SUBJECT: World History

GRADE: High School
TECHNOLOGY: Internet

BY: Christina Fischer

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Target Grade/Subject: This lesson plan is geared towards a class of underachievers in World History. While some people in the class are intelligent they all dislike doing work. On the other hand, some of the children are very slow and need a lot of help to complete simple tasks. They seem to enjoy retrieving information from the book for certain subjects much more than direct lecture. However, usually this method consists of simply copying verbatim from the book to a worksheet with little true understanding.

Objective: Have the students discover the background to the Russian Revolution on their own. The overarching goal is for them both the comprehend the important dates and names of the Russian Revolution and understand how to retrieve information on their own.

Materials: A fill in the blank handout and access to the computer lab and Internet.

Lesson Plan:

Short background to the Russian Revolution

I. Nicholas II and Alexandria’s poor ruling; little say for the common people in government. Relate this idea to the French Revolution.

II. Poor peasants throughout country.

III. Brief overview of the ideas of Karl Marx.

IV. Hand them the worksheet they need to complete. They will retrieve this information from the Internet with little guidance from the teacher. The idea is that they discover the important aspects of the Revolution on their own. I will walk around and suggest key words or sights if they are having trouble.

Evaluation: The sheet will be graded as test by how many answers they have right and an intelligent response to the essay. Their cooperation in the computer lab will be considered a class particaption grade.

Name _________________________

The Russian Revolution

Fill in the Blank (4 points each)

Russia, a large and diverse empire, was prime for a revolution due to the poor management of their Czar ____________ and Czarina ____________. They relied on _____________________ a monk who claimed to help with Alexis, the heir to the crown, rare disease ___________________. Also, the Romanovs spent a lot of money on luxuries while their people starved.

These monarchs ignored the ruling body of Russia the _____________. Like Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France they discovered the folly of ignoring the desires of the people. The poor peasants of Russia felt rejected in the political system and wanted more action from their monarchs.

In 1905 Russia lost the ________________ War and many peasants felt that the monarchs were at fault. They protested in the _________________ and many were shot.

The outbreak of World War escalted the difficulties in the country by many Russians dying and much money being spent in this war. In October of 1917 the ______________ broke out. These revolutionaries wanted Russia to ______________________.

At this point Lenin returns to Russia and organizes the ____________________ in what is known as the _________________ Revolution. Lenin’s real name was _______________. The ______________ government returned him to Russia to remove that border from their fighting. Lenin followed the teachings of _____________. Lenin’s revolutionaries called for “________, __________________ and __________________”, and appealed to the common people for support. While he claimed complete equality he felt the need for a strong organizing committee for the Revolution. Among this inner circle were ____________________ and ______________ (list any two). In the end, the revolutionaries set up a _________________ government and executed the ________________________.

Essays

1. Describe the court of the last Romanovs. (5 points)

2. Would you have joined the Bolsheviks if you were:

a) a landowner (5 points)

b) a peasant (5 points)

c) a student (5 points)

Explain your answer for all three.