Digital Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: From Enlightenment to Tyranny

Name: Ruben Nunez

Content Area: Social Science

Grade Level: 10

CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):

10.2 Students compare and contrast the Glorious Revolution of England, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution and their
enduring effects worldwide on the political expectations for self-government and individual liberty.

1. Compare the main ideas of philosophers and their effects on the democratic revolutions in England, France, the United States, and Latin America (e.g.,
John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simn Bolvar, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison).
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.
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.
Big Ideas:

a) The role of political ideologies in shaping history.

b) How different ideologies can create vastly different societies.
Unit Goals and Objectives:

1. Students will identify the factors that led countries like Germany, Italy, and Russia to adopting totalitarian ideologies over that of Classical Liberalism.
Students will compare the nature of Fascism and Communism, recognize their similarities and differences, and describe the various events that took place as
a result of these ideologies taking hold in Europe.
2. Students will be able to identify the various characteristics of Liberalism, Communism, and Fascism.
3. Students will be able to identify the various ideas and philosophers associated with Classical Liberalism, and the subsequent historical events influenced by
the Enlightenment.
Unit Summary:

The primary goal of this unit is to highlight the relationship between political ideology and history, or in other words, to underline the role of political ideology
in shaping history. This unit will explore the ideas and figures behind the age of the Enlightenment and their influence on the American and French
Revolutions. It will examine Classical Liberalism as the leading ideology for promoting individual liberty. As we move further into the unit we will explore some
of the reasons why certain societies in Europe moved away from the Classical Liberal ideals of the Enlightenment to totalitarian ones in the forms of Fascism

and Communism. This unit will explore these two totalitarian ideologies as they developed in Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Soviet Union -marking their similarities and differences, and their common opposition to Classical Liberal thought. We will also cover the atrocities committed by Nazi
Germany and Communist Russia.
The unit will be broken up into three lessons. The first will be a teacher lecture. The second will be a Webercise. And the third will be a graphic organizer
assignment. Assessments will be administered throughout the course of the unit. Entry level, formative, and summative assessments will be made. The entry
level assessment will consist of tapping into students' prior knowledge by asking a question about the unit topic. Five formative assessments will be made.
These will include a Webercise, a Jeopardy game, a hierarchical style graphic organizer, a compare and contrast graphic organizer, and finally, mid-lesson
questions. Two summative assessments will be made. These will include an info-graphic poster presentation and a power-point presentation.
Students will have access to unit resources in order to supplement their learning.
Assessment Plan:
Entry-Level: Students will be given an entry level

Formative: The first assignment in the formative

Summative: There will be two summative assessments

assessment to evaluate their prior knowledge of the

content. To do this I will engage students in a classroom
discussion in which they will share what images or
connotations come to mind when they hear the words
Liberalism, Fascism, and Communism.

assessment will be a Webercise. This is a straightforward

assignment that directs students to multiple web sources.
The web sources will help them answer a series of basic
questions regarding the three ideologies of Liberalism,
Fascism, and Communism. The second formative
assessment will involve splitting the classroom into two
groups, where by which students will face off in a game of
Jeopardy to answer questions about our three ideologies.
For the third formative assessment students will create a
graphic organizer that identifies the natural and political
philosophies of the Enlightenment, as well as the ideas of
the various Enlightenment philosophers. The fourth
formative assessment will also come in the form of a
graphic organizer, but this time it will ask students to
compare and contrast the ideologies of Communism and
Fascism. The last formative assessment will be administered
during lecture. There will be three points within the time of
the lecture where I will ask students thought provoking
questions about our three ideologies.

which will allow students to tie in the "big ideas" of the unit
into their learning. The first summative assessment will be
an info-graphic poster that presents materials on our three
ideologies and how they have shaped history. These will be
presented to the class. The second summative assessment
will be a power-point presentation which will give insight to
what life would be like under Liberal, Communist, and
Fascist societies. Grading rubrics will be handed out so that
students know what to cover in their summative assessment
assignments.

1) Question/Discussion What images and words come to mind

when you hear the word Liberalism. What about for Fascism and
Communism?

1) Webercise Characteristics of Liberalism, Fascism, and

Communism.
2) Game Jeopardy (People, Fascism, Communism, Liberalism,
and Events
3) Graphic Organizer Define the Enlightenment and list the
various contributions of natural and political philosophers of
the Enlightenment period.
4) Graphic Organizer - compare and contrast Communism and
Fascism.
5) Three mid-lesson assessment questions from lesson plan.

1) Info-graphic poster presentation that highlights the various

roles that Liberalism, Fascism, and Communism played in
shaping history.
2) PowerPoint presentation that demonstrates what life would be
like in Liberal, Communist, and Fascist societies.

Lesson 1
Student Learning Objective:

1. Students will identify the

factors that led countries
like Germany, Italy, and
Russia to adopting
totalitarian ideologies over
that of Classical Liberalism.
2) Students will compare
the nature of Fascism and
Communism, recognize
their similarities and
differences, and describe
the various events that
took place as a result of
these ideologies taking
hold in Europe.

Acceptable Evidence:
1) After WWI countries like
Germany and Italy
experienced devastating
economic and political
instability. As a result, they
adopted totalitarian like
governments in order to
create order and stability. In
Russia, Communists leaders
felt that the free market
ideals of Liberalism led to
inequality and conditions that
resembled serfdom for the
workers. They created a
totalitarian system in which
they would attempt to do
away with all forms of
exploitation and oppression.
2) Both Fascism and
Communism are inherently
totalitarian. The rise of
Fascism led to the
rearmament of the Rhineland,
the annexation of
Czechoslovakia and Poland,
WWII, and the Holocaust. The
Rise of Communism led to the
Russian Revolution, political
purges, the creation of
Gulags, and the invasion and
annexation of Eastern
European territories by the
Soviet Union.

Instructional Strategies:
X Communication
Collection
Collaboration
X Presentation
Organization
Interaction

Lesson Activities:
Lesson 1 will be a teacher lecture. For this I have created a power point
presentation for the class. The lecture itself will include three formative
assessment questions. Each question will follow a point in the lecture where I
have wrapped up one of the main topics. So for example, after finishing the
section on Fascism on the power point, I will follow it up with a relevant question.
The same will be done for Communism. And the last question will ask a question
relating to the lecture as a whole. Guide notes will be handed out to help students
follow along and to highlight the main points of the lecture.

Lesson 2
Student Learning Objective:

1) Students will be able to

identify the various
characteristics of
Liberalism, Communism,
and Fascism.

Acceptable Evidence:
1) Liberalism: freedom of the
individual, individuality,
individual over the state, free
market of ideas and goods,
separation between church
and state, reason and logic
over tradition and authority.

Instructional Strategies:
Communication
X Collection
Collaboration
Presentation
Organization
X Interaction

Lesson Activities:

Instructional Strategies:
Communication
Collection
X Collaboration
Presentation
X Organization
Interaction

Lesson Activities:
For this assignment students will use an online mind mapping tool like Popplet of
Mindmeister to create a graphic organizer on the Enlightenment. This assignment
will help students achieve content standards by introducing them to the ideas of
the various Enlightenment thinkers. While the Webercise introduced students to
ideas of Classical Liberalism and the Enlightenment, this assignment will
introduce them to the historical figures behind those ideas.

Communism: mass movement

of Communism began in the
early 1900s in Russia, based
on Marxist theories,
dictatorship of proletariat
means that a powerful elite of
authoritarians regulate the
means of production for
society.

The purpose of this webercise is to get students familiar with the ideologies of
Classical Liberalism, Fascism, and Communism. Thus, the webercise will be
divided into three sections: Classical Liberalism, Fascism, and Communism. Each
section contains a series of questions and a link to a website that contains the
answers to those questions. For Classical Liberalism I have included a short video
that explains the main concepts of Liberalism. For Fascism and Communism I have
included interactive timelines that go over some of the ideas behind those two
ideologies.

Fascism: Mass movement for

Fascism began after WW1,
totalitarian in that the leader
and the inner party have
control of all aspects of life,
rejects Liberalism, personal
identities are tied to race and
nation, anti-Semetic.
Lesson 3
Student Learning Objective:

1) Students will be able to

identify the various ideas
and philosophers
associated with Classical
Liberalism, and the
subsequent historical
events influenced by the
Enlightenment.

Acceptable Evidence:
Also known as the Age of
Reason, the Enlightenment
was a period in 17th and 18th
century Europe where society
and philosophers began to
stress the ideas of reason and
individuality over tradition
and authority. There were
two types of Enlightenment
philosophers. The first were
natural philosophers who
made inquiries about nature
and the observable world.

Students will watch the video below and take careful notes on the figures
associated with the Enlightenment, as well as their individual contributions to
society. Students will create their own graphic organizer, which will define the
Enlightenment, identify its characteristics, and list the various Enlightenment
figures and their contributions to scientific and political thought. Students will be
expected to incorporate pictures into their graphic organizers. They may work on
the assignment with a classmate but everyone will be responsible for turning in

The second were political

philosophers who looked into
questions about human
freedom and how humans
should be governed.
Influential natural
philosophers include Isaac
Newton (laws of gravity and
motion). Political
philosophers include John
Locke (people have say in
who governs; Life, liberty,
property); Voltaire (free
speech); Montesquieu
(separation of powers);
Thomas Jefferson (adopted
many of these Enlightenment
values.
The ideals of the
Enlightenment would end up
influencing the American and
French Revolutions.
Unit Resources:
Popplet
Intel
Rubistar
Weebly
CSUF Resource Site
How to embed Popplet into Weebly
Dr. Kristen Shands YouTube page

Useful Websites:
Video on Classical Liberalism
John Locke
Montesquieu
Thomas Jefferson
Glorious Revolution
French Revolution
American Revolution
Ideals of the Enlightenment
Rise of totalitarianism
Rise of Fascism and Communism

their own graphic organizer. Students will have three days to complete this
assignment.

Compare and Contrast Fascism and Communism

History of Fascism
History of Communism
Soviet Gulags
Hitler Speech Calling for Everyones Absolute Submission to State
Video on Figures of the Enlightenment