Brandon Galbraith

Instructional Design Project

Report One- Pre-Instructional
Instructional Analysis Context
For this project, I will conducting a unit on the French Revolution with
my second section of social studies classes. This class is labeled as my
gifted and talented (G/T), also known as Pre-AP within my school, and has
19 students. This series of lessons will take about one week, one hour for
five days, and will consist of direct instruction, guided practice, and
exploratory learning. As one of my smaller classes in the day, I am able to
differentiate the content to challenge my G/T students. This specific class
was chosen by my administrator due to the challenge of creating
instructional lessons that push the students to critically think, create their
own connections, and allow the students to demonstrate knowledge
gained through alternative means.
Rationale for Selection of Context
This series of lesson fall into the South Carolina state standards. These
are required elements, as a seventh grade social studies teacher, of my
curriculum. Standard 7-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding
of independence movements that occurred throughout the world from 1770
through 1900. These standards are very broad topics and require more
explicit directions. For each major standard, the state provides teachers with
the indicators that direct concepts to teach. For this lesson, the indicator is
7-3.1 Explain the causes, key events, and outcomes of the French
Revolution, including the storming of the Bastille, the Reign of Terror, and
Napoleons rise to power.
Description of context
Students are provided many topics to learn and be able to demonstrate
knowledge. Provided are the vocabulary terms and essential knowledge.
Vocabulary

Reign of Terror
social hierarchy
constitutional monarchy
Napoleonic code
Estates (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Louis XVI
Estates General

Essential
Knowledge

National Assembly
Tennis Court Oath
Bastille
Poverty
Legislative Assembly
National Convention
Suffrage
Jacobins
Robespierre
Committee of Public Safety
Directory
Guillotine
Bonaparte
Coup detat
First Consul
The French Revolution was inspired by the Enlightenment
and the American Revolution (7-2.5). The French Revolution
was caused by a series of events that together irreversibly
changed the organization of political power, the nature of
society, and the exercise of individual freedoms. The French
Revolution was caused, in part, by the social imbalance of
the Old Regime. Under this system, France was divided into
three social classes: the First, Second, and Third Estates.
The First Estate was the Roman Catholic clergy, who owned
15% of the land and were 1% of the population. The Second
Estate, the nobility, was 2% of the population and owned up
to 25% of the land. The rest of the population, the Third
Estate; which included lawyers, craftsmen, merchants and
peasants paid the majority of the taxes on the remainder
while being underrepresented in government. The French
Revolution also was caused by King Louis XVI, who was a
weak and extravagant leader in a time of crisis. He had
incurred great debts caused by war (including the French
alliance in the American Revolution) and his own spending.
His people were already highly taxed, and banks refused to
loan him any more money. This required him to call together
the Estates-General, the French legislative body. After the
calling of the Estates-General, the Third Estate insisted on a
new power structure that would allow every male citizen a
vote instead of each Estate collectively having one vote
each. This change would guarantee them greater
representation in the Estates-General. When their request
was denied, they seceded and formed the National
Assembly, symbolizing an end to absolute monarchy and the
start of representative government in France. When shut out

of the proceedings of the Estates General a few days later,

they gathered on the kings tennis courts to write a new
constitution for the government, called the Tennis Court
Oath. Shortly thereafter, on July 14, 1789, a mob of peasants
stormed the Bastille, a prison and armory. The peasants got
weapons from the Bastille and then tore the Bastille down as
it was a symbol of the Kings power. This event represented
the beginning of the revolution, and July 14, or Bastille Day,
is a national holiday in France. Riots then broke out across
the countryside as peasants began raiding the homes of
nobles, killing and looting in response to their anger at the
unfair Estate System and their increased poverty.
In 1791, a constitutional monarchy was established,
significantly weakening the power of the king and granting
power to the people in the form of the Legislative Assembly.
The revolution, however, became increasingly radical in
nature. In late 1791, the Constitution was set aside, the king
imprisoned, and the legislature took over in the form of the
National Convention. The Convention declared France a
republic based on universal male suffrage. The Convention
initiated a military draft to raise an army to protect the
revolution from the armies of other European monarchs and
instituted the guillotine as a way of protecting the revolution
from enemies within France. Many of the Convention were
members of the Jacobins, a radical revolutionary group. From
this group, Maximilien Robespierre increasingly gained power
until he became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety
in mid-1793. Robespierre gained power as a dictator (an
example of failure to obey a countrys constitution and
unlimited government 7- 2.1 and 7-2.5) and began the Reign
of Terror in France. During the Reign of Terror, the violence
escalated with the mass execution by guillotine of 25,00040,000 citizens deemed enemies of the Revolution. Most of
those executed were nobles as well as the king and queen.
Determining that Robespierre was too radical and fearing for
their own lives, members of the National Convention
executed Robespierre in July of 1794. After the execution of
Robespierre, the revolution took a more conservative turn.
From 1795- 1799, France was ruled by five moderate men
known as the Directory. During this time, Napoleon
Bonaparte was making a name for himself in the French
army. When the Directory lost favor in France in 1799,
Bonaparte staged a coup detat and took the title of First
Consul.

As ruler of a country that had been unstable for nearly ten

years, Napoleon established a national banking system, set
up an efficient taxation system, and ended government
corruption. He restored the position of the Catholic Church in
France, gaining the favor of the people and of the Pope. He
also wrote a uniform system of laws known as the
Napoleonic Code. In 1804, with the support of the people,
Napoleon crowned himself emperor. Napoleon began his
quest for a European empire, and by 1812, he controlled
most of Europe.

Description of Learners
My G/T class is made up of 19 students. Twelve of the students are
females and seven are males. All but two students are Caucasian. One
student is African American and one student from the south Pacific. The
following chart includes information about the class.

Student

Gender

Age

Pass Score

Rate

Rate

in SS

Comfort

Comfort

Level With

Level With

Technolog

Social

y (1-10)

Studies (1-

IEP/504

Concerns From
Observation

10)

P.E.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

T.A.

11

Exempl
ary

N/A

C.I.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

M.F.

11

Exempl
ary

N/A

M.C.

12

Exempl

N/A

Easily Distracted

Easily Distracted

ary
O.P.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

A.T.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

J.M.

11

Exempl
ary

LDMath

C.A.

12

Met

N/A

B.R.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

I.C.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

B.E.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

D.V

12

Exempl
ary

ADHD

A.R.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

C.C

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

R.L.

12

Met

10

N/A

R.E.

12

Exempl
ary

ADHD

H.O.

11

Exempl
ary

N/A

K.M.

12

Exempl
ary

N/A

Poor Attitude
Towards
Classwork

Not Computer At
Home

Very Talkative

I.H

11

Met

10

N/A

B.G.

12

Met

N/A

Behavioral
Concerns

Performance Context of Learners and Implications for Instruction

This G/T class in generally a high performing class. From all the
students, only three students (I.H., A.T., and R.E.) had a grade lower than a
B in any of their classes. From getting to know more about these students, I
have found the majority expect their grades to be in the A range and they
receive support from their homes as well. I have been challenged in the pass
with G/T with providing content that challenging without overloading them
with unnecessary information. The district provides teachers with alternative
textbooks for advanced classes but the books are not intended to be used by
middle school students. The books cover content that is not necessarily
found in seventh grade standards. Some of the illustrations are more
appropriate for high school students. My assessments must also be
challenging for this group and require them to critically think. One
consideration I need to take into account is the fact that G/T qualifies
students in reading and/or math. This means that they excel in mathematics
but could potential be average to below grade level in reading. Our school
places them in the G/T curriculum for all classes if they qualify unless the
parents requests their schedule split.
Instructional Goal Statement
From the state department, I am directed that the students should be
able to Explain the causes, key events, and outcomes of the French
Revolution, including the storming of the Bastille, the Reign of Terror, and
Napoleons rise to power. From this, the instructional goal aims, at the
minimal, to have students to merely explain these events. For my G/T
students, I expect that they can link these events to together, make
connections to impacts on future information, and create works based on
content learned. From this indicator, I am able to breakdown the goals for
analysis individually.
Goal Analysis
The students will be able to meet the following goals after completing this
unit:

Goal One: Explain the conditions in France that created the French
Revolution
Goal Two: Create a timeline of key events of the French Revolution
Goal Three: Create a graphic organizer demonstrating the relations
between the outcomes of the French Revolution, American Revolution, and
the Enlightenment
Goal Four: Explain of Napoleon was able to take control of France and
create an empire
Goal Five: Evaluate the contributions and impacts of Napoleon with the
ideals of the French Revolution
Subskills Analysis
Before we begin this series in class, there are skills that the students
need to begin demonstrating mastery of the instructional goals. They are as
follows:
1. Critical Thinking Skills- Part of the goals three and five require students
to take multiple events and link them together. They must be able to
draw comparisons between events and create meaning between their
relationships to each other.
2. Vocabulary- Students will need to be able to understand and utilize
appropriate vocabulary within their works to demonstrate knowledge
gained.
3. Technology Skills- We will be utilizing chromebooks to not only learn
content, but also for assessments. They will be creating works on their
chromebooks and then using web-based tools, they will record
themselves explaining what they have created
Entry Behaviors Analysis
This group of students have been exposed to most of these skills
throughout their school careers. Although there are a few exceptions, these
students have already demonstrated the ability to draw conclusions using
multiple sources and perspectives. They have also demonstrated an ability to
quickly learn and use academic vocabulary in the previous units I have
taught. The one skill that I think will create a little trouble will be the
recording of their voices. I plan on having them use a screen cast program

free online. For most of the students, they will be able to grasp this website
fairly quickly. There are four students that I expect will need one-on-one
instruction in how the program works. I am confident that through the
lessons and practice using the various assessments, the students will be able
to demonstrate what they have learned and meet their goals for this unit.