Bridging the gap to year 12 with Weimar and Nazi Germany

1. Bridging the gap to year 12 with Weimar and Nazi Germany • Ian Lyell • lyelli@camgirls.vic.edu.au • Alexis Watson • alexis.watson@jmss.vic.edu.au

2. Resources • Sample assessment tasks, student responses, and learning activities have been made available in the DropBox account. • Email lyelli@camgirls.vic.edu.au for access to the sample learning tasks discussed in this session

3. Challenges of Year 12 History “Writing an essay within the time frame… It is also hard to structure the response in Section A Part B and Section B Part A - visual / source analysis. I also found it hard to link significance and effects to events as well as memorising the multiple dates…” What did you find most challenging about History: Revolutions this year? (John Monash 2012) “Keeping on top of revision and making sure I understand the events properly… It’s also really difficult to remember historiography and bullets for evidence. I’m still finding it hard to remember the timelines and statistics for the two revolutions.”

4. Challenges of Year 12 History Managing the information overload! Memorising historians’ views Memorising dates What did you find most challenging about History: Revolutions this year? (CGGS 2013) Writing to time limits Memorising historians’ views Staying up to date with revision notes

5. Year 12 Assessment • While we want to focus on good history teaching, we also need to keep in mind that part of our job is to help students attain the strongest possible results in VCE. The weight of Year 12 assessment falls on high-order questions

6. Links to Year 10 • Study of Weimar and Nazi Germany can supplement the existing Australian Curriculum content, adding engaging and rigorous material.

7. Links to VCE 20th Century • Study of Weimar and Nazi Germany can satisfy all three outcomes Unit 1 Twentieth Century History.

8. Why Modern Germany? • Easy to implement • Engaging and popular subject matter – high student interest • Extensive resources • Content similarity to VCE History: Revolutions • Collapse of Weimar Republic = study of revolutionary ideas, leaders, movements and events • Nazi Germany = evaluation of creation of a new society by revolutionary movement • Extensive opportunities for students to debate causes, predict outcomes, and speculate about alternatives – good historical teaching!

9. Goals of the unit • Generate interest in continuing the study of history through to Year 12 • Help students develop useful study and revision skills for managing large volume of content in VCE History: Revolutions • Acclimatise students to the style of assessment used in Year 12 • Build historical analysis and writing skills to a level suitable for Year 12 assessment

10. Unit Outline Main Content • German Revolution (1918) • Treaty of Versailles (1919) • Political/economic crises of Weimar Republic (1919-33) • Origins and rise of the Nazi Party (1919-33) • Creation of the dictatorship and police state (1933-4) • Changes in everyday life in Nazi Germany (1933-39) • Path to war in Europe (1933-39) • The Holocaust (1941-45) Assessment • Test 1 - Revolutions-style Extended Response • Test 2 – Revolutions-style Source Analysis • Formal research essay

11. Extended Response questions Example: • Using three or four main points, explain how Lenin’s ‘April Theses’ contributed to a revolutionary situation in Russia up to and including October 1917. (2013 exam) Assesses: • Knowledge • Ability to make causational links • Ability to analyse historical processes Challenges students encounter in Year 12: • Students write either one sentence per point (low extreme) or an entire essay (high extreme) • Students unaccustomed to providing specific evidence • Students unaccustomed to analysing historical processes

12. Extended Response questions The best…answers usually successfully signpostedwith ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’ and ‘thirdly’, which set up an excellent structurefor the answer and gave events in chronological order. Many students commenced their answer with a brief contention that touched on their main points and this was also an excellent way to begin a response. The most successful responses used accurate, specific historical terms and included dates, places and names. VCAA Assessment Report, 2013 VCE History: Revolutions Exam

13. Adapted questions • Using three or four main points, explain the events which allowed Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Provide evidence to support your answer. (Easy) • Using three or four points, explain how the Great Depression contributed to the rise of the Nazis between 1929 and 1933. Provide evidence to support your answer. (Medium) • Using three or four points, explain how Hitler used his powers as Chancellor from January 1933 onwards to become a dictator by the end of 1934. Provide evidence to support your answer. (Challenging)

14. Extended Response strategies Basics: • Aim to have 4 points. • Use the space that is provided. Going over the page means that you are writing too much. • Your answers must consist of – Accurate and precise knowledge of context + Use of evidence + Ability to make a judgment – “Explain the importance of…” = Evaluation Source: Elisabeth Morgan

15. Extended Response strategies • Teach students to identify and select relevant information (highlighting, note-taking, mindmapping) • Emphasise causation and outcomes (timelines are helpful) • Emphasise regular planning and writing practice • Provide many sample questions and responses

16. Activity 1: Timeline • Create a timelineof events leading up to the creation of Hitler’s dictatorship • Explain howeach event contributed to the creation of Hitler’s dictatorship • Which four were the most important? Justify your answer.

17. Activity 2: Fill in the grid • With a partner, fill in the cause-effect-significance grid. Ensure that the ‘significance’ column helps explain why Hitler was able to become dictator in 1934.

18. Activity 3: Peer review • Prior to teaching students the structure of Part A responses I gave them a sample. The sample was presented in a Google doc. with a series of questions to answer. As a class, students shared their thoughts and opinions on the document. They were able to work on the one document at the same time and see all responses. It allowed the more passive students to have a voice and share. Annotating Student Responses Using Google Docs.

19. Google Docs peer review • Students were given the following questions: • What do you notice about the style of question? Identify the key words and/or phrases. • Comment on the structure of the student's response. Are there any common features? • Identify things you think the student has done well. • Identify things that you think the student can improve on. • Assign the student a mark out of 10. • Students were given an assessment rubric to assist them in completing number 5.

20. Google Docs peer review • This task generated a highly valuable discussion: • Students had a good understanding of what was expected of them in this particular style of response. • The class recognised the importance of identifying the key terms of the question, for example, ‘explain’ and the need to use a variety of specific evidence including dates, events, leaders / people, ideologies, figures and statistics etc. • More importantly, they identified the structure of the response (cause → event → effect) and acknowledged the need to PLAN!

21. Sample response The Treaty of Versailles, known as the ‘Diktat’ was signed on 28 June 1919, and was resented by most Germans for its unduly harsh terms. Firstly, Germany was forced to pay 132 billion gold marksin reparations to the victorious allied nations over 50 years. Germany’s economy had already been devastated by WWI, and the additional burden of these payments magnified Germany’s economic issues. In 1923, Germany could not afford to pay anymore and so the French occupied the Ruhr – an industrial region of Germany. The loss is productivity was a major setback for Germany and hyperinflation ensued. Secondly, Clause 231, known as the ‘war guilt clause’ greatly humiliated Germany and damaged the citizens’ national pride…. Signpost phrases Specific factual evidence Analysis of significance

22. Source Analysis • Identify two groups that are depicted in the representation. (2 marks) • Identify two ways in which the artist emphasises the revolutionary endeavour of the Party members in the representation. (2 marks) • By referring to parts of the representation and using your own knowledge, explain the political challenges facing the Chinese Communist Party by 1968. (6 marks) • Evaluate to what extent this representation provides an accurate depiction of the challenges facing the Chinese Communist Party in the consolidation of the new society. In your response, refer to parts of the representation and to different views of the Revolution. (20 marks) Unknown artist ‘The traitor Liu Shaoqi must forever be expelled from the Party!’ November 1968 (2013 exam)

23. Teaching analytical skills • How to work with and assess understanding of sources: • Provide scaffoldsfor working with sources • Assessment should rely on questions of graduated complexity per Bloom’s – sources are not just for reading comprehension! • Assessment should require students to synthesise own knowledge with information presented in sources - this is good historical practice!

24. Source Analysis part c. questions Typical example: • By quoting from the source and using your own knowledge, explain how the Wuchang Uprising contributed to Revolution of 1911. (2013 exam) Assesses: • Knowledge • Ability to contextualise and interpret the source • Ability to synthesise evidence from source and own knowledge Challenges students encounter in Year 12: • Students have difficulty synthesising - they are confident in EITHER discussing the source OR their own knowledge.

25. Source Analysis part c. questions The extraction of information from sources and analysis in order to draw conclusions…is a very challenging part of the paper… The strongest responses showed comprehension of the main idea depicted in the source and were able to add detailed factual knowledge, containing dates and names… Many students did not add their own factual information and just explained what the image showed about the particular event or period in the Revolution. VCAA Assessment Report, 2013 VCE History: Revolutions Exam

26. Source Analysis part d. questions Typical example: • Evaluate to what extent this extract presents a complete depiction of the circumstances that led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Assesses: • Ability to compare and contrast perspectives of the past • Ability to synthesise evidence from the source with own knowledge • Ability to sustain original judgments with evidence Challenges students encounter in Year 12: • Students rely on simplistic judgments (e.g. ‘this is biased’) • Students have difficulty sustaining original arguments with factual evidence or elements of the source

27. Source Analysis part c. questions The most successful students showed an understanding of a historical viewpoint... They comparedit with their own view and supported their view with factual information and ideas from the source… Weaker responses struggled to place the source in its historical context… They tended to give descriptions of the source’s content [and] resorted to highly generalised discussion such as ‘this is biased because…’ Weaker answers were not well supported with factual evidence. VCAA Assessment Report, 2013 VCE History: Revolutions Exam

28. Source Analysis part d. strategies • Emphasise that all sources are potentially useful, but that no single source can ever provide a complete depiction • Teach students to identify the medium (journalism, propaganda, historical) and then discuss the audience andpurposeof source (to persuade? to inform?) • Teach students to move beyond simplistic identification of primary/secondary sources and commentary on bias

29. More sophisticated evaluations

30. Evaluating merits of sources

31. Scaffolded evaluation How is this helpful in understanding the Nazis’ rise to power? What other key information do I need to explain the Nazis’ rise to power?

32. Source Analysis sample • Identify two features of the image which suggest that Hitler had become a dictator by the end of 1934. • Identify two features of the image which suggest that Germans were forced to accept Nazi ideas and beliefs after Hitler came to power. “I Shouldn't Be Surprised if Hitler Wins Der Election” Cartoon by David Low which was published in the Evening Standard on 27 Mar 1936

33. Source Analysis sample • Explain how Hitler transformed Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship. Refer to parts of the cartoon and use facts from your own knowledge to support your response. “I Shouldn't Be Surprised if Hitler Wins Der Election” Cartoon by David Low which was published in the Evening Standard on 27 Mar 1936

34. Source Analysis sample • How useful is this source in helping historians understand German society by August 1934? Discuss whether the source is reliable and accurate, and refer to parts of the cartoon and facts from your own knowledge to support your response. “I Shouldn't Be Surprised if Hitler Wins Der Election” Cartoon by David Low which was published in the Evening Standard on 27 Mar 1936

35. Research skills • Teach students practical research skills – there is not the luxury of time to do these in year 12 • Give students an orientation of school/local library and introduce to librarians • Recognising reliable sources (annotated bibliographies will help) • Advanced google search functions • Highlighting and note-taking strategies (prevents regurgitation of large slabs of text) • Referencing – footnoting and bibliographies (will help in other subjects and beyond school)

36. Research assignment Essay Questions • Evaluate the impact of Nazi policy on onesocial group of your choice in Germany between 1933 and 1939. • Evaluate to what degree the Nazis were successful in achieving their aims in onearea of cultural life of your choice between 1933 and 1939. • Evaluate the role of one institution or group in maintaining Nazi control over German society between 1933 and 1939. Suggested topics for discussion • The experience of young people • The experience of German Jews • Suppression of religious freedom and Reich Church • The role of the Gestapo in controlling the population • Nazi Cinema (e.g. Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will) • Aryan Art and ‘Degenerate art’ exhibitions • Many other choices…

37. Final Thoughts • Coordinate with your school’s Year 12 History teacher(s) • Set common, shared goals and expectations, such as: • Weekly reading and revision notes • Separate question/answer booklets for assessment • Set rigorous, challenging assessments in common formats • …not dioramas! • Use appropriate rubrics / criteria sheets

38. Recommended resources • AlphaHistory.com • Many GCSE texts from the UK, such as: • Ben Walsh GCSE Modern World History 2nd ed • Steve Waugh Essential Modern World History • Dale Banham & Christopher CulpinGermany 1919-1945 for SHP GCSE • Tony BartaNazi Germany: Understanding the Third Reich • Greg Lacey & Keith Shephard, Germany 1918-1945: A Study in Depth • Several good documentaries: • Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler (BBC, 1989) • Nazis: A Warning from History series (BBC, 2007)