270 Lesson Plan Template

The Failure at Versailles

Name: Patrick Ralston
Lab Instructor: Ji Eun Lim
Lesson topic:
The focus of this lesson will be the impact the Treaty of Versailles had on Europe and
Germany. This topic is related to my course theme since the Treaty humiliated and
wreaked havoc on the Germany economy which allowed extremists to rise to power.
Indiana Standard(s): IDOE
WH.6.3: Examine the events and developments of the interwar period and their impact
on the beginning of WWII including the impact of WWI on society, the Great
Depression, and the rise of totalitarianism.
WH.6.4: Identify the causes and key events of World War II and analyze the impact this
war had on the global community.
The standards that this lesson focuses on the IDOE standard 6.3 and 6.4 of world history.
The standards reflect my course theme since both standards impart look at the
developments during the interwar period.
Target audience/students:
This lesson is designed for a high school history course for students from grades 9-12.
Some of the characteristics that might impact how the students approach this lesson are,
some of the students would be seniors who really just want to get through their last year
of high school which can cause them to not really care about the material. Students may
also differ in their own knowledge about the material. These challenges will be addressed
with the students being broken into small groups (would suggest that the instructor
choses the groups of 2-3 to help those with differing levels of knowledge being put
together) and choose a different part of the treaty to research and create notes on the
aspect.
Lesson objectives:
With references students will be able to explain the importance and impacts of the Treaty
of Versailles in one to two typed page(s) with no spelling and grammatical errors.
Learning environment:
This lesson is designed to take place in a classroom setting over three days, the ideal size
of the class size for this lesson would be around 30 students. The benefits this offers is
that it allows the lesson to be broadly used in almost any school, a challenge this location
presents are that it is so standard. With students being in school all day going from
classroom to classroom it is likely to cause them to become bored in the setting. Another
challenge that can occur with this lesson is that the ideal class size is a bit large, to help
work around this if a class is smaller the instructor can decide to make on group a bit
larger and assign them multiple section of the treaty of Versailles.
Materials needed for the lesson:
Laptops (either students or school supplied)
A copy of the Treaty of Versailles (either physical or online)
A projector
Access to the internet
A shared class google drive
Procedures:
Day 1
1. Students will need to bring their laptops to class (if none are provided by the school
then the instructor will need the students to bring their own)
2. The lesson will start with the showing of a video that gives a brief overview of the
treaty. (link to video can be found in the recourses)
3. Students will be broken into groups of 2-3 (try to end up with around 14 groups),
each group will select a separate part of the treaty to research and take notes on. The
notes should cover the main points of the part of the treaty and what the effects of the
section was.
a. Two recourses will be provided for the students to use in their research, and
online copy of the treaty as well as an interactive power point. This power
point will be broken into 14 different parts detailing the different aspects of
the treaty covering the basics of each part. (while the PP dose cover the bare
bones students should be encouraged/required to read the online document
and use it to further their notes for the particular part.) link to online copy of
the treaty can be found in the recourses)
4. If groups finish their research before class is up, then have them add to a class google
presentation on the treaty of Versailles and put their different parts in the correct
order.
Day 2
1. The beginning of the second day will be given for any groups that still need to finish
their slides on google presentation.
2. After all of groups have finished then the first group will present on their part of the
treaty and the second group after them etc. (students should take notes during the
presentations)
Day 3
1. The beginning of the third day will be given to any groups that still need to present on
their part of the treaty.
2. After all groups have presented the class will come together and discuss with the
instructor about what they have been learning about over the last two days.
3. Then the students will be assigned a paper explaining the terms of the treaty as well
as how they shaped the world during the interwar period and how this helped to set
the stage for the second world war. This paper should be typed, 2-3 page(s), 12 Times
New Roman and double spaced, this assignment should be emailed to the instructor
by 11:59pm that night.
Assessment:
 For this lesson students will be asked to write a 1-2 page(s), 12 Times New Roman,
double spaced paper, explaining the importance and impact the Treaty of Versailles had
on Germany and Europe.
Students will be scored out of 25 on their ability to state and explain the terms of the
treaty (5points) as well as how they shaped the world during the interwar period (10
points) and how this helped to set the stage for the second world war (10 points).

Resources:
Brief summary video of the treaty
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jycVFL8CNM
Online Treaty of Versailles:
o https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000002-0043.pdf