Adding to Evidence Logs, 2 of 4

How can learning about the choices individuals, groups, and nations made as democracy crumbled and the Nazi Party seized control in Germany help guide how we respond to injustice in our communities and in the world today?

This assessment includes:

• 3 activities
• 1 teaching strategy
• 1 book

• Ask students to reread their last essay journal response that they completed after Lesson 9: The Weimar Republic and then respond to the following question:
  How can learning about the choices individuals, groups, and nations made as democracy crumbled and the Nazi Party seized control in Germany help guide how we respond to injustice in our communities and in the world today?
• To allow students to interact with a number of their peers after they have finished writing, have them first share their journal responses with a partner. Then ask each pair to join another pair so the class is now divided into groups of four. After they share, have the groups combine into groups of eight or come together as a class. Remind students that they should add ideas from the discussions to their journal entries that extend or challenge their thinking.

• To introduce inferences, follow the procedure for Strategy 11: Learning to Infer on page 49 of the Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies resource. Students will apply what they learn about inferring like a historian after they gather some evidence from this section of the unit.
• Next, facilitate a class discussion in which students suggest documents or videos from Lessons 10 through 14, which focus on the Nazis’ rise to power, that help them address the essay prompt. Write the list on the board.
• Then have students work in pairs or small groups to add evidence from the sources on the list to their evidence logs. Depending on the skills you taught in Step 3: Adding to Evidence Logs, remind students that they should be evaluating their evidence and assessing its relevance before adding it to their evidence logs.  
• Finally, using Option A: It says . . . I say . . . And so . . . or Option B: Inference Equation from Strategy 11: Learning to Infer on page 50 of the Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies resource, model the strategy on the board with one piece of evidence and then have students work with a partner to choose three pieces of evidence. Circulate around the room to get a sense of who understands inferences and who will need follow-up instruction.

In a final journal response or on exit cards, ask students to respond to the following questions:

• How has what you have learned about the Nazi Party’s rise to power in Germany changed your thinking about the prompt?
• Which choices made by individuals, groups, and nations in the history that you have learned about so far in this unit seemed most significant? What made those choices powerful or impactful?
• What questions do you have about the essay topic, evaluating evidence, and inferring like a historian that you didn’t ask in class today?