Sample Lessons

Here is a sample lesson plan I taught my World History students on the Spanish Flu. If you want to teach this lesson, I recommend utilizing PearDeck with the above slides for a great way to conduct the warm up activity -- a true or false activity regarding facts about the flu. After reading an excerpt about the Spanish Flu, also known as the Great Influenz, students will watch a video comparing the 1919 influenza to the novel coronavirus.

In groups, students will examine three cities as case studies, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and San Francisco. read three case study articles describing the ways three cities handled the influenza and answer the following questions:

• What was happening in the city?

• How did officials handle the virus?

• What was the result?

• Anything else important to know?

After reporting out what they learned in their breakouts, students will use this material to speculate on lessons we may learn from the coronavirus pandemic.

Teachers can create an assessment to accompany this assignment, such as a written account of the types of responses to the Great Influenza, argue which city handled the illness the best, and why.

In this lesson, students will learn about the treatment of the Jewish population in Germany before and during World War II. This could be part of a larger unit on the war.

Students will first learn about how Jews were forced into ghettos. Teachers can supplement this with a video from a man who recounts his experience as he and his family were forced into a ghetto. From there, studens will learn about the growing anti-semitism and anti-Jewish laws. They can watch a video from a woman who witnessed an attack on a Jewish man while on vacation in Germany.

Next, students will explore accounts from Jewish people who experienced the Holocaust. As they read through the materials, students should record their reactions on a class chart paper or Jamboard.

To close our the lesson, share a video documenting the resistance of Jewish Partisans. The content of this lesson is quite difficult to learn about, which is why I feel it is important to leave students will a message of hope and strength.