Lesson plan (English)
Topic: I know where Poland is located on the map. Fight for the borders of the Second Polish Republic.
Author of the script: Marcin Dyś
Target group
7th grade student of elementary school.
Core curriculum
XXVIII. Rebirth of the Polish State after the First World War. Student:
2) presents the process of outlining borders: Versailles’ decisions and the phenomenon of Wielkopolska Uprising and Silesia Uprisings (west) - a federal dilemma and the incorporation result (east);
3) describes Polish - Soviet war and its consequences (Peace of Riga).
The general aim of education
Students learn about the effort the Poles had to make to be able to live in their homeland and what course the fight for the Polish state had to take after regaining independence.
Key competences
communication in the mother tongue;
communication in foreign languages;
digital competence;
learning to learn;
social and civic competences.
Learning outcomes
Student:
tells when and under what circumstances Poland regained its independence;
identifies the borders for which we had to fight militarily;
lists the areas where the plebiscites were organized and their consequences;
characterises the course and effects of Polish - Soviet war;
describes the most important events from the first years of existence of the Second Polish Republic.
Methods / techniques
exposing methods: talk, explanations and comments from the teacher;
programmed methods: using e‑textbook; using multimedia;
problematic methods: activating methods: discussion;
practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text;
Forms of work
activity in pairs or in groups;
individual activity.
Teaching aids
e‑textbook;
interactive whiteboard or traditional blackboard;
tablets/computers;
notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens.
Before classes
Students should have the knowledge from the previous lessons concerning Poland during the First World War and the territories where the Republic of Poland was reborn after 123 years.
Lesson plan overview (Process)
Introduction
The teacher explains to the students the lesson objective and the criteria for success.
The teacher, referring to the homework, asks the students how it happened that after 123 years of absence on the maps of the world Poland regained its independence. Then, the teacher asks for details of regaining independence by Poland and the ways to achieve this. Students should mention the Piłsudski's focus on central states and Dmowski's idea of alliance with Triple Entente; they should also have knowledge about the Polish military effort during the First World War.
Realization
The teacher starts the discussion (referring to the knowledge the students should have from previous lessons) about the problems facing the reborn Poland
during the first years of its existence. Students should list such facts as defence of the independence, fight for borders and efforts to recognize Poland on the international arena. Students do Exercise 1 and Exercise 2.Then the students familiarize themselves with the texts concerning the situation of Polish cities after regaining independence. The teacher, presenting the map of the Second Polish Republic, asks the students about their neighbours and their relation towards our state. Asking the questions, the teacher remembers to formulate them as key questions. The teacher highlights that not only Poland regained the independence, but also our other neighbours. Students do Instruction 1 and then Exercise 3, where they mark the countries with which Poland had no argument concerning the cities.
The teacher divides the class into groups – from 2 to 7 groups (the division is left to the teacher: in case of two groups, students work out the fight for the border with Germany and Czechoslovakia [one group] and for the eastern border [second group]; with the greater number of groups it is important to work out the fate of Wielkopolska, Silesia, Vilnius, Cieszyn Silesia, Lviv, the easter border, plebiscites in Warmia and Mazury). Each group receives different fragment of the border/territory to work out. Its task is to briefly prepare and present the fight of Poles for the given territory and the result it had.
The teacher, discussing the Polish–Soviet War, draws attention to the crucial significance of the Battle of Warsaw, and analyses with the students the interactive scheme presenting the Miracle at the Vistula. The teacher points out that the battle dated August 15, 1920 is recognized as one of the most important battles in the history of the world. Then the teacher, during the presentation about the Upper Silesia or Warmia and Mazury explains the students what the plebiscites were and why were they organized. The teacher explains that the plebiscites were the result of the Conference of Versailles and that they were held only within the territory of the countries which had lost the First World War. Their course was influenced by many factors, which did not fully guarantee the honesty of the original intentions. Students indicate these factors in Exercise 4.
When doing exercises and instructions, the teacher uses tents or a set of cards in three colors: green, yellow and red. Students use the cards to indicate to the teacher whether they are having difficulty in fulfilling the instructions (green – I’m doing great, yellow – I have some doubts, red – I need help).
Summary
Summarizing the lesson, the teacher asks what was the result of the fight for the border, which ended in 1923? Did they manage to restore all lands they had been fighting for? Did the territory of the Second Polish Republic cover all the lands from the time before partition?
Students do Exercise 6. They choose correct answers from the few provided (choice test).
The teacher gives the students evaluation questionnaires in which they evaluate their own work, the work of the teacher and their colleagues during the lesson.
The teacher gives homework for volunteer students (it is not an obligatory part of the script): The battle for the borders of post‑war Poland ended in 1923. However, some slight changes occurred in Poland in subsequent years. Find out where and under which circumstances this happened.
The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson
Terms
Niepodległość – niezależność państwa od wpływu innych państw, instytucji na swoje działania.
Plebiscyt – forma głosowania, wyrażenie woli ludności w sprawie przyłączenia jakiegoś spornego terytorium do któregoś z toczących o niego spór państw.
Mediacja – metoda rozwiązywania sporów, w której osoba lub państwo nie będące stroną konfliktu, a cieszące się zaufaniem, pomaga w znalezieniu kompromisu i dojściu do porozumienia.
Powstanie – wystąpienie ludności przeciwko dotychczasowej władzy lub porządkowi. Często ich celem jest odzyskanie niepodległości państwowej lub przyłączenie jakiegoś spornego terytorium do innego państwa.
Bunt – konspiracyjne wystąpienie, przeważnie grupy wojskowych lub armii, w celu otwartego sprzeciwu wobec panującego porządku prawnego, któremu podlegają. Powszechnie używa się tego stwierdzenia by opisać wystąpienie wojska przeciwko swoim zwierzchnikom – wojskowym lub cywilnym.
Sztandar – różnorodne w formie, barwie, wielkości i rysunku flagi będące znakiem jakiegoś oddziału, stowarzyszenia, miasta lub instytucji. Wywodzi się z dawnych znaków rozpoznawczych, służących do komunikacji między dowództwem a oddziałami.
Wolne miasto – inaczej miasto‑państwo, współcześnie to miasta istniejące na obszarach spornych, posiadają one własny niezależny samorząd oraz terytorium. Współcześnie taką rolę odgrywa Hongkong, niezależnie od przejęcia go przez Chiny w 1997 roku i uzyskania specjalnego statusu chińskiej prowincji. Funkcje pełnione przez Hongkong pod brytyjską administracją były dużo większe, niż wynikałoby to z rozmiarów miasta oraz jego potencjału demograficznego.
Texts and recordings
I know where Poland is located on the map. Fight for the borders of the Second Polish Republic
Political conditions after World War I allowed Poland to regain its independence on November 11, 1918. One of the most important problems of the reviving state was the struggle to define its territory. At the beginning, the Polish state was limited to the western part of the Russian and Austrian partitions. The fight for borders, which lasted several years, began. A successful uprising against Germany broke out in Wielkopolska. As a result of three uprisings and a plebiscite in Upper Silesia, Poland gained the third part of this country. The reborn Polish Army undertook fight in the east, firstly with Ukrainians for Lviv, then with Soviet Russia that posed a threat to the existence of the Republic of Poland. The Polish victory in the Battle of Warsaw (the so‑called Miracle at the Vistula) in August 1920 turned out to be of a key meaning. It was not possible to rebuild the Republic of Poland within the borders from before partitions, but the reborn Polish state included lands from all three partitions, including with access to the sea. The main cities were Warsaw, Cracow, Poznań, Lviv and Vilnius.