For a number of years I have used this activity as a way into studying Nazi Germany, it works well with Year 8 students but could easily work with older students too. On the face of it it is quite teacher led, however when you get into the student responses it can go a number of ways.
The basic principle that needs to be explained at the start is that the teacher has become the new leader of the country and the class represents a block of flats in that country. At this stage I would not mention the Nazis, Hitler or even Germany. The teacher/leader is going to do three things and at each stage the class must note down their views of both the teacher/leader and what he has done.
1) The first stage of this requires the leader to explain that upon coming to power he has given everyone "what they have always wanted". In the past I have printed out small pictures of iPad's and GHD's and handed those out physically but more recently, with groups I know better, I use my knowledge of the class to decide what to hand out on an individual basis. The important thing to note as the teacher (but not to communicate to the students) is that these gifts represent the Jobs that Hitler 'created' in 1933.
Upon 'receiving' their gift ask the students to complete the following sentence:
"When the leader gave me what I had always wanted I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
Then go around the class taking feedback. Take care to mentally note those students who are very positive and those who are suspicious or down-right negative.
2) Announce that the leader is going to create "two block leaders" to ensure that there is no "mis-behaving" and "crime" in the block of flats. Select two of the students who gave the most gushing and supportive responses and ask them to walk around the class (I have some dodgy old 'police looking' hats that I give them to wear to add some glamour).
Then ask the students to compete the following sentence:
"When the leader created the two block-leaders I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
Again take feedback mentally looking for those who are most suspicious. If necessary look to defend your actions and explain how "if you have nothing to hide" you will be fine.
3) Select two students and ask them to sit on the floor. These students need to be ones who have been the most critical of your leadership (but don't explain this) and they also need to be, if possible, the nicest students in the class.
Explain to the group that both of these students have been involved in terrible crimes (I usually pick something like "knife crime" etc.) which your block leaders have found out about, and that you have decided to throw them out of the block of flats. You may need to explain that they will not be returning for the foreseeable future.
Then ask the class to complete the sentence:
"When the leader threw out the 'criminals' I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
4) Finally, you should ask the class to rate your leadership out of ten and explain why they think this.
Then get the class to show their answers on their fingers. This should give you a great snapshot of what they each think and should allow you to target groups with different answers.
Take some feedback and then explain what you've been doing, how you selected the block leaders and criminals. Explain that the criminals haven't done anything wrong but it was all made up.
For those that bought into your leadership (7-10 / 10) get then to reflect on that and how easily they were duped and what being so supportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
For those that partly bought into it (4-6 / 10) get them to reflect on why they weren't more critical and what being partly supportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
For those who didn't buy into it (1-3 / 10) get them to reflect on what advice they may give others if they faced a similar situation and what being so unsupportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
ReflectionsThis works really well with all abilities. But the most interesting is with the most able who are drawn naturally into obeying and following the teacher. The reflections of this group of students in my year 8 top set today posed some interesting and ultimately difficult questions about what their role might have been in Nazi Germany.
Added to that is the reflections of some students who were prepared to follow the teacher blindly without question.
Finally, the reflections of what I would term a middle set student highlight that they were the most prepared to challenge the leader and to not buy into what he was trying to create.
The basic principle that needs to be explained at the start is that the teacher has become the new leader of the country and the class represents a block of flats in that country. At this stage I would not mention the Nazis, Hitler or even Germany. The teacher/leader is going to do three things and at each stage the class must note down their views of both the teacher/leader and what he has done.
1) The first stage of this requires the leader to explain that upon coming to power he has given everyone "what they have always wanted". In the past I have printed out small pictures of iPad's and GHD's and handed those out physically but more recently, with groups I know better, I use my knowledge of the class to decide what to hand out on an individual basis. The important thing to note as the teacher (but not to communicate to the students) is that these gifts represent the Jobs that Hitler 'created' in 1933.
Upon 'receiving' their gift ask the students to complete the following sentence:
"When the leader gave me what I had always wanted I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
Then go around the class taking feedback. Take care to mentally note those students who are very positive and those who are suspicious or down-right negative.
2) Announce that the leader is going to create "two block leaders" to ensure that there is no "mis-behaving" and "crime" in the block of flats. Select two of the students who gave the most gushing and supportive responses and ask them to walk around the class (I have some dodgy old 'police looking' hats that I give them to wear to add some glamour).
Then ask the students to compete the following sentence:
"When the leader created the two block-leaders I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
Again take feedback mentally looking for those who are most suspicious. If necessary look to defend your actions and explain how "if you have nothing to hide" you will be fine.
3) Select two students and ask them to sit on the floor. These students need to be ones who have been the most critical of your leadership (but don't explain this) and they also need to be, if possible, the nicest students in the class.
Explain to the group that both of these students have been involved in terrible crimes (I usually pick something like "knife crime" etc.) which your block leaders have found out about, and that you have decided to throw them out of the block of flats. You may need to explain that they will not be returning for the foreseeable future.
Then ask the class to complete the sentence:
"When the leader threw out the 'criminals' I thought..."They should look to comment on both their opinion of the leader and what he has done.
4) Finally, you should ask the class to rate your leadership out of ten and explain why they think this.
Then get the class to show their answers on their fingers. This should give you a great snapshot of what they each think and should allow you to target groups with different answers.
Take some feedback and then explain what you've been doing, how you selected the block leaders and criminals. Explain that the criminals haven't done anything wrong but it was all made up.
For those that bought into your leadership (7-10 / 10) get then to reflect on that and how easily they were duped and what being so supportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
For those that partly bought into it (4-6 / 10) get them to reflect on why they weren't more critical and what being partly supportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
For those who didn't buy into it (1-3 / 10) get them to reflect on what advice they may give others if they faced a similar situation and what being so unsupportive would have meant for them in Nazi Germany.
ReflectionsThis works really well with all abilities. But the most interesting is with the most able who are drawn naturally into obeying and following the teacher. The reflections of this group of students in my year 8 top set today posed some interesting and ultimately difficult questions about what their role might have been in Nazi Germany.
Added to that is the reflections of some students who were prepared to follow the teacher blindly without question.
Finally, the reflections of what I would term a middle set student highlight that they were the most prepared to challenge the leader and to not buy into what he was trying to create.
The reflections of one of my students shows how easily they had taken on board what I was trying to do, (for some reason my blog won't show this the correct way round but i hope you can still read it)![]()
This is certainly an interesting activity which allows the teacher to differentiate on a different level than simply ability.
I look forward to any comments.