Lesson Plan

Pledging Allegiance

Students will compare the original German soldiers’ oath to the one created by Hitler.

20-30 Min Grades 5-8
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Domain
Nazi Germany
Subject
Emergence
Topic
Adolf Hitler

Enduring Understanding

Dictatorial leaders consolidate power by requiring absolute loyalty to them.

Essential Questions

  • 1How does taking an oath affect a person’s actions?
  • 2How does an oath to defend a Constitution differ from an oath to support a specific leader?

Readiness

5 Min

Ask the class, What is an oath? What purpose does it mean to take an oath?

Input

10 Min

Direct students to the resource, ‘Pledging Allegiance’ by Facing History and Ourselves. Divide the class into groups of 3-5 and have them read through the resource as a group.

Output

10 Min

In their groups of 3-5, have students discuss the Connection Questions at the bottom of the resource page.

Wisconsin Academic Standards

This lessons meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

BH1.a: Individual Cognition, Perception, and BehaviorBH2.a: Relationship of People and GroupsBH3.a: Social InteractionsHist1.a: CauseHist1.b: EffectHist2.c: ContextualizationHist4.a: Historical ContextHist4.c: Purpose
Teacher Primer

Know Before You Go

Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.

Nazi GermanyEmergenceAdolf Hitler