Started the French Revolution this week!

Can I just say how much I L-O-V-E teaching the French Revolution???????

I don't know what it is about this time period . . . the suffering of the middle class and poor (gee, sound familiar???) . . . the drama of a King and Queen . . . . the decapitation of a King and Queen . . . . the control freak that tries to conqueror the world (aka Napoleon).

I started the unit by asking the students to answer this question in their journals: "Is freedom really "free"? They wrote some great stuff. We talked about the definition of freedom and what does freedom mean to them. They also talked about how much freedom means to them and how they know that other people throughout history have risked their lives for their freedom. It was a great discussion.

I then played the Beatles song, Revolution. We talked about the lyrics of the song and what was the message in the song. I then asked the kids to define revolution. They were mixing up the difference between a revolution and war so I had to clarify the definition.

Then, I put them into groups and had them brainstorm and write out on big sheets of paper reasons why people revolt. Can I just say how great of a job my kids did on this activity! So smart! :-) We then discussed what each group wrote on their papers.

I had a quick PowerPoint on the Causes of the French Revolution. We discussed the Estate system. I did another activity where I asked for two volunteers to represent the 1st estate (clergy) and two volunteers for the 2nd estate (nobility). The rest of the class made up the 3rd estate (middle class/poor). I made signs for each estate and separated each group. I started to pass out pieces of Hershey's Miniature chocolates to only the 1st and 2nd estates. The 3rd estate was getting upset as I continued to talk up how unfair the estate system was in France and I passed out more and more chocolate to the 1st and 2nd estate. Finally I asked them what were they going to do about it and they yelled out, "Rebel and Revolt!" I think they got the general point of how unfair the estate was in France before the Revolution and a general idea of why there was a revolution. I will obviously build on from our discussions and activities for clarity and accuracy as we can continue the unit.

I then went back to the reasons why people revolt and asked them if any of the reasons listed on their sheets of paper related to what we just did and they replied yes. I asked how and they responded in various answers. I also brought them back to the journal question of freedom and they talked about how freedom is not free.

It always amazes me when my students "get it" and enjoy what we do in class. At the end of the class, I asked them what they learned and if they enjoyed the class. All of them blurted or yelled out YES!

Of course, a little bit of chocolate was probably helpful . . . . . . . :-)