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WW2/Holocaust Unit – Social Studies 11 (Grade 12 – Twentieth Century History)

-Short overview of “Treaty of Versailles” and “Article 231 (War Guilt Clause)”
-Short history Weimar Republic and the “German Revolution” (direct contribution to the rise of Hitler/Nazism)
-Overview of Causes and Consequences of WW2/Holocaust
-Rise and fall of the Third Reich
-Causes and Consequences/Ethics of the Holocaust
-Ethics of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
-Canada’s Role in WW2
-Major Battles/Attacks of WW2
-Pacific Front/Japanese involvement
-Eastern Front/Russia
Rationale: (context and why unit matters)

This unit will focus on an overview of WW2 and include a focus on the human side of war (what did the Germans think was happening, effects on the home front, soldier
experiences and the ethical consequences of mechanized murder of other humans). Students will complete a variety of assignments looking at the causes and
consequences of various aspects of the War. The culminating project will be comprehensive assignment called a “Soldiers Service File” that students will complete at the
end of Unit. The File will include battle summaries, letters, and a soldier’s biography. The soldier will be chosen from the “Canadian Letters and Images Project”.

Culminating tasks or events to celebrate or bring together the learning:

-Soldiers Service File Project

STAGE 1: Desired Results (what will students be able to understand? know? do? ( write ,say, do)

Core Competencies: (Big picture reminders)

Communication Thinking Personal & Social

  Connect and engage with others (to share and Creative Positive Personal & Social Identity  Well-being
develop ideas) Social Responsibility
 Novelty and value  Relationships and cultural contexts
 Acquire, interpret, and present information
 Generating ideas  Personal values and choices  Contributing to community and caring for
(includes inquiries)
 Developing ideas  Personal strengths and abilities the environment
 Collaborate to plan, carry out, and review
Critical Personal Awareness & Responsibility  Solving problems in peaceful ways
constructions and activities
 Analyze and critique  Valuing diversity
 Explain/recount and reflect on experiences and  Self-determination
  Building relationships
accomplishments Question and  Self-regulation
investigate
 Develop and design

Big Ideas: Important/Essential Questions:

-Nationalist movements can unite people in common causes or lead to -How did treaties, alliances, and political structure contribute to WW2?
UNDERSTAND

intense conflict between different groups. -What was the impact on the home front (women, Japanese people
-The rapid development and proliferation of communication and (internment), Germans living in Canada)?
transportation technologies in the 20th century led to profound changes in -Was the decision by the United States to drop an Atomic Bomb justified?
personal and national identities. -What was Canada’s contribution to WW2?
-The breakdown of long-standing imperialist structures created new -What makes some people resist and others obey authority? (Bystanders,
economic and political systems. Resistance movements)
-What contributes to the decision to commit genocide?
-Who was responsible for the atrocity of the Holocaust?
-Who was involved in the War and Why?
Curricular Competencies:

-Assess the significance of people, locations, events, and developments, and compare varying perspectives on their historical significance at particular times
and places, and from group to group (significance)
-Assess the justification for competing historical accounts after investigating points of contention, reliability of sources, and adequacy of evidence (evidence)
-Compare and contrast continuities and changes for different groups during this time period (continuity and change)
-Make reasoned ethical judgments about controversial actions in the past or present, and determine whether we have a responsibility to respond (ethical
judgment)
-Assess how prevailing conditions and the actions of individuals or groups affect events, decisions, and developments (cause and consequence)
DO
 Content (learning standards):

-The rise and rule of authoritarian regimes

-Religious, ethnic, and/or cultural conflicts, including genocide
KNOW

-Global conflicts, including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War
-Migrations, movements, and territorial boundaries
-Interdependence and international co-operation
-Social and cultural developments

STAGE 2: Assessment Plan

Formative Assessment (for learning):

-Discussion of Topic
-Debate on the Ethics of Dropping the Atomic Bomb
-Free Writes about the content
-Ticket out the door
-Propaganda Posters
Summative Assessment (of learning):

-Once a week quiz on what we learned that week.

-Soldier Service File
-Short Holocaust Essay
-Short Nazi Ideology Presentation

Stage 3: Learning Plan - a matrix model (below) is an efficient way to show unit lesson connections and general lesson
descriptions that connect to assessment for and of learning

Instructional Activities Assessment

Learning Intentions/Curriculum Connections
(scope and sequence, titles with brief lesson description) (method /instrument and criteria/ standards)

These are below in the Chart I made

 Holocaust Education: http://www.yadvashem.org/
WW2 Canadian War Museum: http://www.warmuseum.ca/search/?q=ww2
Japanese Internment Debate Lesson: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/lesson-plan/for-teachers-debating-the-
internment-of-japanese-canadians
Japanese Internment Timeline: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/lesson-plan/for-teachers-interning-japanese-
canadians-a-blight-on-canadian-history
Band of Brothers “Liberation Clip”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHcJtU9dr6I
“How did Hitler Rise to power” Ted Lesson/Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHcJtU9dr6I
Wannsee Conference “The Matter at Hand” Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kucc9UscnrI
Resources: Overview and Context of the WW2/Holocaust: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007262
Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust: https://www.ushmm.org/educators/teaching-about-the-holocaust/general-
teaching-guidelines
British Propaganda Posters (Imperial War Museum): https://www.iwm.org.uk/learning/resources/second-world-
war-posters
Blitz Video: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/amazing-colour-footage-of-london-during-the-blitz
Letters from WW2: http://www.canadianletters.ca/collections/469
Storming Juno (D-Day): https://vimeo.com/127185326

Fridays: Discussion Day

 Students choose a topic they want to know more about in WW2 (A Battle, The Resistance movements, concentration camps etc.)

Week One: Prelude to WW2 and outbreak of WW2/Implementation of the Final Solution

Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment

1 How did treaties, alliances, and political -What do you know/What do you want to know Activity -What do you know worksheet
structure contribute to WW2? Worksheet (Formative)
-Review of Treaty of Versailles (“War Guilt
Clause”- Article 231)
 -The German Revolution “Weimar Republic”
and its contribution to the climate in which
WW2 was started
2 How did treaties, alliances, and political -Add to Timeline - Hitler’s rise to power etc. -Continue work on Timeline
structure contribute to WW2? (Summative/Formative)
-Rise of Hitler in Germany (1933) -Yad Vashem overview video - Guided Notetaking Worksheet
-Election of Hitler as Chancellor -Video - “Triumph of the Will” (Formative)
- Nazi Ideology -Create three slides that explain Nazi Ideology
- “Night of the Long Knives”
What contributes to the decision to commit
genocide?
-Nuremburg Laws (Anti- Jewish Laws)
-Nuremburg Rally
3 What contributes to the decision to commit -Lesson from the Holocaust Education Centre on -Quick Write/Ticket out the door
genocide? Perpetrators: (Formative)
Who was responsible for the atrocity of the www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/learning_enviro
Holocaust? nments/perpetrators/index.asp
- Perpetrators (Nazis), Victims (Jews,
Homosexuals, Roma People, Jehovah witnesses
etc.) and Bystanders
- Einsatzgruppen (Nazi Death Squads)
4 Who was involved in the War and Why? - (Summative/Formative)
-German Invasion of Poland (Sept 1st, 1939) -Jigsaw Activity of Who was fighting and why? And -Worksheet from Jigsaw (Formative)
What was Canada’s contribution to WW2? worksheet
-Who was fighting and why? -Do this in a double block, have them research the first
-Canadas Role in WW2 block and then jigsaw the next block

Week Two/Three: Holocaust and implementation of the Final Solution/Pacific Entrance into the War
Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment
1 What contributes to the decision to commit genocide? -Wannesee Conference Video -Free Write (Formative)
Who was responsible for the atrocity of the Holocaust? -Free write after watching the “Concentration
-Wannesee Conference (Jan 20th, 1942) Camp Liberation” Band of Brothers Clip
-Mechanization of Murder
-Concentration Camps
2 What contributes to the decision to commit genocide? “Night will Fall” Movie -Free write and worksheet
Who was responsible for the atrocity of the Holocaust?
 3 What contributes to the decision to commit genocide? Watch testimonies -Free write
Who was responsible for the atrocity of the Holocaust?
Holocaust Survivor Testimonies
4
5

Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment

1 What was the impact on the home front (women,
Japanese people (internment), Germans living in
Canada)?
What makes some people resist and others obey
authority? (Bystanders, Resistance movements)
-Ordinary Germans “What did they think”
2 What was the impact on the home front (women,
Japanese people (internment), Germans living in
Canada), Blitz(Britain)?
-Britain/Blitz
What makes some people resist and others obey
authority? (Bystanders, Resistance movements)
-Resistance Movements
3 What was Canada’s contribution to WW2?
-Canada involvement in the War
4 Who was involved in the War and Why?
-Japanese/American entrance into the war
What was the impact on the home front (women,
Japanese people (internment), Germans living in
Canada)?
-Japanese Internment in Canada
Debate/Discussion: -Notes under Questions on Worksheet
-Why did the Germans let this happen? (Formative)
-What did ordinary Germans think was happening?
-Did they know what was happening to their
neighbors?
-Why did so many standby while this atrocity was
happening?
-Who stood up and what happened to them?
-Videos - https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/amazing- -Short Paragraph (Formative)
colour-footage-of-london-during-the-blitz
-Choose a Movement and write a paragraph about
why they resisted and who they were resisting
against
-Write a letter home from a Canadian Soldier -Written Letter Home (Formative)
-Canadian Letters and Images project examples.
Debate: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/lesson- -Debate Notes (Formative)
plan/for-teachers-debating-the-internment-of-
japanese-canadians

5 What was the impact on the home front (women, -Add events to timeline -Debate (Formative)
Japanese people (internment), Germans living in -Events added to Timeline
Canada)? (Summative)
-Japanese internment Debate

Week Four: Canada’s Involvement in the War

Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment
1 What was the impact on the home front (women, -Make their own propaganda posters -Propaganda Posters (Formative)
Japanese people (internment), Germans living in https://www.iwm.org.uk/learning/resources/second-
Canada)? world-war-posters
Who was involved in the War and Why?
-Propaganda
2 Who was involved in the War and Why? -Compare and contrast Activity -Worksheet (Formative)
-Pacific Fronts vs. European fighting
3 What was Canada’s contribution to WW2? -Watch “Storming Juno” - Add to timeline (Summative)
Who was involved in the War and Why? https://vimeo.com/127185326 -Guided Notetaking
-Invasion of Normandy/D-Day/Juno Beach -Discuss the Fall of the Reich – Add to timeline
-Fall of the “Third Reich” - On double block
4 Was the decision by the United States to drop an -Discussion about the Ethics of dropping a Nuclear -Discussion (Formative)
Atomic Bomb justified? bomb
-Bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima -Add events to timeline

Week Five:

Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment

1 Introduction to the “Service File Assignment” -PowerPoint on Assignment w/Examples -Assessed on a Rubric when the project is done
-How to access records -Assignment Handout/Rubric
2 Work Day
3 Work Day
4 Work Day
5 Work Day

Week Six: Working on their Culminating project (Soldier Service File)

Day Learning Intention/Theme Activities Assessment

1 Work Day

2 Work Day
3 Work Day