Digital

Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: Causes of the First World War

Name: Johnny Langdon

Content Area: World History

Grade Level: 10 World History

CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):

HSS.10.5: Students analyze the causes and course of the First World War.
1. Analyze the arguments for entering into war presented by leaders from all sides of the Great War and the role of political and economic rivalries,
ethnic and ideological conflicts, domestic discontent and disorder, and propaganda and nationalism in mobilizing the civilian population in support of
total war.
Big Ideas/Unit Goals:

Geography Students understand the maps of pre-war Europe and colonial competition around the world.
Politics Students understand the alliance networks in 1914.
Economics Students understand the impact of imperialism on economic competition in Europe.
Ethnic/Religious conflicts Students understand the complex identity conflicts within the Balkan region in the early 1900s.
The War Spreads Students understand how the assassination of Franz Ferdinand sparked the Great War.

Unit Summary:

The goal of this unit is for students to understand how Europe was divided into competing alliances in 1914, and how a global war was sparked from a single assassination.
Lesson one will be a teacher lecture on the complex alliance networks of pre-war Europe. Student understanding will be assessed on the completion of the guided notes and
anticipation guide. Lesson two will be a digital webercise activity on the geography of Europe during WW1. Using online resources, students will complete a map of Europe
by labeling the belligerent and neutral nations, and they will answer some critical thinking questions about how geography factored in to the outbreak of the war. Lesson
three will be a timeline activity about the spread of the war. Using a short video, an online resource, and notes from the previous lessons, students will choose ten significant
events that contributed to the spread of the war to complete their timeline.

Assessment Plan:

Entry-Level:
Team Brainstorm: In 3 minutes, students list as many
countries as they can who fought in WW1.

Formative:
Anticipation Guide. Before and during the lecture,
complete the anticipation guide and guided notes about
the important countries and alliances of WW1.
Map Activity: Complete the map and questions.
Map Quiz Game: In two teams, the class will compete
to answer geography questions.
Timeline Activity: Complete the timeline with 10
significant events contributing to the spread of the war.

Summative:
Debate. Each student will be assigned one of four
countries. In groups of four, they will argue why their
country was most responsible for the spread of WW1.
Writing assignment. In a brief essay, students will
explain how an assassination spread to a global war.
They must include at least ten major countries and
three important treaties/alliances.

Lesson 1
Student Learning Objective:

Students will use guided
notes to organize Europe in
to Allies and Central Powers,
using the pre-war Alliances to
justify these decisions.

Acceptable Evidence
(Assessments):

Students can categorize
Europe into Allies and Central
Powers and define each of the
major alliances listed on the
guided notes.

Lesson Activities:

Acceptable Evidence:

Students can complete the
map described in the
objective and answer the
questions about the
significance of geography in
triggering and spreading the
war.

Lesson Activities:

Students will explore several websites, using the online information to complete a map of Europe in 1914,
labeling each nation as Allies, Central Powers, or Neutral. Secondly, students will locate and label the
Western and Eastern Fronts and the location of a few major battles. Finally, students will use the maps to
answer several analytical questions about the role of geography, ethnicity, and imperial competition in
causing World War One.

Acceptable Evidence:

Students will choose ten
significant events that
contributed to the spread of
the war, including the
entrance of at least seven
nations in to the war, at least
one significant event
involving a neutral nation,
and at least two points of
additional information.

Lesson Activities:

Students will first watch a brief video about how the assassination of Franz Ferdinand triggered a global
war. Using an online resource including all the major events of the war, as well as notes from the previous
two lessons, students will construct a timeline that tells the story of the spread of the war. A rubric will be
provided detailing the specific requirements of the assignment.

First, students will engage in an anticipation guide activity. They will work with a partner to guess which
powers took which side in the war. Next they will complete guided notes while following the teacher
lecture about the important alliances leading up to the war. Using this evidence, they will complete the
anticipation guide by reassigning countries as Allies or Central Powers, justifying their answers with the
corresponding pre-war alliances. Finally, the class will review the answers as a whole.

Lesson 2
Student Learning Objective:

Students will complete a map
of Europe in 1914, labeling all
the existing countries as
Allies, Central Powers, or
Neutral.

Lesson 3
Student Learning Objective:

Students will create a
timeline to demonstrate how
the assassination of Franz
Ferdinand spread to a global
war.

Unit Resources:
PBS The Great War lesson plans
Vox 40 maps that explain WWI
Wikipedia Commons Collection of maps explaining WW1
BBC Maps Interactives The Western Front and key battles.
Map as History Allies and Central Powers

Useful Websites:
Khan academy Includes videos explaining the causes of WW1.
BBC Schools Various resources and activities about the Great War.
First World War A detailed timeline of all the major events of the war.
WW1 Alliances Explains the alliances that formed the two belligerent sides of World War One.