CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Title: Reign of Terror DBQ Date: 10/27/2016

How were the rights of French
Unit Central Historical
citizens affected during each phase
Question(s):
of the French Revolution?

Subject / Course: The French Revolution / World History

Grade: 10th Grade
Lesson Duration: 57 Minutes

Content Learning Objective (content and product):

e.g., students will be able to [content analysis] by [product and activity].

After completing the DBQ Hook Activity and discussing it as a class, participating in a
guided practice of analyzing a DBQ Document, analyzing a DBQ document with a group
of their peers and then discussing the answers as a class, and discussing how the DBQ
documents that they analyzed can be applied to the concept in the hook activity students
will be able to identify two reasons why the Reign of Terror was either justified or not
justified with 100% accuracy.

Historical Thinking Learning Objective (thinking skill and product):

e.g., students will be able to weigh [historical thinking learning objective] by [activity].
Students will be able to interpret the evidence from DBQ documents in order to determine
whether the Reign of Terror was justified or not justified by reading and annotating the
documents as a class with guided practice, and then doing the same with their peers
followed by a class discussion to check for their understanding.

Historical Thinking Skill, California Content, and Common Core Standards Addressed:

Historical Thinking Skill: Evidence and Interpretation

California Content Standard: 10.2.4 - Explain how the ideology of the French
Revolution led France to develop from constitutional monarchy to democratic
despotism to the Napoleonic empire.
Common Core Standard:
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies Grades 9-10: 2 Determine a
theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development

Narrative Summary of Tasks / Actions:

1. Anticipatory Set: Students will work on DBQ Hook Activity individually, and then
we will go over their answers with a class discussion about the reasoning they
chose (15 minutes).
2. Teacher Input: I will briefly explain to students how the concept of importance of
individual vs. society is connected with The Reign of Terror, and then we will
analyze DBQ Document B as a class (15 minutes).
3. Student Activity and Investigation: Students will analyze Document C individually
or with help from their table group if they wish, and then we will discuss the
answers to the analysis questions as a class (20 minutes).
4. Closure: As a class, we will have a discussion about how the DBQ documents that
they analyzed today connected with the concept from the warm up that they also

1
 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

examined earlier in the lesson (5 minutes).

Materials / Equipment:

Copies of DBQ Hook Activity sheets for all students

Copies of DBQ document sheets for all students
ELMO
Projector
Equity note cards that I use to randomize student selection in class discussions

Inquiry-Based Lesson Plan for History-Social Science

1. Anticipatory Set Time: 15 minutes

DBQ Hook Activity:

Students will be given a sheet of paper with five different scenarios listed on it that they
will be asked to decide whether the individual or the society should be valued as more
important in each of the given scenarios. They will then be asked to write their reasoning
in the right column. They will be told that they can discuss the scenarios with their table
group, however they will need to make sure their answers are completed when we
discuss it as a class (approx. 7 minutes).
I will lead a class discussion where I will call on random students to ask them what they
have for each answer, and then call on one more student to either agree and provide a
different reasoning or disagree (approx. 8 minutes, more if students get extra engaged in
class discussion to get them connected with the material).

2. Central Historical Question for Lesson Time:

Was the Reign of Terror necessary in order for the French Revolution to take place?

3. Teacher Input (delivery of historical context) Time: 15 minutes

I will transition to the analysis of the DBQ documents about the Reign of Terror during the
French Revolution by explaining to students how the hook activity that they just
completed about thinking about the role of the individual and society in various scenarios
is related to the Reign of Terror. I will explain to them how the essay that they will be
writing for the DBQ will be answering our central question for the DBQ, which is directly
related to the question of whether the individual or societies needs should be focused on
more.
Next, students will get the DBQ documents that we will analyze today. I will review with
them how we analyzed Document A during the previous lesson by randomly calling on

2
 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

students to check their understanding. We will then go through Document B as a class. I

will show them which parts are significant by annotating it on the ELMO, and then I will
randomly call on students to find the answers to the questions at the bottom of the
document.
I will read and provide students context on the contents of Document C, and then they will
be able to work on the material with their table groups as I circulate to ensure their
understanding.

4. Student Activity and Investigation (w/

Time: 20 minutes
differentiation)
After I have given them a context of Document C, students will have an opportunity to
work on the material inside it independently and answer the questions in it. First they will
be told that they are expected to annotate the document themselves, next they will need
to answer the questions by talking to the members of their table group if they need help. I
will circulate around the room while they are doing this, and check with each group to
make sure they understand how to analyze the document correctly. After approximately 7
minutes I will refocus the classes attention to me at the front of the room, and I will start
randomly calling on students to check that they were able to find the correct answers to
the questions on the document using the text. I will also have them identify where they
found the answer on the text.
Depending on how students performed with analyzing Document C I will either let them
work independently again on Document D, or go over Document D with them as a class
like I did with Document B if they performed poorly at analyzing Document C on their own.

5. Lesson Assessment (w/ differentiation) Time:

I will be able to assess students prior knowledge of the concept of importance of

individual vs. society when they do the hook activity during the warm up. This will be a
very important check for student understanding for this DBQ that students will be working
on over the course of the next few days, because this concept is something that will be an
integral part of students essays. I will be able to assess their understanding of it as I
circulate around the room to look at the answers they fill out as theyre working, and also
when I call on students randomly to share their answers.
I will be able to assess students ability to interpret and analyze primary and secondary
source documents when I do a guided practice with them for Document B, as well as
when they do work individually with Document C. By letting them work under different
levels of scaffolding I will be able to check how strong their skills are in this area.
Finally I will be able to see how well they are able to connect all of the content from the
hook and various documents they analyzed together when we have a class discussion for
closure. This will let me know how deeply they understood the concepts in the reading.

6. Closure Time: 5 minutes

As a way to ensure that students comprehended the text, the central historical question of
the lesson, and understand what they will be answering in their DBQ I will go over the
main concept of the Reign of Terror that we discussed in this lesson. Then I will randomly
call on students and ask them to identify something from the documents we studied that
could be connected to the concept of the importance of individual vs. society.

3
 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

7. Student Reflection (metacognition) Time:

The closer activity will provide students an opportunity to synthesize the information that
they learned while doing the document analysis and the real-life situations that they
considered during the warm up activity. By connecting it, students will be given a chance
to think about how they feel about these topics, which they will be able to apply to their
DBQ essay in a future lesson.