Treaty+of+Versailles

Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Joanna Maxwell

**Initial Reading and Assessment of Textbook Treatment of the Topic**

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined: Making History; The Story of Canada in the Twentieth Century

Name of more "scholarly" source examined: History Today, Reading History, The Treaty of Versailles, 1986

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ The textbook, being a survey one, generalizes and does not go into detail about the topic. For example, it briefly discusses Wilson and the French Prime Minister (not named) having different approaches to the Treaty; revenge and peace. It then gives only 4 main points of the Treaty and talks about how this was seen to foreshadow another war. In the Canadian perspective it only talked about how Borden would not sign it until parliament had approved it. The article, on the other hand, went into much more detail over the terms and decision making involved in creating the Treaty and how all parties struggled and debated the approach. It covered more ground in regards to the countries with a stake in the decision, but did not cover Canadian involvement at all. I have to admit that I expected that the textbook would just be a guideline for discussion on the topic but an disappointed in it as the Treaty of Versailles was a pivotal event in the 20th century which did affect the world and the onset of WWII. Thanks for your comments, Joanna. I think your proposed focus on looking at the Treaty of Versailles as a pivotal event is very interesting. It gets at the heart of teaching students to grapple with what makes an event historically significant, was it a turning point? It might be interesting to have students consider these issues and maybe even predict consequences. Critiical question: Please grade the Treaty of Versailles as your teacher would an essay. Justify your grade, and provide instructions on how the Treaty could have been improved for a higher grade.

The critical thinking design is Judge, Better or best. I love it - I think it's a critique the piece, though. Are you asking whether it was effective as a peace treaty? Or whether it was well written (ie. like an essay...) Or it was the best they could do at the time? If you add a qualifying statement that indicates (briefly) what they are judging that would clarify a bit and provide something around which to build some criteria. What do you think? I never thought of it that way. It's very weird as in my head I know exactly what I want, but I have to remember that they do not. I agree with adding more instructions. Thanks for the feed back!

=Key Learning = Students will analyse the conflict between the world leaders at the end of WWI and conclude as to why they choose to create the treaty of Versailles in a way that completely blamed Germany for the War. They will also have to analyse whether the blame on German was fair and if the reparations that they had to pay were reasonable due to the circumstances. Yes, but this articulate what they will do during the lesson rather than what they will walk away understanding/thinking/believing about the topic/issue/content. Consider finishing this sentence: "As a result of this lesson, students will walk away understanding that...." =Critical Challenge = Create a report card for each of the world leaders on their input into the treaty. These leaders are Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Vittorio Orlando. (Judge Better – Best) This is a great task - I only worry that it will take you outside of what you really need to focus on in terms of the curriculum. I think when you insert the curriculum expectations (below), you might see that, in this course, the intended focus is really on Canada rather than on world history. That being said, it is important to consider whether the treaty was fair, justified, etc. and since Canada had a seat at that table, it is justified to talk about it. I just wonder whether you might have to delve too much into information that's really outside the scope of the curriculum so students can judge multiple world leaders. What are your thoughts?

=Skill Set = This will help the students understand the struggle and thought process for each of the Allied leaders at the end of the war in regards to fairness and revenge. It will also show how the Treaty of Versailles was created out of political biases and history is written by the winners of conflicts. This information will be further used when looking at the causes of WWII and the impact that the Treaty had on Germany. =Background knowledge (content and skills) =  · Causes of WWI – alliance system imperialism, nationalism, political events, tension globally.  · The experiences from the war and how it affected each of the country and the political leaders.  · Stalemate warfare, trenches and plight of soldiers and how this affected the political leaders.  · The environment in Europe and the world prior to 1914. Yes, but also please cut and paste the relevant curriculum expectations here. =Criteria for Judgment = Questions to be considered while judging/grading these leaders’ actions: <span style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Did they pass or fail as the leader of their country? <span style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · What was their motive when entering the peace negotiations? <span style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Did they achieve what they set out to? <span style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Did they lead or follow? <span style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Did they let their biases and emotions lead them? <span style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Did they do the best for their country and its population? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">You might find these need tweaking if you tweak your challenge above. =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24pt;">Habit of Mind = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Critically Minded, Inquiring mind, Consultative. I would keep it manageable and just choose 1. Same for Critical thinking vocabulary (below). Whatever you say you're going to do in your planning, you need to find time to do it in your activities... <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Each student will have to use the above habits of mind for this task. They need to critically analyse the information surrounding the writing of the Treaty of Versailles to understand each leader’s stake in the war and peace. They need to inquire as to why the leaders chose the options that they did while consulting all the evidence that they have at their disposal.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">**Key Thinking Strategies** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">They will have to compare each of the leader’s actions and choices made. They will also have to then analyse these comparisons to rate each leader based on what they deem is a good strong fair choice verses a weak one.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">**Critical Thinking Vocabulary** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">This task will focus on the following critical thinking vocabulary: Analysis, Critique, and Judgement.