American Revolution Comparing Revolutions

Goals & Objectives

Students will recognize the similarities & differences between the French and American
Revolutions.
Students will reflect on the revolutions and substantiate whether the revolutions were just
or not.

California State Content Standards

10.2 Students compare and contrast the Glorious Revolution of England, the American
Revolution, and the French Revolution and their enduring effects worldwide on the
political expectations for self-government and individual liberty.

10.2.3 Understand the unique character of the American Revolution, its spread to other
parts of the world, and its continuing significance to other nations.

Common Core Literacy Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details;
provide an objective summary of the text.

Driving Historical Question

How are the American Revolution and the French Revolution similar? How are they
different?
Where the Revolutionaries always in the right morally?

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) Time:10

Students will be instructed to perform a quick write about the French Revolution to give
the teacher a better understanding of their overall comprehension of the topic. The teacher
will then review the major events from the French Revolution to remind students of the
timeline of events. This will either act as a review of the topic, spark a memory to the
causes for the events, or allow students that have forgotten certain details to connect the
dots themselves. This review is meant to prep them for the compare and contrast
discussion that they will have later.

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) Time:

Vocabulary will be infused into the lesson delivery. All new words presented to the
students will be highlighted and defined in the margin to further academic vocabulary
development.
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) Time:15
Each student will have the chrome book in front of them and be given two websites that they
can use as resources. These sites have video overviews, articles summarizing major events,
pictures and speeches written in the period. Each website covers a different revolution, and
have roughly the same amount of information on them. Each student will go through both
websites reading the articles and looking at primary sources to get a better grasp of the
influences of each revolution. The articles also go in chronological order of the events that
occur which means students will see the beginning and ends of each revolution through their
research. Every student should have an equal understanding of each revolution and their
historical importance.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) Time:20

After completing the research portion, students will be placed in groups of 4. They will be
given the task of comparing and contrasting the American Revolution to the French
Revolution. Using the websites as a reference tool, students will complete a group Venn
Diagram to organize their thoughts. Half of each group will be focused on the American
Revolution and the other side will focus on the French Revolution. Referencing back to the
website if needed, the students should be able to flush out details like causes, influences on
historical figures, methods of revolution, and the outcome. By discussing their topic, the
students will be able to recognize if aspects overlap or if they are unique to one revolution.
By splitting the group, the students will become the researchers for that topic. They will
need to find the details on their website that answer the suggested topics referenced on the
assignment. Since both sides will be sharing and discussing their topic, the students should
start seeing some similarities between the two events. By discussing the details and events
for each revolution, the students will have a dialog comparing and contrasting which will
then be translated to the Venn Diagram.

Lesson Closure Time: 10

Each group will share a few details from their Venn Diagram, this will ensure that all
students have the same information by the end. This also allows the teacher to fill in any
gaps in the information. This can also be a time to facilitate questioning with the students.
Rather than giving them the information directly, the teacher could start asking questions
to guide the students to an answer. This may allow for more discussion between students.
After the Venn Diagram review is completed, students will reflect on whether they felt that
the violence was justified in these revolutions. Since they can see the beginning and ends,
they can make a judgment call on whether the revolutions were successful as well. This
review will be on the bottom of the page underneath the Venn Diagram and will be a short
reflection answer.

Assessments (Formative & Summative)

Venn Diagram (F)
Reflection (S)

Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
For EL, students would be supplied with a word bank and a sentence frame to help with the
organization of ideas and the specific vocabulary that should be used in the reflection. A
striving learner would be supplied with a printout of the articles with important words
highlighted or underlined to help with the identification of themes and concepts that are
essential. SNS will have grouping accommodations, either making the group smaller or
giving each individual a Venn Diagram to give them more autonomy and allow them to go
at their own pacing while still participating in the discussion.

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

https://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution
https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history
Venn diagram with guide and questions.
Chromebooks
Textbook