Should King Charles have been executed for treason?

This KS3 unit of work should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities. All resources referred to are included.

Aims and Objectives:

• To know the key events leading up to and during the execution of King Charles I.
• To understand both the arguments for and against his execution.
• To write persuasively for one side of the argument.

Activities include an introductory definition of “treason” and discussion as to why this is a controversial accusation in this case. A simple overview of the background events such as Pride’s Purge is given before the students analyse a short clip from the program “The Devil’s Whore” to consider the attitudes demonstrated by those involved. Whilst listening to an account of the execution day, students create a series of illustrations and symbols as memory joggers. They then retell the events as a class using their memory joggers. A Dutch engraving of the execution is used to make inferences before a series of statements are categorised into reasons for and against the execution. Students then use their understanding to write a speech either for or against the execution. We then listen to these speeches and turn it into a competition.