A World on Fire: The Age of Revolutions [10th grade]

This unit will help students identify, analyze, and argue different revolutionary perspectives. Students will develop an understanding of what revolutionary success means. They will analyze primary source documents, have discussions about the validity of enlightenment thought, and explore the revolutions in the time period of 1750 – 1850. They will become experts on at least one revolution in this time period and will translate this knowledge to the revolutions that are occurring around them today or in modern times. They will come to recognize causation, effect, and impact of revolutionary zeal, and will come to terms with the concept that revolutionary success means something different to every perspective. They will grapple with the concept that political upheaval and instability is not just risky but often deadly, and this will enable them to think critically about revolutions past, present, and future. Ultimately student will culminate this unit with one of three projects that will challenge them to think critically about revolutionary success and comprehensively demonstrate their understanding of the information learned throughout the unit