7th Grade Lesson Plan – Forms of Government in Two Regimes: Witness to War

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Two Regimes: Witness to War

Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn about different forms of government from primary sources of people who lived through a number of different forms of governments.

 

Support Materials 
All support materials for this lesson can be found at this Google Link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Yp_F856qlT3x3cQRA_QA6peJJfSrAUmj

Support Materials which are included in the above link are listed below.
NOTE:  Be sure to preview all materials before using with your students

  1. Historical Overview for Two Regimes by Dr. Jonathan Grant
  2. Historical Overview of the Holocaust by Dr. Michael Berenbaum
  3. Teodora Verbitskaya Biographical Information
  4. Nadia Werbitzky Biographical Information

Printouts

  1. 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition PDF
  2. Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form
  3. Witness to War: Response Questions
  4. Questions to Ask about Governments
  5. Types of Government Graphic Organizer
  6. Forms of Government Scenarios Worksheet
  7. Vocabulary List

Also Available

  1. Teacher’s YouTube Videos for 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition
  2. Holodomor 1932-1933 – At a Glance
  3. Holocaust 1933-1945 – At a Glance
  4. Holocaust Hyperlinked Resource Material

 

Online Resources

  1.  7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War video – YouTube< https://youtu.be/GiP7l3dnUTE
  2. 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition video – Narration in easy to understand American English https://youtu.be/UAuzGRpK840
  3. World War II: Timeline, Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007306

 

Florida: Next Generation Sunshine State Standards

  • SS 7.C.3.1 Compare different forms of government (direct democracy, representative democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, oligarchy, autocracy).
  • FS 1003.42 Required Holocaust Education Mandate Public School Instruction


Authors
Amy Burch and Kelly Bowen

Formative Assessment

NOTE: Be sure to preview all materials before using with your students.

  1. Teacher will assess students’ ability to compare forms of government via verbal feedback to student’s verbal responses during 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition.
  2. Teacher will assess students’ ability to compare forms of government via verbal feedback to student’s written responses to Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form.
  3. Teacher will assess students’ ability to identify and compare forms of government via written feedback to students’ written responses to Witness to War: Response Questions independent practice worksheet.
  4. Teacher will assess students’ ability to define and identify different forms of government via written response to Forms of Government Scenarios independent worksheet.
  5. Teacher will assess students’ ability to identify and describe different forms of government and tell how different forms of government impacted the lives of Teodora Verbitskaya and Nadia Werbitzky via written or verbal feedback to student’s written or verbal response to Exit Ticket

 

 Feedback to Students

  1. Students will receive verbal feedback to their verbal responses during 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition.
  2. Students will receive verbal feedback to their written responses to Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form.
  3. Students will receive written feedback to their written responses on Witness to War: Response Questions.
  4. Students will receive written feedback on Forms of Government Scenarios independent practice assignment.
  5. Students will receive verbal or written feedback on Exit Ticket assignment.

 

Summative Assessment

Summative Assessment Task:

Students will write an essay that describes how the socialist governments of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler impacted the lives of families in Soviet Ukraine and Germany in the 1930s and 1940s AND compares that socialist government and its impact on its citizens with the representative democracy form of government of the U.S.A. and its impact on the lives of its citizens today using information from Two Regimes: Witness to War. 

 

Teachers will determine their own grading criteria.  However, written responses should include specific examples from Two Regimes that demonstrate their understanding of forms of government. 

 

Learning Objectives

Students will interact with primary and secondary sources to:

  • Define and describe different forms of government (direct democracy, representative democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, absolute monarchy, oligarchy, autocracy).
  • Compare different types of government, especially socialism and democracy.

 

Guiding Questions

  1. How did the socialist governments of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler impact the lives of families in Soviet Ukraine and Germany in the 1930s and 1940s?
  2. How does that compare with the representative democracy form of government in the U.S.A. today?

Prior Knowledge

  1. Students should have some background knowledge of forms of government.
  2. Students should have some background knowledge of WWII and the Holocaust.
  3. Students should have some background knowledge of the overthrow of the government of Nicholas II and the socialist government takeover of Stalin.

 

Pre-Teach Vocabulary as needed:

Socialism: form of government where the economy is controlled by the government

Economy: the wealth and resources of a country or family, especially with goods and services

Holocaust: mass killing of Europeans, especially the Jews, by the Nazis during WWII

Holodomor: death by starvation, man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 under Stalin

Republic democracy: form of government where the power is with the people

Collective farming: small farms that are owned and controlled by the government

Concentration camp: a place where large numbers of people are imprisoned to await death by mass killings

Steppe: large area of flat, unforested grassland in southeastern Europe and Siberia

Kremlin: location in Moscow of the central offices of the Russian government

Trench: a large deep ditch

German prison camp: a prisoner of war camp where outdoor work is done for the German government

The following vocabulary will be introduced to students in Historical Overview of Two Regimes by Dr. Jonathan Grant:

Absolute monarchy: a form of autocracy where a person becomes the sole leader of a country by being born into a family of rulers; there are no limits on the monarch’s power

Autocracy: a form of government where one person has unlimited power

Communism: a form of government in which a single ruling party owns and controls the entire economy, and in which no private ownership is allowed

Dictator: a military leader who becomes the head of a country, often by force

Direct democracy: a form of government in which the power to govern is directly in the hands of the people rather than elected representatives

Monarchy: a form of government headed by a king or queen who inherits the position, rules for life, and holds power that can range anywhere from between limited to absolute

Oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group (often of wealthy people) has total control and power

Representative democracy/republic: a form of government in which the people elect representatives to make laws for them

Socialism: a form of government in which the government plays a major role in running the economy, but private ownership is also allowed and leaders may be elected by the people


Teaching Phase

Introduce lesson by telling the story of a Ukrainian woman named Teodora Verbitskaya and her daughters, Nadia and Lyucia, who witnessed and survived the Holodomor 1932-1933, and who experienced the military occupation forces of Nazi Germany in late 1941 during World War II.  They witnessed the roundup by the Nazis of 7,500 Jews from Mariupol who were later murdered and buried in anti-tank trenches outside the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, in October 1941.  The Germans forced Teodora and her daughters to Germany to serve as slave laborers. They were liberated from German control by American forces at the end of World War II. 

Explain that Teodora Verbitskaya kept diaries of her life experiences that were later published.  Then explain that her oldest daughter, Nadia Werbitzky, went on to become an artist and that many of her paintings are memory paintings from her life experiences as a young person. 

Explain to students that in this lesson they will learn about different forms of government that were in place in Ukraine and Russia during WWII. They will learn how these forms of government, as well as the Holodomor and the Holocaust, impacted the lives of European people. This will be accomplished by interacting with the primary source memoir of Teodora Verbitskaya and paintings by her daughter, Nadia Werbitzky. Share that the works of these two women were later published in a book entitled Two Regimes (A Memoir) by Teodora Verbitskaya as translated by her granddaughter, Lucianne Vanilar.

For background information see Support Materials:

Historical Overview of Two Regimes by Dr. Jonathan Grant

Historical Overview of the Holocaust by Dr. Michael Berenbaum

Nadia Werbitsky Biographical Information

Teodora Verbitskaya Biographical Information

Holodomor 1932-1933 – At a Glance

Holocaust 1933-1945 – At a Glance

Present Historical Overview for Two Regimes by Dr. Jonathan Grant to entire class.

Distribute Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form to each student to use during presentation and afterward to detail how the governments under Lenin, Stalin and Hitler regimes impacted ordinary families in Soviet Ukraine and Germany. 

Next, present 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition PDF or video to entire class.

View 7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition video – YouTube (easy to understand American English)

After viewing Exhibition, have students work in pairs or small groups to discuss their responses on Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form. 

In small groups, have students discuss the following discussion questions:

What did we learn about the forms of government?

How did the government impact the lives of these people?

Compare that to the way our government controls our family life. 

Discuss student responses to discussion questions as whole group.  Record for visual display if desired.

See Support Materials for:

Historical Overview for Two Regimes by Dr. Jonathan Grant

Historical Overview of Holocaust by Dr. Michael Berenbaum

7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition PDF

7th Grade Two Regimes Witness to War Exhibition video – YouTube 

https://youtu.be/DuIWNOsc6tQ

Evidence of Government Involvement Note-Taking Form

 

Guided Practice

Distribute to each student a copy of Witness to War: Response Questions.  Have each student complete independently.  Discuss and share responses at the end of lesson.

Next, Distribute Questions to Ask about Governments and Types of Government Graphic Organizer to each student. 

Allow students time work in pairs, or small groups to discuss both handouts and then complete the Types of Government handout. 

Ask students to think about some of the advantages and disadvantages of each form or type of government.


Independent Practice

Distribute or display a copy of Forms of Government Scenarios worksheet to each student.  Have students complete independently.  Review and discuss afterward.

Closure

Exit Ticket:   

Name and describe the 8 forms of government.

 And

Tell how different forms of government impacted the lives of Teodora Verbitskaya and Nadia Werbitzky. 

 

Accommodations

Students with visual or hearing difficulties may be seated closer to audio/visual equipment.

Students who are non-sighted will be provided with a verbal description of each painting.  Teacher should seek assistance from student’s ESE service provider in adapting necessary materials to meet student’s needs.

Teacher will stop the video as necessary for clarification and discussion.

Students who are unable to work in pairs for discussions may choose to share their ideas independently in writing.

Students who struggle with motor skills can use word processor or dictate the independent practice and summative assessment task.

Extensions

To further extend this lesson:

  1. Students may create role plays to present to the class that depict different forms of government. They should present a scene from which the rest of the class will have to identify the form of government the actors are “living” under.
  2. Students may research the form of government of participating countries during WWII and the role their government played in their participation.
  3. Students may research to learn how different forms of government have changed over time.

 

 Further Recommendations

Teacher must determine if the paintings in the exhibition are appropriate for the class.  It is recommended that the teacher listen to the narrative in advance of lesson.

 
Short Summary

Students will learn about different forms of government through a memoir entitled Two Regimes (A Memoir) written by Teodora Verbitskaya as translated by her granddaughter, Lucianne Vanilar, and illustrated by Nadia Werbitzky, who witnessed and survived the Holodomor 1932-1933, and who experienced the military occupation forces of Nazi Germany during World War II and witnessed the roundup of 7,500 Jews of Mariupol, who were later murdered outside the city limits.  Then Teodora and her daughters were forced to Germany to serve as slave laborers and were liberated from German control by American forces at the end of World War II. 

 

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the Foundation for Leon County Schools.