Unit Title: From Absolutism to Revolution ‖ Lesson Title: Napoleon

Forges an Empire

Goals & Objectives

Lesson Goal:
By the end of the lesson, students will understand that, in times of crisis, rulers can seize
power to restore order to a country facing social unrest.

Content Objective:
SWBAT trace Napoleon’s rise to power
SWBAT summarize how Napoleon restored order in France
SWBAT identify the extent of Napoleon’s empire

Language Objective:
Students will describe orally and in writing how Napoleon seized power, restored order in
France after the Revolution, and built a European empire.

California State Content Standards

HSS 10.2.4 Explain how the ideology of the French Revolution led France to develop from
constitutional monarchy to democratic despotism to the Napoleonic empire.

HSS 10.2.5 Discuss how nationalism spread across Europe with Napoleon but was
repressed for a generation under the Congress of Vienna and Concert of Europe until the
Revolutions of 1848.

Common Core Literacy Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 - Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over
the course of the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are

used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of
history/social science.

ELD Standards
ELD.P1.9-10.A.1.Ex – Contribute to class, group, and partner discussion by following turn-
taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information, and
paraphrasing key ideas.
ELD.P1.9-10.A.2.Ex – Collaborate with peers to engage in increasingly complex grade-
appropriate written exchanges and writing projects, using technology as appropriate.

Driving Historical Question

 How did Napoleon restore order in France after the French Revolution?
 Was Napoleon an effective ruler of France? If so, why?

Class Description
My class has 30 students. In terms of cultural background, my class is made up of 11 white
males, 1 Middle Eastern Male, 2 Hispanic males, 2 Asian males (one of them is Indian), and
1 Black male. My class also has 9 white females, 2 Hispanic females, and 2 Asian females.
My students’ linguistic resources include American English, Hebrew, Hindi, Cebuano, and
Korean. 2 females in this class are identified as GATE, and at least one of the boys is a
striving reader.

Classroom Environment
The classroom had poster and visual aids that demonstrated World History and American
Government are taught here. For example, one wall had a color-coded world map, posters
describing different forms of government, the teacher’s postcards from his trips to other
countries, and visual aids of topics of American Government.

The classroom equipment included one document camera, one smart board and a white
board, and one projector. While some teachers prefer to use the document camera and
projector, the teacher I observed preferred to project lecture content from his computer
through the projector.

The classroom does not have issues that would impact the lesson, other than a loud AC unit.
This AC unit, when turned on makes it loud to hear voices, so speakers must project their
voice for the entire class to hear.

Academic Vocabulary
Tier II vocabulary: trace, summarize, identify

Tier III vocabulary: Napoleon Bonaparte, coup d’état, plebiscite, lycée, concordat,
Napoleonic Code, Battle of Trafalgar

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Day 1 Time:

14
The lesson begins with a question on a Power Point presentation: What makes the rule of a
country effective? The students will get 3 minutes to think about and write their response.
Students will receive sentence frames to help them formulate an answer to the quick write
question. Then, students will get 2 minutes to share their response with their AB partner.
Afterward, some students will be called on to share their response with the class. The quick
write and share activity, and the graphic organizer activity will prepare students’ schema to
engage with the lesson body.

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Day 1 Time: 4

To support vocabulary development during the lesson, the lesson will infuse activities
throughout the lecture to encourage student engagement with the vocabulary. Some key
terms will be previewed during the anticipatory set activity, which will allow students to
get to interact with these key words before receiving a bigger dose of vocabulary from the
lecture. Then, students will engage with the key terms as they follow along the lecture with
their guided notes. In their guided notes, the students will get opportunities to define key
terms and use these key terms in response to 3 critical questions given throughout the
lesson.

Key words: Napoleon Bonaparte, coup d’état, plebiscite, lycée, concordat, Napoleonic Code,
Battle of Trafalgar

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Day 1 Time: 25

Students will engage with content by filling in guided notes used to follow along with the
presentation given during the lesson. The teacher will navigate through each slide and will
emphasize the important concepts that students need to capture in their guided notes.
These concepts or key words will be color-coded and bolded in the Power Point and guided
notes to make it easier for the students to make connections between the presentation and
the guided notes. As the teacher moves through each slide, he will pause at slides that have
special significance, particularly those slides with a key word or a critical question. When
the teacher pauses on these slides, the teacher will instruct students to write down the
definition of the key words, or to think about the critical question, and then write in one
sentence or two the answer to the critical question. This process will be repeated until the
teacher reaches the final slide, which will have the final critical thinking question that will
bring the point of the lesson together for students to ponder and write about.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Day 1 Time: 10

This lesson offers students several means of engagement. The engagement strategies will
be used in the introduction, body, and end of the lesson. In the lesson introduction, the
students will be asked to imagine they are a leader of a failing country, and to think about
what they would do repair their country. Students will get the opportunity to do a quick-
write to answer this question, and then they will get a chance to share their response with
their AB partner. In the lesson body, students will have an opportunity to engage with
content by pausing to examine the key words, critical questions, and capturing their
responses in their guided notes. At the end of the lesson the next day, the students will be
asked: “Napoleon was an effective leader. Do you agree, or disagree, and why?” Then, the
students will do the Four Corners activity. In this activity, they will group themselves
according to if they strongly agree, somewhat agree, strongly disagree, or somewhat
disagree.

Lesson Closure ‖ Day 1 Time: 10

The formal lesson closure does not happen on Day 1 of the lesson on the Rise of Napoleon,
but on Day 2 of the lesson. Therefore, the closure on Day 1 is more of a mini-lesson closure.
In the mini-lesson closure, the teacher will reiterate to students how Napoleon seized
power after the French Revolution, how he restored order in France, and how he built an
empire in Europe. The teacher will also reiterate how the French Revolution set the stage
for the rise of Napoleon, and how in times of political turmoil, rulers can seize power to
restore or to a country facing political crisis.

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Day 2 Time: 5

On day 2, the content of the lesson will be delivered via a Graphic Organizer with questions
regarding Louis XVI, Maximilien Robespierre, and Napoleon Bonaparte (this is the French
Ruler Comparison Activity). At first, students will be responsible for answering questions
on only one of those French Rulers. 3 critical questions will accompany each ruler, of which
students must only answer 2 out of those three. In order to answer these questions,
students will read a handout with three different exhibits. Exhibit A for Louis XVI, Exhibit B
for Robespierre, and Exhibit C for Napoleon. The teacher will assign each student a letter,
either A, B, or C. The students must then read the exhibits that correspond with their
assigned letter, and answer 2 out of the 3 questions pertaining to their ruler.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Day 2 Time: 15

A portion of engagement will involve students silently reading about the ruler that
corresponds to their assigned letter. For about 7 minutes, students will read the exhibit
that belongs to their letter, and answer 2 out of the 3 questions on either Louis XVI,
Robespierre, or Napoleon. After 7 minutes, students will be asked to turn to peers who
were assigned a different letter, and to share answers for the rulers that they were not
assigned at first. The point of organizing student engagement in this way is to jigsaw a
reading activity that would otherwise require high cognitive demand and much time to do.
By jigsawing the activity in this way, students collaborate with one another to share the
responsibility for a long reading assignment. When students collaborate in this way, they
help each other clarify the similarities or differences between Louis XVI, Robespierre, and
Napoleon, and increase their comprehension about the significance of each of these rulers.

Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 12

The lesson closure involves a Four Corners activity. The driving question for this activity is:
“Napoleon was an effective leader. Do you agree or disagree, and why?” Then, students are
asked to get in groups in different corners of the room. Each corner is: Strongly Agree,
Somewhat Agree, Strongly Disagree, and Somewhat Disagree. Students receive about 5
minutes to discuss with their peers why they hold their position. After minutes, the teacher
then calls on a representative from each group in this order: Strongly Agree first, Strongly
Disagree second, Somewhat Agree third, and Somewhat Disagree fourth. Students are
asked to explain why they agree or disagree with whether Napoleon was an effective ruler,
and they may be allowed to respectfully challenge each other’s ideas, like in a debate. In
addition, students are allowed to change corners if they believe they have heard a
compelling argument for a position they did not hold before.

Assessments (Formative & Summative) – Day 1

Entry-level Assessment: Students will do a quick-write activity to answer the question:
What makes the ruler of a country effective?

Formative Assessment: Formative assessment will occur through the lesson. Formative
assessment will occur in two ways. First, students will follow along with the presentation,
as they identify key concepts and key words from the lesson. They will have the
opportunity to connect the concepts from the lesson to their guided notes during the
lecture. The teacher will pause to give students the opportunity to reflect and process their
guided notes. At this time, the teacher may walk around the room to monitor students’
progress, and to check in with their students to clear up confusion about the activity or the
content. The second form of formative assessment includes pausing during lecture to allow
students to reflect on and answer the critical questions embedded in the presentation.
While students write down their responses in the form of key word definitions or as
answers to the critical questions, the teacher walks around the room to monitor student
progress and to ask if they need clarification on the assignment and with content.

Summative Assessment: The summative assessment will take form in the final critical
question at the end of the presentation. At this time, the students will get time to answer
the final question in their guided notes, and to share their response with their partner. A
few students will also be called upon to share their response with class. Before the end of
class, the students will tear off the portion of their guided notes with the final critical
question and their response, and turn it in as an exit ticket.

Assessments (Formative & Summative) – Day 2

Formative assessment: Students receive a graphic organizer with questions about three
French rulers: Louis XVI, Robespierre, and Napoleon. The assessment is designed to
encourage students to think about the accomplishment of each of these rulers, and to set
them up for the questions for the final assessment, which asks students to evaluate
whether or not Napoleon was an effective ruler. During the course of the activity, the
teacher should walk the room to monitor student progress and to ask students if they
understand the nature of the reading activity.
Summative assessment: For the summative assessment, students will think about whether
or not Napoleon was an effective ruler, get together in groups, and get into a corner that
reflects whether they agree with the claim, or not agree. Students will be asked to provide
reasons to explain their position on whether Napoleon was an effective ruler, or not.

Assessment Criteria
Entry-Level Assessment: In the Quick Write and Think-Write-Pair-Share, students are free
to use creativity to form responses on how they would restore order in a failing country.
Some examples of what they would do as rulers include reassuring their citizens of a
brighter future, getting feedback from their citizens regarding what is could be improved,
and seeking assistance from other countries.

Formative Assessment: For the French Ruler Comparison Activity, I will know if students
understand the content based on their responses to the questions pertaining to each of the
rulers. For example, one question about King Louis XVI is, how did he promote civil rights
and religious freedom? One response includes King Louis XVI signing the Edict of
Tolerance, which gave non-Catholics the right to non-discrimination. Another question is
what is the significance of Robespierre entering public service? One possible answer is that
he got elected to the Estates General based on his popularity for attacking the French
monarchy and advocating for democratic reforms. Lastly, students may respond to the
question, “What did Napoleon do as the First Consul?” Some answers include that Napoleon
made Catholicism the state religion, but allowed religious freedom, he reformed the tax
system, he built the lycées to fight government corruption, and/or he built the Napoleonic
Code to simplify France’s 300 different legal systems.

Summative Assessment: In the Four Corners activity during the lesson closure, I will ask
students, “Napoleon was an effective leader. Do you agree, or disagree, and why?” Students
will form groups and discuss among themselves why they agree or disagree with that
statement. If they agree, students may back up their position by pointing out that Napoleon
restored order in France by implementing tax reforms, building lycées, and setting up the
Napoleonic Code, to name some examples. In addition, students may also point out that
Napoleon built an Empire in Europe. If they disagree, they may backup their claim by
saying that the lycées benefited the interests of Napoleon. In terms of his empire, students
could point out that the size of an empire is not necessarily an indicator of effective
leadership, or that building an empire meant that France would have to go to war with
other European countries, costing lives, and that spending lives on war is not necessarily a
mark of effective leadership.

Feedback for the entry-level assessment will be given orally, by affirming students
responses or questioning their claims to encourage students to think more deeply about
their claims. Feedback for the formative assessment will be given orally while progress
monitoring students during the activity, and in writing after students submit their graphic
organizers. Feedback for the summative assessment will be given orally during the activity,
to affirm students’ responses or to ask questions about their claims.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
Accommodations for English Learners (FS 1): Students take on interactive activities before,
during, and after the lesson. The interactive activities and grouping configuration allow
English learners to receive support from other ELL peers or from English speakers. The
vocabulary activity in the guided notes permits students with different proficiency levels to
access the content and to develop their language proficiency. In addition, content is
presented so that ELs may access it in a meaningful way. Visual are embedded in the
presentation and in the guided notes to help ELs follow along with the lecture.

Accommodations for Striving Readers: To facilitate access to content for Striving Readers,
these students will receive multiple input modes via bolded key concepts and key words in
the presentation and the guided notes. These students will get to work on their language
development by filling in the guided notes as they follow along with the lecture and as they
share their responses with their shoulder partner.

Accommodations for GATE Students (FS 2): The French ruler comparison activity is made
for higher-level students in mind, but it is scaffolded to meet the learning needs of all
students. Comparison and evaluation are higher-order thinking skills that demand more
cognitive power to do. One way this activity intends to challenge GATE students is with a
bonus question: “Which of the three rulers do you believe was the most effective leader and
why? Use a separate sheet of paper to write one paragraph and explain your position.” To
successfully answer this question, students must know what made each ruler effective,
ineffective, and they must articulate a conclusion as to which one was the best, in their
opinion. Students must also articulate evidence to support their opinion as to which was an
effective leader and why.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs (FS 3): Students with Special Needs will
get multiple means of content representation and interaction with peers. Students with
language processing difficulties will have opportunities to access content via video and
through images embedded within the presentation. Visuals will also accompany the guided
notes to help students who need visual representation to process information. Grouping
configurations will also allow students who are not comfortable with social interaction to
do their own work in a no-pressure environment. However, they will still have an
opportunity to engage with a shoulder partner as they use their guided notes to process the
content from the lecture. Furthermore, students with special needs are given an option
regarding which group they would like to join during the Four Corners activity.

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

Beck, R. B., Black, L., Kriger L. S., Naylor, P.C., & Shabaka, D. I. (2006). Modern world history:

Patterns of interaction. Sacramento, CA: McDougall Littell.

40x Copies of the Guided Notes for Lesson 7.3, Napoleon Forges an Empire presentation.

40x copies of French Rulers Critical Questions graphic organizer.

40x Copies of the readings with the exhibits pertaining to Louis XVI, Robespierre, and
Napoleon.