Total War
Concept Formation Lesson Plan
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/24/article-2330272-015727D3000004B0-943_634x481.jpg
- UK Daily Mail, Hiroshima, August 1945
Claire Monfort
Jeremy Stoddard
Curriculum and Instruction
October 23, 2013
Concept Formation Lesson Plan
Concept Title: Total War
Grade Level/Class: General 9th Grade World History II, 1500 – present.
Length: 60 Minutes
Overview:
This concept formation lesson plan is designed to teach 9th grade World History II
students the concept of Total War. Students will participate through examining examples of the
concept and identifying its critical attributes, as well as further examples, and non-examples. To
do this, students will look at four different examples of a Total War, identifying similarities,
differences, and deducing both critical attributes and a concept definition that includes those
critical attributes. Once students have defined the concept, they will use and apply this
knowledge to argue whether or not other items constitute as examples, or non-examples, of the
concept. Through this inductive approach, students create their own mastery of the content.
Students will use the Information Retrieval Worksheet to record specific details from four items
that represent Total War. The use of a concept formation lesson plan extends a concept through
space and time, connecting one event in history to another through its similarities. This lesson
plan should take 65 minutes.
Background Information:
Before the Total War Concept Formation Lesson, students will have just finished
learning about the end of World War I, the conditions and ramifications of the Treaty of
Versailles, and the global depression in the Interwar Period. This lesson will serve as the
introduction to World War II.
VA SOL Standard WHII.11(a-c)
1) The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural
developments during the Interwar Period by describing the League of Nations and the
mandate system;
2) The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural
developments during the Interwar Period by citing causes and assessing the impact of
worldwide depression in the 1930s.
3) The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural
developments during the Interwar Period by examining events related to the rise,
aggression, and human costs of dictatorial regimes in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy,
and Japan, and identifying their major leaders, i.e., Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito
Mussolini, Hirohito, and Hideki Tojo.
Rationale for Instructional Model:
The concept formation model provides scaffolding so students can learn new information
and further their understanding in the designated subject area. Scaffolding takes the place of a
step-by-step process, which helps students learn a new concept, or “an idea for organizing and
classifying experiences and facts into groups with common qualities” (2011, Larson and Keiper,
153). Instead of “concept-telling,” students will create their own mastery of the concept through
the use of a graphic organizer and small group sharing. Concepts are important across
disciplines and over time and space, which is why it is important to provide examples that cover
a wide range of time and geography. Concepts by definition are abstract, and Total War links
war, economics, government, geography, and sociology. Through studying “Total War,”
students will learn about 146 B.C. through the 20th century. In the process of the concept
formation lesson plan, students will also come to realize how modern technology and large-scale
mobilization has altered the conditions of war in the 20th and 21st centuries. Using a concept
formation lesson plan to teach the concept Total War ensures that students will form a strong
understanding of the term and learn critical content through their own construction of
knowledge.
The lesson plan is an opportunity for scaffolding; guiding students where they need
assistance, but ultimately letting students identify the critical attributes and create the concept
definition, resulting in deeper knowledge. Choosing Total War for this lesson plan also allows
students to comprehend a term that can explain and enhance topics required by school and state
standards. In the process of this lesson, students will have the opportunity to learn related
vocabulary, including: combatants, détente, mobilization, genocide, war crimes, lebensraum, and
many more. This lesson plan is conducive to students comparing and contrasting different
examples, applying their base of knowledge for future analysis. It integrates individual stories
about events, wars in this case, which helps students form a more holistic conception, in which
continuity and change are linked in time and across cultures. The curriculum of World History is
thousands of miles wide and an inch deep, discouraging deep thinking in order to connect
historical events to each other, or to see big picture cause and effect. Total War is a concept that
can link events together, as well as help students see general trends and causes of the Industrial
Revolution and modernization in technology and communications. The concept formation
lesson can help students develop the habits of mind to study the past and its relationship to the
present.
Objectives:
Academic:
1. Students will identify the critical attributes of Total War, including but not limited to, the
complete mobilization of a society’s resources, the goal of war is the destruction of the
enemy, the lack of distinction between combatants and noncombatants in destruction, and
the violation of common war etiquette or war laws;
2. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to define Total War and identify its four
main critical attributes;
3. Students will be able to distinguish items as examples or non-examples of Total War,
based on whether or not they contain the four attributes;
4. The student will demonstrate knowledge of World War I and World War II by explaining
major events, identifying major leaders of the war, and examining the Holocaust and
other examples of genocide in the twentieth century; (WHII.10 and WHII.12)
Links to NCSS Standards 2, 6, and 9.
Skills:
1. Students will be able to apply key concepts such as time, chronology, causality, change,
conflict, and complexity to explain connections among patterns of historical change and
continuity; (NCSS.2.b)
2. Students will use critical thinking skills to decide whether or not items are examples or
non-examples of Total War.
Assessment: At the beginning of the lesson, I will share my expectations to the students. Each
worksheet will have clear instructions. I will provide feedback for each individual student
through private notes, attached to their journal entry they will complete for the next day.
Formative:
1. Students will be assessed through listening to the quality and thoughtfulness of their
contributions to small and large group discussions. Said contributions should be
supported through the use of critical thinking. I will walk around the class during small
group discussion to assess individual student participation, answer questions, and redirect
the conversation if needed. Feedback will be given to each student following the
completion of the lesson through notes.
2. Students will be assessed on the depth, content, and completion of their Data Chart and
their evaluation of Examples and Non-Examples.
Summative:
1. The day following the lesson, students will complete a journal entry examining a piece of
artwork, using their journal to record what they see, what is interesting to them, and how
it relates to the concept Total War covered in the previous class.
Content and Instructional Strategies:
I.
The Concept Definition:
a. Definition:
i. Total War is a war involving the complete mobilization of a society’s
resources, the deliberate large-scale violence perpetrated on civilians to
achieve absolute destruction of an enemy, and the disregard for the laws of
war.
b. Critical Attributes:
i. Complete wartime mobilization of a society’s resources;
ii. The goal of war is the absolute destruction of an enemy;
iii. Extensive violence is extended from military forces to civilian populations
and areas away from the battlefield;
iv. The laws of war are disregarded.
II.
Hook (10 minutes) - http://ahiv.alexanderstreet.com.proxy.wm.edu/View/553440
(27:48-30:17)
a. To engage students in the concept formation lesson, students will watch a clip
from a History Channel documentary, describing the British Royal Air Force
bombing of Hamburg, Germany on July 25, 1943. The video clip lasts
approximately 2.5 minutes, containing firsthand testimony from a German
housewife. Students will answer the following questions:
i. Where was the firestorm, and who were the attackers?
ii. What was the physical destruction as a result of the bombing?
iii. What was the total number of casualties?
III.
Data-Retrieval Chart and Example Analysis (13 minutes)
a. After briefly discussing students’ reactions to the video clip, each student will
receive a blank Data Chart and the Examples of Concept. The Data Chart will
help students gather and record information.
b. Students will work in pairs to complete the Data Chart, using the Examples of
Concept as the source of information.
c. After 10 minutes of completing the chart and engaging in small group discussion
with their assigned pair, students will report their findings to the whole class,
compare findings, and ask any clarifying questions.
IV.
Defining and Labeling the Concept (20 minutes)
a. After completing the Data Chart, students will complete the Information
Gathering Worksheet.
b. First, I will instruct students to look at the examples, and describe how they are
different from each other. This step requires students to contemplate how
examples of a concept can be different, but still be an example of the same
concept. Students may work in their pairs. I will ask for volunteers to share their
differences and I will write them on a piece of paper, projected onto the screen
using the Document Camera. (5 minutes)
c. Next, I will instruct students to look at the examples, and identify how they are
similar to each other. Students may work in their pairs. This step provides
scaffolding by directing students’ attention to the answers they provided for the
Data Chart. I will ask for volunteers to share their similarities, and I will write all
of these similarities on a piece of paper, projected onto the screen using the
Document Camera. (5 minutes)
d. Next, students will work in pairs to identify four critical attributes from the
similarities and differences we have identified as a class. If the students are
struggling to identify a critical attribute, I will point to the similarities and ask
students to think about a way to combine some or condense them into four. Once
most pairs have four listed, I will ask for volunteers to share their critical
attributes with the class. As a class, we will come to a consensus about the
critical attributes of Total War. (5 minutes)
o Once students have identified four critical attributes, I will ask them to work in
pairs to produce a definition of the concept, using all the critical attributes
identified. I will ask for two or three volunteers to share their definition, at which
point students will modify their definition or expand upon what they have written.
Once the class has produced one cohesive definition, I will ask the class for
suggestions as to what to label the concept. If Total War is not suggested, I will
present it. I will only accept labels if students can explain why they have chosen
that label. In other words, a label is only acceptable if students are able to justify
how it is related to the four critical attributes of the concept. (5 minutes)
V.
Classifying (17 minutes)
a. To assess student understanding of Total War, I will ask students to classify and
distinguish items into examples and non-examples. This corresponds to Type #1
of Classifying. I will instruct students to read and study the new items, decide
whether they represent an example or a non-example, and why. I will also ask
students to note the items that they cannot determine one way or another. For
this task, students will work individually for the first ten minutes. For the last two
minutes, I will instruct students to discuss their findings with their partner. (12
minutes)
b. The class will go over the Classifying Items Worksheet and I will ask volunteers
to share their answers, and why they decided as they did. This is to assess that
students have an understanding of the concept and its critical attributes. (5
minutes)
Resources:
- Internet connection – Video for hook
- Overhead projector
- 26 copies of the Information Gathering Worksheet
- 26 copies of the Data Chart
- 26 copies of the Examples of Concept
- 26 copies of Classifying Items Worksheet
- Document Scanner
Differentiation:
This lesson plan has been designed for diverse learners. Information is presented through
videos, images, text, and oral communication. The activities are also varied in their difficulty,
with easier recall questions on the Data Chart and during the opening activity after watching the
video. In contrast, students will need to practice critical thinking skills and in-depth analysis in
developing critical attributes, a definition, and in distinguishing examples from non-examples.
Students are grouped together in pairs to assist thinking, help each other’s understanding of the
critical attributes, and to help engage each other in the activity. Students will be matched up
heterogeneously, so a stronger student may help that one struggling student. Similarly, if one
student is gifted in reading, while they struggle in oral communication, students can divide the
duties of the activities accordingly. These pairs also assist in the exchange of ideas, helping
students towards the goal of collaboration. Small groups allows for shy students to participate,
while large group discussions allows for more outspoken students to share.
Adaptations:
The concept formation lesson has been created and developed to aid struggling students
in their academic success. A few students in the 9th Grade class have reading comprehension
difficulties, and the video, images, and partnership takes this into account. I can also read
examples aloud to aid those students with low reading comprehension, as can large group
discussion as a class. The font on the Examples of Concepts will be larger than 12 pt, to help
students who have visual impairments. The lesson plan is highly structured with specific
instructions for each worksheet, minimizing misbehavior during transition periods. If requested
by the student, I will provide additional notes, back up examples, or any additional classroom
supplies provided in the lesson. I will also give positive behavior specific reinforcement to
students during the lesson plan, especially to encourage any and all forms of participation during
the large group discussion. I can also arrange students in different seats depending on if they
have visual impairments and need to be sat closer to the overhead projector screen.
Reflection:
Creating this lesson has helped me begin to master the concept formation lesson plan,
while also showing me that it is difficult to choose an appropriate concept with examples ranging
in time and space. In creating this lesson plan, I have had to identify the critical attributes of a
concept, which is not something that I have done very often, and is more difficult than I would
have thought. This is a possible concern if I were to teach this lesson plan, because if I had
difficulties distinguishing the critical attributes, 25 9th graders will certainly have trouble. It is
the first time they have looked at the concept this in-depth, while I have spent a week and a half
researching and finding examples.
While total war is not commonly taught explicitly, it is implicitly covered in many areas
of the social studies disciplines. Therefore, while students may not know it by label or name,
they will have heard of examples, or might have ideas, about what it means and what it looks
like.
It is also possible that students will have trouble identifying critical attributes, because
my CT has mentioned that they have difficulty summarizing or highlighting key information.
Pulling out similarities and difficulties should help this step, but I might have to guide them in
the right direction in certain steps of the lesson plan.
There is always the chance that technology will stop working, but there are a number of
possible back-ups. First, instead of projecting the concepts on the board, students can look at the
concept examples on their own piece of paper. If I cannot load the video, there are a number of
photographs I can use from the American Heritage World War I and World War II books, which
I have access to.
Classroom management can become a problem when students are working in pairs, that
is why I will write up the overview of our class so students know what they should be doing
when, and I will walk around the class to use proximity to discourage misbehavior, as well as
assess how well students are keeping up with the various tasks.