Lesson Plan Template

Subject: _________Causes of World War I________________ Grade: ______9________

Teacher: _______________________

Thinking About Planning: 1. Common Core Learning Standard(s) Addressed:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic

aspects of history/social science.

2. Learning Target(s):

Objective: Determine the meaning of words used in a text and analyze the use of these terms in political cartoons to draw inferences.

Goal: The student will determine the meaning of terms in a reading about the causes of World War I. The student will use this background

knowledge to make inferences about the meaning of political cartoons about World War I with the aid of a graphic organizer.

3. Academic Language:

There are content-specific terms that may be difficult for the student. These terms include the four main causes of World War I:

“imperialism,” “militarism”, “alliances” and “nationalism.” (The reading includes “crises,” but this is not necessary for the lesson and will

be left out. Also, the causes are usually taught as the M.A.I.N causes of the war.) World War I is covered in the 8th grade curriculum and

the student should have covered these terms at that time. However, it is likely that he may not remember them or may not have a clear

understanding. In addition, these terms have meanings that are specific to social studies. I will ensure the student understands each of these

terms during the reading by pausing after each section and asking him to explain what each means in his own words. It is important to

confirm this understanding as it will allow him to make inferences when looking at the political cartoons. This will mean that the student

needs some discussion skills to demonstrate understanding.

The student will be expected to identify what direct information is depicted in the cartoons, relate this to background knowledge he gained from the article, and synthesize this information together in order to make an inference about what the author of the cartoon is implying.

Thinking About Instruction 4. Engagement/Motivation

World War I is a popular topic among students already. In addition, I will let the student know at the beginning that the purpose of reading

the article is so that we can work with political cartoons. Cartoons are a fun way to confirm that the student understood the content and the

reading.

If I have the same student that I worked with before, he was covering the Industrial Revolution at that time. He should be close to or

already covering World War I. This will provide links to his current content and help with engagement as he will see it as helpful.

5. Explicit Instruction

Direct Instruction- THE THINK ALOUD (I do).

I will begin the lesson by asking the student if he knows what “inference” means. I will say, “An inference is a conclusion that we can

make by using evidence. Sometimes this process can be hard, but it helps to have background knowledge. For example, when we look at

political cartoons, we are often using background knowledge to make inferences in order to understand what the author is saying in the

cartoon.”

I will confirm that the student understands the meaning of inference and set the purpose of the lesson, “Today, we are going to use a

graphic organizer to help us understand how we make inferences when we look at political cartoons from World War I.” I will introduce the graphic organizer by reading the titles of each of the three columns and explaining what we will be writing in them and

the purpose of doing so.

I will saw, “Before we can do that, we are going to read some information about the causes of World War I. This will allow us to fill out the

‘Making Inferences’ graphic organizer with things we know in the ‘In my head’ column.”

Next I will give a copy of the reading “Causes of World War I” to the student. We will read this together out loud. After each cause, I will

ask the student to explain them in his own words to confirm understanding.

Next, I will give a copy of the graphic organizer to the student and say, “I am going to show how we fill out each of the columns by moving

from left to right.”

I will look at the cartoon of several men grabbing at parts of the globe and holding bags labelled “grab bag.” I will think aloud, “I can see

that the men are…” and right this in the first column.

I will think aloud, “My background knowledge from the article makes me think that this is about imperialism” and I will note this in the

next column.

I will think aloud to come to the understanding that, “Greediness over having colonies led to the war.” I will write this down.

If necessary, I will complete another political cartoon. I will determine whether the student followed based on body language and

questioning.

Guided Practice- .

I will let the student pick the next cartoon to use and ask, “What is going on in this cartoon?” We will write this in the first column, “Story

Clues.”

I will then ask, “What cause do you think this cartoon addressing?”

We will note this in the column, “In my head.” I will then ask the student, “What do you think the author is trying to get across?” I will continue to ask questions and refer to the

information noted in the first two columns to encourage him to make inferences on his own.

I will complete another cartoon with the student if needed. (I have more than is needed for the lesson.)

Independent practice

I will ask the student to choose a cartoon and try to complete the chart on his own.

I will ask him to explain what he wrote afterwards and check for understanding.

If time permits, I will continue with another cartoon.

Thinking About Assessment: 6.Type of assessment

The assessment for this lesson will be formative and the success of the lesson will be determined by the ability of the student to use the

graphic organizer and understand the meaning behind the political cartoons.

I will ask questions to guide the student’s understanding throughout the lesson. This will also allow for assessment throughout the lesson.

7. Resources/Materials:

A reading handout, “Causes of World War I”

Copies of several political cartoons

Writing utensils

8. Reflection: Description

I feel that this lesson was very successful in practicing making inferences and teaching the content. Inference making can be

difficult for students, but the graphic organizer helps student connect background knowledge to information found in a text or

political cartoon.

I did not have the student that I had been working with before. Instead, I worked with a student, Tamara, that I met the first week in

Poughkeepsie. Like before, a friend of hers wished to stay with her in the lesson. Tamara was engaged in the lesson, but her friend

was eating oranges. She participated in the lesson and definitely offered insight, but she did not write down much as her hands were

occupied.

I chose this lesson because I have seen key concepts like the causes of World War I often taught simply through memorization of

the acronym, “M.A.I.N.” and feel that students can miss a deeper understanding. In addition, inference making is an important

critical thinking skill especially in social studies.

The reading was at an appropriate level for the student. She struggled with names (“Von Schlieffen”), but seemed to have little

difficulty with understanding the reading. Also, she started to remember learning about the causes as she was reading them. She was

able to explain them in her own words and make connections to her prior knowledge. This is important because it allowed me to focus on the political cartoons without much scaffolding.

As we moved through the lesson, she very easily recognized the cause being depicted in each cartoon. She also was able to make

inferences in her own words. For example, she connected the cartoon of people following a leader off a cliff under the banner,

“Nationalism” to her mom telling her, “If your friend jumps off a bridge, it doesn’t mean you follow.” After I asked her more about

it, she told me that the cartoon was saying, “Be careful who you follow” because the leader could a bad leader.

She also looked at the cartoon of the men standing in a line saying several things including, “If you make a move I’ll

down the line. She recognized this was showing alliances and said wrote, “Fighting for others will cause big problems.”

Overall, the girls seemed to be having fun and we were laughing and joking throughout the lesson. This helped the lesson move

along.

Analysis

I had done a lesson about the Ukraine crisis last year looking at political cartoons and made some planning mistakes. This was

mostly because the student did not have the proper background knowledge. Also, he struggled to understand some of the cartoons

because they included Putin and he did not have any idea who he was. Further, I believe he knew nothing about the Cold War

(many teachers do not reach the Cold War or have to rush through it at the end of the year). This lesson was much more successful

as I planned more carefully. I chose cartoons that were clearer and did not rely on much knowledge of complicated issues. I also

included an easy reading for background information and explained clearly why we were doing the reading.

I think I did a good job of confirming understanding throughout the lesson. I asked a lot of questions to guide the student’s thinking

and spent less time giving her the answers. If I did, it would be to clarify what she already said or build on it.

I definitely observed from this lesson how important background knowledge is to teaching political cartoons (or other texts for that

matter.) Making inferences relies heavily on making connections.

I was able to assess student understanding and engagement from her body language and confidence when she spoke. She was

observably having fun and joking around the cartoons with her friend, who would interject with opinions throughout the lesson.

Suggestion

I would like to challenge the student more with more difficult material, but I have been hesitant because I am not sure which student

to expect. This would change if I work with a student in my placement for the next lesson.

I would like to have the student refer to the text more when making inferences about the cartoons. I think it would help with

understanding if connections are made directly to the text as well.

There was a point that the friend was distracting Tamara towards the end by talking about a boy. This was also because some of the

other lessons had finished and they were getting ready to leave. I was able to manage this, by asking them to focus on finishing the

last cartoon and then they could go. This worked, but I could work on dealing with this better. Perhaps, the last cartoon was not

completely necessary for the lesson as she had already completed one on her own.

Causes of World War One Although it was the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand that led to the outbreak of world

war one in August 1914, the actual causes of the war were more complicated and not confined to a single cause.

Alliances

An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies. A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first.

Imperialism Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa. Pink = British

Blue = French Red = German

Militarism Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on Germany.

Nationalism Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. The Congress of Vienna, held after the Napoleonic wars left both Germany and Italy as divided states. It was nationalism the re-unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. France was angry because the settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war had given Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the states in which they lived.

Crises The Moroccan Crisis - In 1904 Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted independence and were supported by Germany. War was avoided, but in 1911, the Germans were again protesting against French possession of Morocco. Britain supported France and Germany was persuaded to back down for part of French Congo.

The Bosnian Crisis - In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. In 1911 and 1912 there was war in the Balkans when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary intervened and forced Serbia to give up land. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.

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