Lesson 2

Lesson: Germanys Path to War (Part 1)

Objective: Students will be able to explain, step by step, the actions Hitler took that led
Germany to war. They will also be able to explain what Britain and France did in response
to Hitlers actions, particularly the policy of appeasement. Students will create an outline
for a storyboard they will be making, depicting Hitlers path to war.
Common Core Standards:
10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide
an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier
events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative
analysis in print or digital text.
Materials: Tablets, blogs, PowerPoint presentation, storyboard planning sheet,
pencils/pens
Directions: Review a few of the vocabulary terms from yesterdays lesson. Explain how
both the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, and the onset of the Great Depression,
served to give Hitler an opportunity to influence Germans to follow him. Have students go
to their blogs and take notes as you present a PowerPoint presentation on Hitlers path to
war. Lecture on the presentation, which discusses key ideas like appeasement, Hitlers
rearming of Germany, his annexation of Austria, etc.
Students then get in pairs. Explain that they are to use what theyve just learned about
Hitler and Germanys path to war to create a storyboard depicting these events. But first,
they are to complete a storyboard planning sheet, on which they will plan out exactly what
they will draw and write for each of the ten boxes in the storyboard. The planning sheet
provides an outline for students to fill out showing what will go in each box in the
storyboard, including the scene, actions that occur, characters present, landscape and
props, and a caption. Each student is responsible for turning in a planning sheet (though
they will be identical within each pair), and each pair will be responsible for turning in one
full-color storyboard. They wont have time to begin drawing the actual storyboard until
the following day, but for today they are to begin their planning sheet.