World War I Simulation Game

This past week I introduced my students to World War I in a slightly different way: I told them absolutely NOTHING about it. I had them do an activity instead.

For this activity I told them they must first join an alliance: Royal, White, Turquoise, or Pink. When they choose an alliance they must wear that colored ribbon on them at all times and can try to convince their friends (as long as they are one of my students) to join their alliance. The team at the end of the week that has the most members wins.

Also, they can promote their alliance by hanging posters, flags, shirts, really anything that would promote their alliance. For every poster or "promotion" they received a point. The team with the most points at the end of the week wins.

The third category was a hunt and find game. I made these signs that were to be "colonies" and placed 30 of them around the school. Some were very out in the open while others were very hard to find. I enlisted some upper classmen to help me hang the posters because they had started getting curious about what I was doing. To claim a colony each team must have at least three of their members sign the poster. When the 3rd person from one alliance signs the sheet they are to take it off the wall and bring it to me. The team at the end of the week with the most colonies wins.

Lastly, I told them there was another category but the rules of that one will remain a mystery for a little bit.

So off these students went. Between every class they hunted for colonies and rallied their friends to join their alliance. I had students come to my class that already had the ribbon in their hand and wasn't sure what it even for. Then the students began asking me if it would count if they could recruit people not in my class (upper classmen, kids in different history classes, etc.). They also started asking if they could sabotage other teams posters by taking them off the walls. They were so into it!

The second to the last day I finally gave my lecture on the MAIN causes of World War I - Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. While I was teaching I was able to use examples of their activities. And then when I got to the spark (assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand) I was able to put into terms what would happen if one student from one alliance punched another one right in the hallway? Generally the answers were a bunch of worked up students ready to start a brawl. There were a few here and there of "Oh Mrs. Ham, we'd leave because you would be pulling ears hahah" but overall the students were able to inject themselves into the lesson a million times better.

This is when I told them the last part to the game - militarism. They had about 18 hours (until 1st period the next day) to give me as much scrap paper as they could find. The team with the biggest pile would win. I made them give it to me in piles because they were getting really into it and I feared (slightly) a paper ball fight in the cafeteria. This will serve as "bullets" when we do trench warfare.

At the end of the week I gave them the results. Each team that won one of the four categories got to draw out of my "treasure box". This is a box that has free homework passes, tardy pass, extra day for homework, redo pass for homework, etc. (Here is the link from the buyers on Teachers Pay Teachers https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Incentive-Coupons-Middle-Grades-350963) --> They are really awesome coupons and my 9th graders eat them up! The final results were then tallied and the team the won the most categories got their lowest daily grade replaced with a 100. I also gave all of my students a 100 for participating so the teams that didn't win anything didn't completely check out from the rest of the unit.

Once the competition was over, I told the students they still had to sit with their alliances in class until we were done with World War I. The colors of the alliances turned into countries (White to Germany, Royal to Great Britain, Turquoise to France, and Pink to Russia). Next major assignment we will be working on is journal/diary assignment and they will have to write from the perspective of someone in the country they are in - either a soldier, citizen, or nurse.

Overall, this was a FANTASTIC game that worked out so much better than I thought! I even had a few of my students tell me they were able to understand it so much better because of the game. The great thing is by the time the lecture rolled around they had already done some of the things (in smaller terms) that they were hearing about. I can't wait to fix the few issues (assign all four colors to people in your first period to get it started) and find ways to make it better!

Until time time!
Mrs. Ham

French Revolution Interactive Notebooks

So we have just finished our French Revolution Unit. During this until we tried (for the first time) interactive notebooks! *Gasp* I know, behind on the time Mrs. Ham! But we tried for just this unit, and as I expected some kids HATED them and some kids LOVED them. Below are some of the students creative works of interactive notebooks:

A lot of my students put in a good amount of effort (especially for the cover). Overall, for our first interactive notebook as students and teachers I think we did fairly well. There were certainly some learning curves and ways I could have made it better for the students. But they learned some things and one thing that stuck with them the most was "let them eat cake". It stuck with them so much that they asked if on the last day of the unit if I would let them eat cake.... so of course I did!

Until next time! 

French Revolution

**Help for my Spring Sport Kiddos**

I had this college professor that SWORE the French Revolution started all because of one simple thing – potatoes. Yeah, giggle to yourself. It seems a little weird, but she made a good point (that took her about 45 minutes to make). But she swore potatoes were the reasons behind the crazies of the French Revolution.

It all started when people began growing potatoes. They were really excited about these potatoes – it was something new to eat. And then the poor harvests began. This caused people to go from happy potato eating people to starving poor people. French peasants during this time worked hard from dawn until dusk barely getting food and making ends meet. They became very hangry. During the hangry times, The Great Fear began as peasants began terrorizing the upper estates.

They were also not so happy about the estate system. This was the social classes that they were living in.The First Estate consisted of the Catholic priests and clergy, this estate paid very little taxes but collected tithes. The Second Estate consisted of the nobility and aristocrats, who paid no taxes (but lived off the collected taxes) and controlled most of the government. Lastly we had the Third Estate. This estate was filled with mostly peasants and farmers and educated townspeople. This is where most of the French population is located.

It's pretty safe to say that the Third Estate were not the happiest campers about their estate system. They weren't happy before, but the loss of potatoes made it much worse. But they began looking at the ideas of the Enlightenment (John Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau) and thinking they should have more rights. The American Revolution added more fuel to the fire by showing the French people that there can be a successful revolution. 

Tensions were made even worse with France's terrible economy. The French government faced massive debts due to decades of lavish spending, expensive wars, & poor economic planning. By 1789, half the budget went towards interest on the national debt, 25% of people were unemployed, and the excessive spending by King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette angered French citizens. 

By 1789, France was out of money and faced financial crisis. Louis XVI called an emergency meeting of the Estates-General where members from all 3 classes could advise the king. During the Estates-General, the First & Second Estates voted to increase taxes on the Third Estate. The First & Second Estates decided to vote by order (1 vote per estate) rather than by head (by person). These decisions angered the members of the Third Estate who believed their rights were being violated. The Third Estate formed a new National Assembly to make laws for the French people. In 1789, the National Assembly swore to a Tennis Court Oath, promising a new constitution & limitations on the king’s power.

The National Assembly wrote their revolutionary ideals in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which said:“Men are born free and equal in rights”Rights include “liberty, property, security, & resistance to oppression”It guaranteed freedom of speech, &freedom of religion, & equal justice

Meanwhile, the economic crisis continued. Citizens were without food & faced starvation. Angry protesters in Paris demanded new reforms. Women marched on Versailles demanding bread. (Supposedly this is when Marie Antoinette said her famous "let them eat cake" line). When rumors circulated that the king was going to send his army to Paris, citizens attacked the prison Bastille to seize weapons to defend themselves. The storming of the Bastille in 1789 represented the beginning of the French Revolution.

In 1791, Louis XVI finally agreed to a new constitution that limited his power & created a limited monarchy. But, Louis XVI failed to work with the National Assembly & France’ problems continued. Fearing the spread of France’s revolutionary ideas, Austria & Prussia assembled armies to restore France’s absolute monarchy.

In 1792, radicals took control of France & made important decisions:War was declared against Austria & Prussia and 300,000 French soldiers were drafted into a national army in order to defend France. The French monarchy was overthrown & democratic republic was created called the National Convention. In 1793, King Louis XVI was arrested, convicted of treason, & executed by guillotine.

 

 

  

The radical leaders of the National Convention feared that “enemies of the revolution” would try to overthrow the new republic. In 1793, radical Maximilien Robespierre slowly gained control of the National Convention. From 1793 to 1794, Robespierre executed 40,000 “traitors” during an era known as the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror ended when French citizens turned on Robespierre & executed him.

The revolution came to an end in 1795, but France was in chaos. The economic crisis had not been solved & people faced starvation. England, Holland, Spain joined Austria & Prussia in the war against France. The National Convention was replaced by France’s third government in six years called the Directory. The Directory proved to be ineffective & corrupt.

In 1799, a French military general named Napoleon Bonaparte led a coup d'état & seized power in France . As emperor of France, Napoleon introduced needed reforms, defeated foreign armies, & conquered a massive French empire.

So, maybe I didn't blame everything on potatoes quite as good as my professor, but still somehow she would blame it all on potatoes.