Topic: Citizens and executioners. France during the Revolution

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XV. A great revolution in France. Pupil:

2 ) analyzes and explains the principles contained in the Declaration of Human and Citizens' Rights.

General aim of education

Students learn about the political and ideological changes brought about by the French Revolution

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to indicate the differences between a revolutionary government and a government based on the constitution;

• to explain what the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students refer to the abstract content. They shall be able to summarize it in they own words and solve the exercices.

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the students the subject, the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. Referring to the previous lesson, the teacher talks with students about how it was in France before the revolution.

3. The teacher explains what the lesson will be and what success criteria should be achieved by the students.

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students: What does the word revolution mean to you? (can be compared with the word evolution as antagonism). A conversation according to the brainstorming method.

2. Teacher after writing associations on the board constructs a definition together with students .

3. The teacher asks to do Exercise 1. After listening to the text / broadcast, students formulate and write in the notebook the differences between the revolutionary and constitutional government. In the second version, they do tasks for the exercise (answer open or closed‑ended questions). The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly completed and provides feedback.

4. The teacher in a short talk introduces students to the concepts: Bastille, constitution, terror, Jacobins, outlining the political background for work on a historical source.

5. Work with text (e.g. in pairs). Students on the computer / tablet read the Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights, then summarize its rules in their own words (Task 1). They wonder together (brainstorming) what is the innovation of this document and what rights are defined in it as „natural human rights”. The teacher explains the fluency of the term „natural law” or asks for the execution of Task 2, which is a reading of a text by Katarzyna Sójka‑Zielińska from the book entitled „Drogi i bezdroża prawa. Szkice z dziejów kultury prawnej Europy”.

Summary

1. The teacher asks to do Exercise 2 and Exercise 3. The students organize the facts and legal acts learned in the course of the lesson. The teacher makes sure that the tasks have been correctly completed and gives feedback.

2. The teacher asks students whether the time of terror in France favored the citizens and whether the revolutionary government respected the Declaration of Human and Citizens' Rights? During the discussion, the teacher asks the students key questions.

3. The teacher gives students evaluation surveys in which they evaluate their own work during the lesson, the work of the teacher and colleagues.

Homework

1. The teacher asks homework for pupils willing (it is not an obligatory part of the script): it proposes to read a fragment of the e‑textbook entitled „Was it worth doing a revolution” and doing a written job. The student, after dividing the card in half, inserts the result of his analysis in each of the columns (pluses and minuses).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Citizens and executioners. France during the Revolution

Since the third estate proclaimed itself as the National Assembly (National Constituent Assembly) in June 1789, the French were enjoying a time of euphoria and waiting for favorable changes. Rural areas were the first to be hit by revolutionary fever. It was there that the overthrow of the feudal system and the process of France's departure from absolutism began. On 14 July 1789 a crowd of Parisians robbed weapons from the city arsenals and set off to Bastille. On 26 August 1789 the National Constituent Assembly enacted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The estate privileges: tax, judiciary, as well as tax for the Catholic Church were completely abolished. Freedom of speech, press and expressing one's own views was guaranteed. In September 1791 the constitution was brought in. It confirmed the King's authority and, at the same time, put power over France in hands of the people. The parliamentary monarchy lasted until the end of the summer of 1792. On 22 September 1792 France became a republic. In January 1793 the deputies of the National Constituent Assembly decided to execute the king. After the establishment of the republic, the situation in France undergoing revolution did not improve at all. In June 1793, the Jacobins carried out a coup d'état with the support of the Parisian people. Power was taken over by the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre. As people were fed up with the terror and the members of the National Constituent Assembly feared for their lives, it was ultimately decided to overthrow the dictatorship. In July 1794, Robespierre was guillotined. The revolution adopted a milder course. The Directory’s rule, the new executive government in France, which started in 1795, is considered by historians to be the finale of the French Revolution.