Emily DeRubeis Week 5

Analyzing Primary Sources

Stage 1 Identifying Desired Results
asking overarching questions/statement

Big Ideas/Concepts or Enduring Understanding: The people of France focused on Liberty,

Eternity, and Fraternity. The peasants of France were poor, starving, and dying and the nobleman
were doing nothing to help them. The people of French did not give up until a new constitution
was created: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789).
Essential Question(s): What were the people of France looking to change? What was included
in their new constitution?
Standards (GLCEs/HSCEs):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to
such features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
Learning Objectives: Students will identify the key concepts presented in the The Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) by analyzing and defining them in groups. They will
demonstrate their knowledge of what they have learned through the summative assessment.

Stage 2 Determining Acceptable Evidence

gathering evidence

Lesson Assessments: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the new French Constitution
during the French Revolution by analyzing and discussing it in class.

Emily DeRubeis Week 5

diagnostic: Students will analyze a photo of the storming of the Bastille.
formative assessments: In groups, students will paraphrase the articles of The Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) and we will discuss them as a class. These will be turned in at
the end of class.
summative assessments: Students will identify the differences and similarities between the The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and the Bill of Rights from the US Constitution
through class discussion.

Stage 3 Planning the Learning Experience

appropriate instructional activities

Lesson Procedure
Grade Level: 10
Unit: The French Revolution
Lesson Title: Analyzing the New Constitution: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen (1789)
Estimated Time to Complete: 45 minutes
List of Materials Needed: Copy of the primary source (provided by teacher), worksheet to
analyze the articles, and a copy of the Bill of Rights

Opening/Activator- Students will look at a painting of the Storming of the Bastille

- Students will write down any questions they have about the photo
- As a class, we will talk about what they see, feel, imagine what it would sound like, and how
they read the painting. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/
Prise_de_la_Bastille.jpg

Primary Source Analyzing http://www.studentsfriend.com/aids/joel/2%20Enlightenment/DBQ/

FrenchRevolutionPrimarySourceDocumentPacket.pdf Document #2 The Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)
- Students will receive a copy of this document
- They will be placed in groups of 4 and will be asked to read each article together and write
them in their own words, including the opening part. For the sake of this lesson, I will not
include the overview that this document provides because I want them to understand what the
meanings of the article are.

Emily DeRubeis Week 5

- After they have done this, as a class we will go through them one by one and discuss what the

students think they all mean

- As we pass through each article, I will ask if a student would like to share what their group
wrote. After they read it, if another group disagrees we will listen to their interpretation.
- As a class we will talk about and ask:
- What does the article mean?
- Why do you think it was included in this Constitution?
Once we have read through all of the articles we will consider the following questions:
- Is there a particular law you identify with? Why or why not?
- Which law would be the most important to you?
- Why do you think these laws were included in the Constitution?
- What do you think these laws demonstrate about the abuse of power that had
occurred in the upperclass?
- Which qualities did the people of France choose to focus in on? (Liberty, Equality, and
Fraternity)
- What does Liberty mean?
- What does Equality mean?
- What does Fraternity mean?
- Why do you think they chose to focus on those qualities the most?

Checking for Understanding- Compare the Bill of Rights from the US Constitution
http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/
The French combined other Constitutions to formulate their own ideas and create The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The US Constitution was one of them. How does
the Bill of Rights compare?
- Teacher will provide a copy of the Bill of Rights
- As a class, we will compare and contrast the amendments in the Bill of Rights and the articles
in The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
Students will be given a few minutes to read them on their own
They will be asked:
Analyze the two documents. Do you see any similarities between the two documents?
Which articles are similar, and how?
Are there any differences between the two documents?
Why do you think the US Constitution influenced The Declaration of the Rights of Man
and Citizen?
Can you think of other documents that may have influenced the French Revolutions
constitution? (English Bill of Rights/Magna Carta)