Summary
Students will explore the freedoms granted in a democratic constitution, representative of its citizens and expressed throughout the society. Students will identify how a democratic constitution can be threatened by world events. This lesson includes video clips and excerpts from the 2017 University of Oklahoma Teach-In which was a symposium of renown US academics and lectures at OU.
Essential Question(s)
How do we know we are free? Are societies reflective of their system of government? Can a system of government be destroyed?
Snapshot
Engage
Students respond to the question, "How do you know you are free?"
Explore
Students examine photos of U.S. society and describe how the U.S. (democratic) Constitution supports a free society. Students also infer how culture is shaped by a free society.
Explain
Students watch a short video clip from Eric Weitz's lecture about the Weimar Republic of Germany that describes this democracy in German society after WWI. Students also conduct guided research of the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic.
Extend
Students create a CER statement that supports a claim about democracy or the Constitution.
Evaluate
The notes from the guided research, the photo match, and the CER statement all serve as assessments for this lesson.
Materials
Student devices with internet access
Lesson Slides (attached)
Guided research handout (attached)
Photo slides
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Show slide 3 to the class, which asks, "How do I know I am free?" Ask students to think about what this question means and how they know they are free. Pair students and ask them to share their thoughts and opinions about this statement with one another. Encourage them to think of "proof" for their response to this statement. What proof do they have that they are free? Allow five minutes for discussion.
Have students partner with another pair of students and continue the discussion as a group of four. Allow another five minutes for this discussion. Ask groups to choose a spokesperson and share their opinions and "proof" related to the statement. This is a variation of the Think, Pair, Share strategy.
Explore
How is the Constitution expressed in our society? Keep students in their groups of four from the Engage activity and display slide 4. Tell groups that they are going to receive 10 photos and access to the Constitution. If this is a U.S. Government class, students should have access to the Constitution in their textbooks. or online.
Explain to students that they will look at the photos and discuss with their group how the Constitution supports these activities in our society. Allow time for groups to discuss the photos and find statements expressed within the Constitution that support these activities.
Once photo matches are complete, have groups share their matches. Discuss as a class how our society might look different without these rights guaranteed by the Constitution. A teacher answer key is provided to drive the discussion.
This activity should take 30 to 35 minutes and will end Day 1 of this lesson.
Explain
Case Study, The Rise and Fall of the Weimar Republic of Germany: (Day 2) Display slide 5 as a review from the previous day and share the quote by Eric Weitz. Discuss the question on slide five that asks students, "What type of society is expressed through the U.S. Constitution?" Ask students to recall the photo match and how the US Constitution drives aspects of our society.--An example might be the right to protest or free speech that is not freely expressed in countries with dictatorships or authoritarian rule.
Tell students that today they will examine the rise and fall of another democratic society, the Weimar Republic of Germany, through a video clip from historian Dr. Eric Weitz. Dr. Weitz was a guest lecturer at the University of OK and this video recording was made at that time.
Display slide 6 and ask students to look for evidence that democracy was flourishing in the Weimar Republic of Germany. As they watch the video clip, students should take notes or jot down ideas of how the democracy of the Weimar Republic was expressed throughout this society.
The video should begin with the beginning of his lecture titled, Eric Weitz: The Promise and Tragedy of a Constitution: Weimar Germany, 1918-1933. This video is 51 minutes in length and Dr. Weitz shows photos from the Weimar Republic that illustrate a free and open society. For purposes of this lesson, start the video where Dr. Weitz begins his lecture (14:32 minutes in) and end the video at approximately 26:16 when Eric Weitz says... “the way it percolates through society that makes it so important.” This clip from the video is approximately 15 minutes in length using the start and stop times listed.
Display slide 7. Place students in groups of three. Once the video clip is completed, ask students to share their notes and ideas with their group of how democracy was expressed in Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic 1918-1933.
Pass out the guided research handout to all students. Keep students in their working groups of three. They will share the responsibility for finding out these questions in their research and come to a group consensus about the conclusion. Students will also need a device and internet access to the websites provided in the guided research. Allow a full class period for this research. Tell students that taking quality notes and sharing research information within the group, will assist them with the next parts of this lesson.
You might also want to conduct a class discussion of the guided questions on the handout to solidify the information related to the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic.
After notes are completed, display slide seven and pose the essential questions for a general class discussion: Are societies reflective of their system of government? Can a system of government be destroyed?
Extend
Putting it All together: Show slide 8 that introduces Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) Statements. Slide 9 gives an example set of CER statements.
There are three statements on slide 10, and students will choose ONE of these statements as a claim. You can also allow students to create their own claims. Students will provide evidence for their claim from their notes of the research on the Weimar Republic and the the video by Eric Weitz. Students will also create reasoning statements that tie their claim and evidence together.
Evaluate
The photo match activity, the notes created from guided research, and the CER statements are all possible assessments. You can also have students complete the optional assessment below to further demonstrate their understanding of the lesson.
Optional: Through the research of the Weimar Republic, students also learned more about the Nazis and their rise to power. The Nazis brought an authoritarian militaristic style of government that replaced the Weimar Republic. Continuing with the statement that "A Constitution is expressed throughout its society," have students find five photos that demonstrate how the Nazi government was expressed throughout German society during WWII. They should label each photo with how they perceive it to be an expression of the Nazi government.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-Pair-Share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5064b49
K20 Center. (n.d.). Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER). Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f506fc09
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. & Thompson, S. (2014). American assistance to Weimar Germany. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/american-assistance/
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. & Thompson, S. (2014). An introduction to the Weimar Republic. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-republic-introduction/
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. & Thompson, S. (2014). The rise of the NSDAP. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/rise-of-the-nsdap/
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. & Thompson, S. (2014). The Weimar constitution. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-constitution/
Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. & Thompson, S. (2014). Why the Weimar Republic failed. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/why-the-weimar-republic-failed/
National Constitution Center. (n.d.). The interactive constitution. Retrieved from https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution
OU IACH (2017, Oct. 10). Eric Weitz: The promise and tragedy of a Constitution: Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1602&v=cOKnkQWs1-0
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.) Treaty of Versailles. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/treaty-of-versailles