,
STRIVING READERS, AND STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
For English Learners, striving readers, and students with special needs (as appropriate), the teacher will provide at the beginning of class (but they must be put away during the lesson closure activity) lists of vocabulary terms with simpler-language definitions and imagery. Students of those categories will be grouped with helpful, strong-reading students to scaffold the reading of texts throughout the lesson. The teacher will monitor those students to ensure comprehension of readings. As per the homework assignments (when the teacher is not physically there to help), a Spanish translation of the textbook reading will be made available, and a Venn Diagram of Hitler and Stalin will be started for them.
Lesson Resources
lesson introduction
content delivery student engagement, homework (student textbook) |
source of excerpt from Mein Kampf
McDougal Littell ClassZone ebook: World History (Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), Chapter 31, Section 3, topics “Hitler Rises to Power in Germany” and "Hitler Becomes Chancellor" (pages 911-914) Holt, Rinehart, and Winston ebook: Goldberg et al., World History: Human Legacy (Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), Chapter 27, Section 4, topic “Hitler’s Germany” (pages 826- 827, 829) |