I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the problems the German people faced at home during World War II.
Students are given lots of contextual knowledge with challenging and exciting tasks aimed at answering the typical GCSE questions set in the exam.
They will judge how and why the war was a good thing for Germans at the beginning and why it became so bad as the war drew to a close.
There is some excellent information taken from the BBC Bitesize website which the students have to recall and analyse in a thinking quilt and summarising pyramid.
At the end of the lesson, the students will be ready to complete some GCSE questions with a simplified markscheme to help them.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to assess how effective the different types of opposition were towards the Nazis in Germany.
This lesson is split into three main areas of opposition to the Nazi regime: resistance, non-conformism and open criticism.
The lesson also looks in depth at Church opposition, youth opposition, passive resistance, Jewish resistance and the Stauffenberg Bomb Plot.
Students are given a list of ways of opposing the Nazis which they have to categorise and through some independent research decide the best and most effective forms of opposition.
Moreover by the end of the lesson students will be able to assess and judge why opposition was ineffective against the Nazi state.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on the change in policy towards the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.
Students have to put events into chronological order and understand why the beginning of World War II changed everything.
Students also learn about the Wannsee Conference and the experimental attempts by the Nazis to murder the Jews in Europe from shooting to mobile gas vans before deciding upon the use of Zyklon B crystals.
Using numbers and figures they also discover the sheer scale of the atrocities involved in this genocide and what happened in the concentration camps.
There are some excellent links to video evidence to accompany the lesson, which are suitable to show.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the significance of the Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht.
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and Kristallnacht in 1938 are two significant events which can sometimes be overlooked when students write about Nazi policies towards the Jews in Germany, as they tend focus on the events after 1939 only.
What were the Nuremberg Laws, why were they introduced and in which order did policies towards the Jews change after these laws were introduced?
Moreover, was Kristallnacht a spontaneous or well planned atrocity led by the Nazis?
Students are given evidence from which to make an informed decision which they must justify.
A car number plate activity further assesses their understanding before the students plan an examination question for some GCSE exam practice.
There are some great video links to help the learning as well.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson is split into two parts.
The first part looks at the various racial groups within Germany who were targeted and excluded by the Nazis and the reasons behind this.
There is a case study of the Grefeneck Asylum where its inmates mysteriously disappeared; the students are given clues as to how to unravel the story about what happened there.
They subsequently learn of the T4 programme secretly enacted by the Nazis and the sheer scale and numbers involved.
The second part of the lesson focuses on anti-Semitism within Germany, the history and context behind it and how the Nazis used propaganda posters to get their vile message across.
Students have to analyse why the Jewish population was targeted and explain how this prejudice and discrimination manifested itself
There are some brilliant video links which explore these issues further and a plenary which attempts to change some student perceptions of Hitler’s own anti-Semitism.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the Wall Street Crash and the transformation of the Nazi Party into an electable and indelible force.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the economic problems facing Germany and the causes and consequences of Hitler becoming Chancellor.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example The Night of the Long Knives lesson whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the limited opposition in Nazi Germany as it moved from a democratic into a totalitarian state.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 The Wall Street Crash
L2 The rise of the Nazis and the transformation of the Nazi Party
L3 Hitler becomes Chancellor (free resource)
L4 Reichstag Fire and Enabling Act
L5 The Night of the Long Knives
L6 The Nazi Police State
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . They come in PDF and Powerpoint formats and can be amended and changed to suit.
The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson looks at how Hitler transformed himself and the Nazi Party to be able to secure enough votes to become Chancellor by 1933.
Many GCSE questions centre around why people voted for the Nazis before 1933. This lesson shows how he was able to do this focusing on four main areas: his beliefs, organisation, leadership skills and voters.
How he dressed, spoke, acted and performed in public were crucial in his propaganda assault on the German people.
Students write this up and evaluate the success of this transformation using worksheets, video footage and visual aids.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson explores how the Nazis suppressed opposition in Germany through terror, propaganda and coordination.
Most student answers on the police state tend to focus on terror and violence, so hopefully this lesson which re-evaluate their thinking to take into account the ideas of indoctrination and persuasion.
Students analyse the types of propaganda used as well as control in all spheres of life before having to explain there was little opposition as asked at the beginning of the lesson.
They will also judge how effective the different forms of control are such as concentration camps, the Gestapo, the law courts as well as the use of block wardens.
By the end of the lesson, the students are given a GCSE practice question to analyse and mark, with guidance on how to achieve the higher marks with a model answer.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The focus of the lesson is to analyse the problems Hitler faced in January 1933 on becoming Chancellor.
Students need to know and understand the background to Hitler becoming Chancellor in January 1933, which can be quite challenging given the complex political machinations involving the President, Papen and Von Schleicher.
Students are given the context of Hitler’s rise to power, before using a revision thinking quilt to match key questions to specific key words and terms.
There are also some excellent video links to bbc bitesize
Students are thus prepared to tackle the GCSE exam practice question at the end.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson aims to evaluate how successful Hitler was in consolidating his power after becoming Chancellor.
As Hitler contrived to win more votes, a succession of events throughout 1933 and 1934 helped him achieve this.
Students therefore have to rate how much power in their opinion he gained from each event (such as the use of Article 48 and the Enabling Act), colour coding the power indicators after each.
Then they plot these events on a living graph, thus mapping out this process, also having to decide the legality or illegality of these events.
Alternatively they are given a timeline in which they analyse each event and decide the positives and negatives of each of them and whether these contributed to an increase or decrease in his power.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson aims to evaluate the effects the Wall Street Crash had on Germany.
The focus from the start is to make sure students understand and recognise the differences between this event and hyperinflation, which they too often mistake as the same.
Students learn how the events unfolded in America and the impact these events had on peoples’ lives in Germany using video, visuals and a written account of someone who experienced the full effects in Germany.
There is a GCSE exam practice question to complete with students boxing up their answers using the sources provided.
A find and fix plenary will assess student understanding and test whether they have a grasp of the effects upon Germany.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the Kaiser and the problems he faced as well as the implementation of the Treaty of Versailles and the challenges faced by the Weimar Government.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the new Weimar Constitution and the causes and consequences of Stresemann’s policies.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example the Treaty of Versailles and the Munich Beer Hall Putsch lessons whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on political and economic problems of the Weimar Republic as well as questioning whether the later 1920’s really were a Golden Age.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Kaiser Wilhelm II (free resource)
L2 The Kaiser’s Government and Weltpolitik
L3 The impact of World War 1 on Germany (free resource)
L4 The Weimar Constitution and Political Parties
L5 The Treaty of Versailles
L6 Political Uprisings – the Spartacists and the Kapp Putsch (free resource)
L7 The Ruhr Crisis and Hyperinflation
L8 The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
L9 Gustav Stresemann
L10 The Golden Age of Stresemann
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson is a study of the impact war had on peoples’ lives in Germany between 1914-1918.
Students have to evaluate the main changes in Germany during the war and if they were positive or negative changes
For example, the Kaiser being forced to share his power could be seen as a positive thing to many, but there was also a terrible shortage of food as the allied naval blockade really began to bite.
Worksheets are supplied to use for evidence, as the students box up their findings ready to tackle a timed question for GCSE question practice.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to study of the fascinating Weimar culture that Germany experienced in the 1920s and evaluate how it changed Germany society with its links to modern society today.
Art, film, architecture, music and cabaret, theatre and fashion radically changed in Germany and led to the Golden Age which Stresemann had laid the delicate foundations for.
Students analyse these changes through artwork, sources and music of the time as well as a thinking quilt which focuses on key words and terms used in the lesson.
B
y the end, they have to judge how these changes have impacted upon Germany society and explain why these changes have left a lasting legacy on culture and society today.
The final part of the lesson is to answer a GCSE practice question on how Weimar culture impacted upon lives in Germany in the 1920s.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson introduces students to Stresemann and his policies.
The starter is interactive as each student has a character card and will introduce themselves to each other to find out their worries and concerns with Germany between 1918-1923.
At the end of the lesson the students will judge if Stresemann has made their lives better or not and justify their reasons.
Was he a brilliant statesman who solved Germany’s problems or did he just paper over the cracks?
There are a variety of learning tasks for the students to complete which include a quiz where the students pick up points for the correct answers, source analysis, colour coding activities on Stresemann’s economic and political policies as well as a GCSE exam practice question, with help given if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to judge whether the Munich Beer Hall Putsch was a success or a disaster for the Nazis
The start of the lesson focuses on what Hitler wanted and students have to decide why he instigated a Putsch in the first place in Bavaria.
With reference to text, source analysis and video clips, students then have to prioritise the short term consequences for Hitler and his followers and the main reasons why it failed.
The final part of the lesson focuses on what we now see as his success. Students again have to give reasons why he came out of this episode unscathed and to some extent even bolstered his reputation in the long term.
In the plenary, students have to relay what they have learnt in a summarising pyramid.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945:Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on two key questions - how were the Ruhr crisis and hyperinflation so closely linked together and how did they create both economic and political problems for the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1923?
The lesson is split into two parts; the first focusing on why the French decided to invade the Ruhr region of Germany and secondly the consequences for them and for Germany when they did.
Students have to answer key questions on the invasion and analyse sources which infer French brutality.
A literacy task to follow challenges students’ understanding of the key words used.
The second part of the lesson explains the causes and consequences of hyperinflation with a focus on the winners and well as the losers.
Some GCSE question practice at the end gives a student friendly markscheme to peer and self assess.
There is a plethora of video footage and primary sources to analyse throughout the lesson as well as simplified and chronological explanations.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on why the new Government was so unpopular and why there were so many political uprisings against it.
Students have to question whether these putsches were merely political in nature or whether there were economic forces at play as well.
Students also have to analyse the Spartacist rising and the Kapp Putsch and understand their causes and why they ultimately failed.
There are some excellent links to video footage as well as a colour coding literacy thinking quilt.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the terms of the Treay of Versailles and its impact upon Weimar Germany.
From the start, students have to understand how difficult it was for the Allies (the Big Three) to decide how to treat Germany at the end of the war.
Moreover when they did eventually agree, how did it affect Germany and what were it terms?
The emphasis is also on how students can remember the terms of the treaty, especially with the land lost, complete with difficult spellings such as Schleswig-Holstein and Alsace-Lorraine.
Learning tasks include making notes from video evidence, creating a chatterbox, analysing sources, completing quizzes and filling in a ‘find someone who can’ worksheet (a brilliant idea from Aaron Wilkes).
The second part of the lesson focuses on GCSE exam practice using cartoon sources related to the Treaty as well as how to answer the first three source questions on the exam, with help on how to answer each.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on the difficult topics of proportional representation and the new Weimar constitution.
The lesson centres around how the Weimar Government was formed out of the chaos of the end of World War 1 and how the politicians decided to meet in the quieter town of Weimar.
Setting up a new constitution was the first step toward democracy but as the students find out through second order concept skills there were many similarities as well as differences to that of the Kaiser’s government.
Included in the lesson are a number of diagrams and information sheets for group work, an AFL sheet and links to the main GCSE question asked on the first slide.
The students are introduced to the GCSE question on political and economic problems that the Weimar Government faced but this question spans a number of lessons before they can attempt it.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
