Goals & Objectives
Goal:
Students will understand the global consequences of the Russian Revolution.
Objective:
After completing a primary source inquiry on American reactions to the Russian Revolution students will be able to write a prediction about what the First Red Scare was.
Students will understand the global consequences of the Russian Revolution.
Objective:
After completing a primary source inquiry on American reactions to the Russian Revolution students will be able to write a prediction about what the First Red Scare was.
California State Content Standards
10.7 Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I.
- Understand the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin's use of totalitarian means to seize and maintain control (e.g., the Gulag).
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
C CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.Literacy.WHST.10-12. 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
C CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.Literacy.WHST.10-12. 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Driving Historical Question
How did The Russian Revolution lead to the First Red Scare in the United States?
Lesson Introduction
Students will examine a political cartoon dealing with the First Red Scare in the United States. Teacher will assess the student’s prior knowledge on the First Red Scare by instructing the students to answer the questions about the cartoon on the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The students will share their answers aloud with their partners. The teacher will then randomly select students to share their answers out loud for the whole class to hear. The teacher will scaffold the answers on his copy of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet by projecting the student’s responses on the LCD display using an ELMO projector.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is highlighted and definitions of difficult words are provided for the students on their Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet.
Content Delivery
This lesson will be delivered using inquiry-based learning as a method of instruction. The teacher will hand out a Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet that contains the political cartoon Anticipatory Set, a small section of context knowledge that students need to know in order to answer the questions on the worksheet, 5 front covers of Newspapers dealing with American reactions to the Russian Revolution, a sourcing section for the students to fill out, a close reading section for the students to read from each respective Newspaper, corroborating questions and a two paragraph reflection at the end about what they predict the First Red
Scare was. Altogether, the students will close read five different newspapers and those primary source newspapers will be on their Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The sections of the newspaper that the students need to focus on will be provided for them in the close reading section of each primary source. They will answer questions based on the close reading, the context of the source, the sourcing of each newspaper and on critical thinking about all the sources and their contexts.
After the teacher is done scaffolding the political cartoon dealing with the First Red Scare (the Anticipatory Set), then the teacher is going to scaffold the sourcing of the first primary source (Primary Source A). After showing the students how to source a primary source, then the teacher will instruct the students to individually answer the corroborating questions that follow the sourcing section. The students will then share their answers with their partner. The teacher will then randomly call students to verbally share their partner’s answers with the class. If the teacher assesses that the students are capable of synthesizing sources on their own (by answering the questions correctly), then the teacher will instruct the students to get into their groups and answer the sourcing and the corroborating questions for the next four primary sources. After the students are done sourcing and answering the corroborating questions of Primary Source B, C, D and E, then the teacher will instruct them to individually answer the two paragraph reflection at the end of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The question asks the students to predict what the First Red
Scare was.
Scare was. Altogether, the students will close read five different newspapers and those primary source newspapers will be on their Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The sections of the newspaper that the students need to focus on will be provided for them in the close reading section of each primary source. They will answer questions based on the close reading, the context of the source, the sourcing of each newspaper and on critical thinking about all the sources and their contexts.
After the teacher is done scaffolding the political cartoon dealing with the First Red Scare (the Anticipatory Set), then the teacher is going to scaffold the sourcing of the first primary source (Primary Source A). After showing the students how to source a primary source, then the teacher will instruct the students to individually answer the corroborating questions that follow the sourcing section. The students will then share their answers with their partner. The teacher will then randomly call students to verbally share their partner’s answers with the class. If the teacher assesses that the students are capable of synthesizing sources on their own (by answering the questions correctly), then the teacher will instruct the students to get into their groups and answer the sourcing and the corroborating questions for the next four primary sources. After the students are done sourcing and answering the corroborating questions of Primary Source B, C, D and E, then the teacher will instruct them to individually answer the two paragraph reflection at the end of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The question asks the students to predict what the First Red
Scare was.
Student Engagement
The concept of The First Red Scare will be introduced to the students with the introductory political cartoon, and hopefully by the end of the activity the students will be able to predict what it was. The student engagement activity in this lesson is the synthesis and analysis of five different front covers of newspapers. As mentioned above, the context of the sources and the sections that the students need to focus on (the close reading section) is provided for the students. The students will then interact with the sources after they are finished sourcing them. The way they will interact with the sources is by answering the corroborating questions that follow the sourcing sections. The questions are designed to be inquiry-based, and are also designed to help the students analyze and synthesize the five primary sources. Therefore, the main instructional strategy is communication. The students will reflect on the content by answering the teacher’s strategic questions and completing a written response at the end of the activity. The other instructional strategy is collaboration because the students will have the opportunity to work with their partners and with their teams. This lesson will inspire critical thinking because the students will be investigating three different perspectives of Americans who are reacting to the same event. The students will read a newspaper article written by an anarchist, a newspaper article written by a liberal, and three newspaper articles written by Republicans. The students will learn that: the anarchist glorified The Russian Revolution, the liberal was in favor of The Russian Revolution if it led to a democratic Russian government, and the Republicans were completely against The Russian Revolution because they believed it was the cause of all the labor strikes occurring across the U.S. The reason for having the students analyze three primary sources written by Republicans, is because their opinion The students will recognize that disapproval of The Russian Revolution was not a unanimous feeling amongst Americans, even if it did lead to the First Red Scare. This activity will also give students the opportunity to practice their synthesizing skills. Some of the corroborating questions ask the students to analyze the context of the source, analyze a different source, and/or analyze the sourcing of the newspaper. By comparing and contrasting five different sources of American reactions to the Russian Revolution, the students are developing analyzing and synthesizing skills.
Lesson Closure
The lesson closure will be a two-paragraph reflection at the end that the students will individually write responses to. The reflection is about their prediction of what the First Red Scare was, based on their inquiry of the five primary source newspapers.
Assessments
The teacher will assess student’s prior knowledge about the First Red Scare by instructing them to evaluate a political cartoon. The teacher will use the student’s written and verbal response to inform him of the background knowledge base the students have about the content. The teacher will assess whether the students need more scaffolding in order to be able to analyze the five primary sources by listening to the student sharing their partner’s responses to the corroborating questions on Primary Source A. The teacher will assess whether the students learned sourcing skills by walking around the classroom and reading the students’ sourcing sections on their Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The teacher will assess the student’s synthesizing skills by reading their answers to the corroborating questions. The teacher will assess whether the students acquired the lesson objective by reading their responses to the two-paragraph reflection at the end of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet. The teacher will offer help throughout the period, if necessary. If the students struggle at any point through the lesson, then the teacher will scaffold as needed. If the students do still not comprehend the activity, then the teacher will find a way to present the material in a different way.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
The teacher has strategically placed EL Learners, Striving Readers and students with special needs in groups that include high academically achieving students. The teacher will have students working with their strategic partners and groups during this lesson’s activity. When the teacher calls on the students with special needs he will provide extra response time. The teacher has tough vocabulary words defined for striving readers. The teacher will also give English learners a separate worksheet that has the context section, the sourcing questions, and the corroborating questions in their native language. English learners, striving readers and students with special needs will benefit from the teacher’s scaffolding of how to source Primary Source A. The teacher has also already provided the sections of the newspapers that the students should focus on in the close reading sections of their Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet, which will benefit English learners, striving readers and students with special needs. All the students will work on sourcing and answering the corroborating questions for Primary Source B, C, D and E with their groups. Working in groups will give English learners the chance to hear spoken English from several native speakers. Working in groups will give striving readers the chance to ask his group for help on any close reading that he/she is having difficulty with. Working in groups will give students with special needs the chance to stay focused on the task at hand, because his group will help him as needed and hold him accountable for his/her work. The teacher will offer help throughout the period to any student struggling with the activity.
Resources
Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet