World History · Week 28 · Totalitarianism and World War II
The Cost of Looking Away
Students weigh the reasons leaders gave for appeasement and isolationism and practice making a hard choice when avoiding conflict feels easier.
- Students will
- Students weigh the reasons leaders gave for appeasement and isolationism and integrate evidence from two views into a reasoned argument about whether avoiding conflict was wise.
- SEL skill
- Name fear and relief before making a hard choice
- What it looks like
- Students use emotions to think by naming fear and relief before making a hard choice.
- Content focus
- Appeasement and isolationism
- Format
- Structured discussion
Responsible decision-making
Responsible decision-making means making caring, constructive choices by thinking about ethics, safety, and consequences. More responsible decision-making activities
What you get
A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.
Standards
- 10.8.2: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 10: World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World (standard 10.8, item 2)
- CA HSS Analysis Skill: HI4 Understand the meaning and impact of historical events and recognize that events could have taken other directions. (Historical Interpretation)
- C3 Framework (national): D2.His.16.9-12 Integrate evidence from multiple historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.
- Literacy in history: RH.9-10.8 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
Fits these textbook chapters
Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.
More responsible decision-making activities for World History
- Rule of Law, Not Rule of One Responsible decision-makingStudents compare Plato and Aristotle on why tyranny is illegitimate and practice pausing strong feelings before deciding what is fair.
- Why England First Responsible decision-makingStudents map the coal, rivers, capital, and labor that let England industrialize first and take stock of the resources they bring to solving their own problems.
- Children at Work Responsible decision-makingStudents evaluate testimony from child factory workers given to the British Parliament in the 1830s and practice weighing a source's purpose while staying attuned to the people behind it.
- Capitalism and Its Critics Responsible decision-makingStudents compare capitalism with the responses of utopians, social democrats, socialists, and communists and practice listening to an economic view they disagree with before responding.
Previous: Empires on the March · Next: The Holocaust and the Choice to Rescue
RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.