Teacher: Ms. Claudia Vargas
Grade Level: 6th
OBJECTIVE:
In this unit, students will gain knowledge and analyze the events that led up to the fall of the Romanov long lasting dynasty. Through many discussions and reading material as well as research, students will have the opportunity to look at key events and characters that contributed to the rise and fall of this family. Tsar NIcholas II will be the most important character in this unit therefore, students will also learn about his family and those closest to him. Through analyzing and time surveying, students will come to the conclusion on whether the Tsar could have been able to save his family and keep his status as Tsar or if he made many mistakes from the beginning. Studenst will also evaluate the sociological and class status perspectives that affected and brought on wars to the Russian family.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. Are rulers of countries headed for failure if they begin their ruling with multiple mistakes?
2. How does one person affect the decisions of thousands?
3. How are families affected by the mistakes of a government?
NEW MEXICO STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS:
5-8 Benchmark 1-D. Skills: research historical events and people from a variety of perspectives:
1. idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, drawing
inferences and conclusions;
2. identify different points of view about an issue or topic;
and
3. use a decision-making process to identify a situation that
requires a solution; gather information, identify options, predict consequences
and take action to implement that solution.
Grade Level: 6th
OBJECTIVE:
In this unit, students will gain knowledge and analyze the events that led up to the fall of the Romanov long lasting dynasty. Through many discussions and reading material as well as research, students will have the opportunity to look at key events and characters that contributed to the rise and fall of this family. Tsar NIcholas II will be the most important character in this unit therefore, students will also learn about his family and those closest to him. Through analyzing and time surveying, students will come to the conclusion on whether the Tsar could have been able to save his family and keep his status as Tsar or if he made many mistakes from the beginning. Studenst will also evaluate the sociological and class status perspectives that affected and brought on wars to the Russian family.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. Are rulers of countries headed for failure if they begin their ruling with multiple mistakes?
2. How does one person affect the decisions of thousands?
3. How are families affected by the mistakes of a government?
NEW MEXICO STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS:
5-8 Benchmark 1-D. Skills: research historical events and people from a variety of perspectives:
1. idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, drawing
inferences and conclusions;
2. identify different points of view about an issue or topic;
and
3. use a decision-making process to identify a situation that
requires a solution; gather information, identify options, predict consequences
and take action to implement that solution.
Monday
Lesson 1 Introduction: students will receive a brief summary that tells them about the Romanov Dynasty which will eventually lead up to the topic of the last Czar Nicholas II. Through discussion, students will have the opportunity to ask about the reasons why this Czar could have been destined to failure from the very beginning of his ruling. Lesson 2 Students will engage in a group activity where the 18 Romanov rulers will be identified and placed in a timeline from the beginning of the Romanov Dynasty to the very last Czar which will be identified as the main character of this lesson. In the timeline; students will include the date each Czar or Czarina ruled and the reason their ruling ended. Lesson 3 After identifying all of the Ruling Romanovs students will finally focus on Czar Nicholas II and how his ruling period began. Students will look at the sociological aspects of this ruler in learning about the Czar’s wife, Alix of Hesse and the fact that she was of German background and tried her hardest to become a Russian by changing her name to Alexandra. One thing that also affected this Czar was the death of 1,389 people in 1896 during a celebration held for his coronation and how instead of holding a prayer for the victims, Czar Nicholas II was advised to attend a gala for the French ambassador. Answer the following questions after discussing some of the sociological aspects of these events. Questions will be graded based on how well they apply to how sociology sees and expects for rulers to reign. How were these two issues a factor in how the people saw the Czar? As a political figure in the present how important is it to keep the people happy and why wasn’t this idea applied in the years of the Romanov ruler? |
Tuesday
Lesson 4 With a better understanding of the Romanov Family, students will now be able to learn about some of the key events during Czar Nicholas II's reign. Students will read over their handed copies of the events that led to Bloody Sunday. Being known as an anti-Jew, Nicholas II blamed much of these revolts to the Jews but he didn't see how his actions were making him lose control and likeness of the people. Talking in groups, students will engage in a conversation where they will write down a minimum of 5 actions they would have done as Tsar of Russia to amend the actions of Bloody Sunday and provide examples of how their actions would have won back the trust of the people. After students finish this activity, they will share their thoughts with the class and compare their answers to other groups. Lesson 5 Through timed research, students will be able to learn about the Russian Revolution of 1905 which brought on the Duma, a Russian Parliament set up by Nicholas II after this Revolution. With a limit of 10 minutes, students will search the web and find five key events from the end of the Russian Revolution in 1905 to the later events of 1917. The Duma will be used as one of these key events but you will need to provide some information on the duties of the Duma to receive credit for it. Lesson 6 After the Russian Revolution and the Russians involvement in World War I, there were strikes all over Russia and the Tsar was warned about them and urged to do something to calm the people down. Tsar Nicholas II disregarded these urgent pleads and this finally led to his abdication. Read the attached paragraph and reflect on whether the Tsar could have avoided being abdicated or had he simply given up? Was he greatly influenced by his advisors or was it that he simply didn't care anymore? Discussion will be open on the blog page under "The Tsar Warned", please write down a brief reflection on the paragraph and respond to two of your classmates posts for credit.
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Wednesday
Lesson 7 Students, you will be doing an informative research on who were the Bolsheviks and who was Vladimir Lenin. After the Tsars abdication, the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin took over Russia and were responsible for ending the Romanov Dynasty. Research has to be done in the library using online and book research. I want to know who they were, what they did, and what their major influece was in Russia. Mininum of 2 double-typed pages, size 12 Times New Roman font. Please include a list of your sources. This will be turned in at the end of the lesson. Lesson 8 One of the characters that was most important in the lives of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra was Gregori Rasputin. He was the spiritual advisor of the Tsar and also aided Alexandra in treating Alexi (the only boy of the Tsars' family who had hemophelia). Many times, this man has been portrayed as evil and as a traitor but a lot say that he was only a spiritual man who wanted to be part of the Romanov family. Follow the two links and read each article. Upon reading these articles, students will analyze and compare how Rasputin was viewed and will also decide on which article they side with. Was Rasputin an evil man, or was he just a spiritual man? Which side do you believe and why? Was he turned into a bad guy only to make Tsar Nicholas II appear as a good guy or was he just another man who wanted the Romanovs to fail? Please respond to the following questions and turn them in to me or e-mail as an attachment. http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/12/29/vindicating-rasputin/ http://www.alexanderpalace.org/2006rasputin/index.html |
Thursday
Lesson 10 Go to the page labeled The Romanov Dynasty then click on the Multimedia Assignments tab. Follow the instructions. This will be your lesson for the day. For the journal response, please go to the Blog and write your response in the Journal tab. Lesson 11 Go to the page labeled The Romanov Dynasty then click on the Multimedia Assignments tab. Follow the instructions. This will be your lesson for the day. This lesson will be done in the computer lab and will conclude in the classroom. Lesson 12 After completing the multimedia assignments what have you learned about the Romanovs? Do you think Tsar Nicholas II could have avoided the terrible events that led to his death and all of his family? What is your opinion on the videos? Do you think there was a chance that any of the family members survived? What about the legend of Anastasia Romanov? Did she die with her whole family or not? In a separate piece of paper please answer all of these questions. Go back to your timeline and look at all the events that the Romanov Dynasty went through and tell me if they were really a successful dynasty. This assingment will be turned in at the end of the lesson. |
Friday
Lesson 13 Students will watch the Fox Studios animated film "Anastasia" for two class periods. At the end of the film, students will write a compare and contrast list of the real life events depicted in the animated film and the events that were simply made up to make the film much enjoyable to watch. At the end of this activity, students will be able to understand that a lot of myth has gone into the Romanov history but the actual facts were very different. Lesson 14 Students, you will have to complete a unit exam on the Romanov lesson plan and you will also turn in the final part of Lesson 14 |