Unit 5

Lesson #4
PLANNING
I. Rationale
The French Revolution marks a time in history where changes in society were triggered by the
growing concerns of citizens in regard to the country's financial crisis and inequalities
established by the heirarchial Old Order. This lesson takes part within a Unit series that aims to
answer the essential question: how does change both help and poison a society? In building
toward a conclusion for the essential question, this lesson is designed for students to identify and
expand on the causes and events of a the revolution taking place in France during 1500s-1800's.
Students will practice their reading comprehension and creative writing skills to identify,
describe, and contrast different points of view in regard to conditions in France leading up to and
during the revolution.

II. Assumptions about the lesson, content or students

Students will come to this lesson having knowledge of:
1. Transformations occurring in Eruope during this era, including exploration, the printing press,
expansion, the scientific revolution and enlightement ideas. This prerequisite knowledge will
help students understand the context of Europe to understand developments in France.
2. Prior developments resulting in the changing nature of what is knowledge and where to get
knowledge from.
3. Practice with thinking and writing from a particular perspective, most recently from the
American Revolution lesson. These skills are essential for this lesson's activity.
Students may have difficulty with:
1. We have never done the “Two Voices” lesson before, so it may take awhile explaining
the outcomes for the assignment. It's important to spend time modeling the sample I
made up for students to see and ask questions before hand.
Students have had experience and input with:
1. We have done creative writing before which had positive outcomes. Students like
pretending to take on roles of others and make use out of sharing their writing with
peers. Also, students have in the past liked sharing their views on current issues and
therefore the warm-up part of the lesson will give them this opportunity again and help
them connect the material to their ideas.

III. Learning Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Identify the characteristics of pre-revolution France and explain how components of
the Old Order and absolutism led to the development of a revolution triggered by resentment
and the spread of enlightenment ideas among the Third Estate.
2.Synthesize causes and events of the revolution by writing a perspective piece that
distinguishes the outlooks of a member from the Third Estate with that of King Louis or
Marie Antoinette.
Alignment with National/State Standards:
• Analyze the economic, political and social transformations in Europe by explaining how
Democratic ideas and Revolutionary conflicts influenced European society, noting their
influence on education, family life and the legal position of women. (WHG 6.3.1)

V. Specific Design:
Warm-up, recitation, pair or independent reading, checking for understanding, writing activity,
peer sampling, in-class sharing (if time).

VI. Materials Needed:

Doc Cam, Smart Board, Prezi power point presentation, Youtube, Human Legacy textbook,
paper & pencils.

SPECIFIC LESSON DESIGN (in narrative format)

Lesson Outline (70 minutes)
1Introduce “hook” of lesson through student's daily journal warm-up questioning. The warm-up
for this lesson will ask students to brainstorm the following;
(1) issues currently happening in society they feel strongly either for or against.
(2) identify the groups involved in this issue (those targeted and those that target).
(3) predict factors that may cause resistance toward this issue.
2.Volunteers share.
3.Read about the Old Order, causes and events of the French Revolution in small groups.
4.Brief Prezi power point going over major concepts, recitation style.
5.Go over reading and check for questions.
6.Introduce the “Two Voices” assignment by presenting a model of the format on the Doc Cam
for class to see.
7.Have students work in on assigment indepentently at first and set time aside for peer sampling.
8.Have students share their writing for the class, time permitting.
9.Debrief/Closure ,seminar style.

III. Closure
Have students reflect on why assignment was built to incorporate two persepctives looking at the
same event. Ask how change was viewed differently by social groups, and whether the change
was more positive than negative overall. Ask students how it relates to their warm-up questions.

IV. Assignment Description

Two Voices is designed to engage students in their own creative thinking and writing as well as
to display their understanding of the content. Because working on literacy is important for
content learning, this gives students practice with their reading comprehension and writing. It
pushes students to think about the content more deeply as they write about certain events from
the viewpoints of two different voices; it juxtapositions members of differing social classes by
presenting reality in opposing ways to help students understand the significance of perspective
when thinking about historical and current issues.

V.Accommodations
Have students summarize each event labeled on a graphic organizer so they can visualize it.
Have students choose one event and write how a peasant would view it vs. how the King would
view it in a chart format.

VI.Reflection