WWII - The Rise of Dictators

In this lesson, we will bring forth the previously discussed themes of imperialism, nationalism and totalitarianism. The students will be informed that their school, Kimmons Junior High, has been taken over by me, Queen Medlock, an absolute ruler. I have bankrupted the country of Kimmons and put the country in a depression. In groups, they must form a political party and draft a speech and propaganda poster proposing that the citizens of Kimmons Junior High overthrow the Queen and elect their political party as the new leaders of the government.

Once their political party has been formed, the propaganda poster has been created, and the speech has been written (using a provided outline), students will use the Flip video cameras to incorporate parts of the "country" of Kimmons Junior High into their speech. They will go throughout their "country", and basically use their speech to make a WWII campaign commercial to go along with their propaganda poster. They will also have the opportunity to film the "Queen" and put clips of her majesty and her totalitarian government into their video (they will instruct the "Queen" as to her role). We will also edit these videos using Windows Movie Maker as needed.

Once groups have completed their videos and posters, they will be viewed by the class and a vote will be taken to see which political party will in fact overthrow the Queen and be voted in as the new government (groups will not be allowed to vote for themselves)!