BASIC LESSON PLAN FORMAT

A) Subject: Canadian History

Level/Grade: Grade 10

Lesson Topic: End of WW1/Treaty of Versailles. Date: December 6, 2015

B) Context
1. LEARNERS:
This lesson comes at the end of the unit on WW1. Students have
learned the course of events from the causes of the war through
particularly important battles as well as societal issues such as
conscription and propaganda. Chronologically what remains is to
detail the end of the war and the important treaty of Versailles,
wrapping up the unit.
Students are high level learners who are engaged in the learning.
They respond best to group work.
There are some students with learning exceptionalities or who need
accommodations.
o Student A has a (central) auditory processing disorder. They
have a radio device that they wear. I have the microphone
in desk for when the teacher talks. When group work is
going on the microphone gets passed around to whoever is
talking.
o Student B lacks Organizational skills. They have a
computer to type up notes and work. It is important that
their computer is only used for school work. They are not
allowed to browse the internet or play games on it at all
during class time.

2. CURRICULUM:
This lesson fits in with the Ministry (2004) expectations that
students will understand the concepts of historical thinking.
Specifically this lesson will meet the requirements of Grade 10
students being able to understand;
o Historical significance and how something in the past
(issue, event person etc.) is important and if or how it has
had a long lasting effect.
o Cause and consequence and the factors that led to

something (event etc.) and its impact or effect.

o Historical perspective and how students must analyze
actions and events within the historical context that they are
set in.
o This information can be found on pages 104-5 of:
https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/canw
orld910curr2013.pdf
This Lesson is the final lesson in the WW1 Unit
No equity issues have been identified during the planning of this
lesson.
This lesson will fit all individual IEPs by accommodating their
learning needs. Students A and B will have their accommodations
met through the radio device and the laptop respectively. The
teacher will modify the expectations and the grading requirements
of the assignments and be fair when markings students who need
modification.
This lesson is relevant to all students in the classroom because the
events covered in this lesson have directly and substantially
impacted our world today. By understanding the events covered in
this lesson they will better understand the future events that
occurred because of those events.

3. MATERIALS/RESOURCES:
Short PowerPoint or video to explain the events at the end of the
war and the context of the Treaty of Versailles as well as a second
PowerPoint or video explaining the actual Treaty of Versailles
Student As radio device
Student Bs Laptop
Paper for every table.

4. ARRANGEMENTS/GROUPING OF STUDENTS & EQUIPMENT:

The learning will take place in the classroom
Students will be grouped in their normal seating arrangement. If
necessary some students may need to be moved in order to even
out numbers (i.e. one group only has 3 students instead of 6)
This will be a group activity. Discussion and debate is necessary to
fully understand and learn what the activity is going to teach.
Students will be sitting in their normal grouping of pods of 6 desks

together.

C) Learning Expectations
o By the end of this lesson students will be able to:
o Describe the events that occurred in the final months of WW1
o Explain view on the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, and France on
how Germany should be dealt with post war
o Understand how those societal pressures played into the drafting of
the Treaty of Versailles
o Demonstrate this knowledge in the drafting of their own treaty of
Versailles
o Describe the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles
D) Instructional Strategies for Teaching & Learning
o Assume 70 instructional minutes
1. Introductory Section:
o 10 minutes
o Put on a PowerPoint centered around the last 100 days of the war,
discussing how the Germans were basically on the verge of
collapse
o Draw attention to the threat of a communist uprising in
Germany
o Explain the feelings of the leaders of the US, UK, France, and
Canada on how Germany should be dealt with after the war.
o Set the stage and explain the background behind the Treaty of
Versailles
o Ask the students to think about what clauses they would put into
the treaty if they were there in 1919
o Make sure that you are wearing the radio transmitter so that
student A can understand what the teacher is saying.
o Student B will be permitted to have their laptop at this point in
order to take notes.
2. Main/Middle Section:
o 45 minutes
o Ask students to in their groups, discuss what they would put in
their own treaties. Prompt them to think about specific aspects of
the treaty such as; Germanys military and economy, how damages
caused by the war should be dealt with, and how responsibility for

starting the war should dealt with. This should be a starting point
for their discussion. Have groups write down what would be on
their treaties. This is important for the evaluation at the end.
o This should take about 15 minutes.
o Walk around trying to guide students in their thinking to a
logical conclusion based on their assumptions or personal
thoughts. Try to get them to explain their thinking not just
come up with points.
o During this discussion make sure student A has the radio
transmitter at their table so that their group members can be
understood by them.
o Student B should not need their laptop to participate in the
activity. If they do use it as the scribe for their group ensure
that they are using a word processor.
o Bring the class together and have them share what their Treaty
would look like. Ask specific questions of groups where there is
obvious contrast in their clauses. Try to encourage discussion
between groups to explain their reasoning. Make sure that all
groups are included. Do not leave one group without the chance to
discuss their treaty.
o This should take about 15 minutes to have a good
discussion between the groups and get everyone involved.
o Go back to a PowerPoint based on the actual Treaty of Versailles
and explain the actual clauses in the treaty and what the immediate
effects of this treaty were i.e. anger at being named the primary
cause of the war by German citizens. Also highlight how Canada
being given its own seat in the negotiations signals more
independence for the country.
o This should take about 15 minutes
o Ensure that the radio transmitter is back with the teacher
during the lecture.
3. Concluding Section:
o 15 minutes
o Have the students write 1-2 paragraphs about their treaty and the
actual treaty of Versailles comparing them and noting differences
between them. Get them to explain why these differences occurred
with specific references to the concerns of the leaders of the
countries. Let them reference the list their group created earlier
o This should take 10 minutes

o This will be the evaluation. The teacher will evaluate them

on the strength of the comparison with specific reference to
how they discuss the concerns of the country leaders and
how that played into the real treatys clauses and how this
differs from their own.
o They will need to hand this in to leave class.
o Student B can use their laptop if they wish but as they are
immediately handing in the evaluation it is not necessary as
they will not be keeping it.
o Conclude with a brief summary of the treaty of Versailles and end
with a statement about how the Treaty itself was a significant cause
of the Second World War.
o Ferdinand Fochs quote This is not a peace. It is an
armistice for twenty years
o World War two started twenty years after the treaty
was signed.
4. Application/Reaction:
o Learning will be demonstrated by the group discussions as well as
the larger class discussion. This will require them to use their
knowledge of the war to come up with a reasonable solution.
o Teacher will supervise all classroom activities by walking around
and guiding students along with their line of reasoning to come to a
conclusion.
o Evaluation will be informal and based off the paragraphs they
wrote. Teacher will base the evaluation on the basis of the
comparison as they compare their thinking to that of the historical
leaders.
o Students with accommodations and modifications will be marked
based on the learning goals explained in their individual IEPs.

E) Evaluation & Reflection Assessment Strategies

o I will evaluate how much learning occurred based on the quality of their
paragraphs and their engagement in the two discussions.
o Learning expectations should be realized based on the evaluation that was
based on the learning objectives.
o I will reflect upon the lesson and see how well the students took to the
discussion and how well they did on their paragraphs. By observing
differences between students with and without exceptionalities I will be

able to see how effective this lesson is for students with exceptionalities.
Based on these observations I should be able to know if and how I can
change the lesson in the future.