World History Lessons: Maps that Explain World War II

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Today I want to share a lesson I made based on this Vox Article. I think maps in the history classroom are incredibly important tools for helping students understand the world. They can tell stories in unique and engaging ways and far too often map work if simply coloring, labeling, and memorizing.

What I love about that Vox list, is that the maps tell stories that are much more rich and engaging than "here is where things are." I decided to make an introduction to World War II where students explore some of the maps from that article prior to diving into any of our World War II content.


I took 14 of the maps from that article and created a Google Slides deck from them. I will either have students explore the maps on their devices using this link (http://bit.do/WWIImaps) or print the maps and do a gallery walk.

I created this worksheet to go along with it and plan to host a discussion with the class, reviewing their answers to the reflective questions when they are done.

Looking for more lessons for your World History Classroom? Join my mailing list or check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Do you teach World War II? Do you have a favorite map that you use to teach the content? Share in the comments!

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 16, 2021 at 3:27 PM

    There is a similar article on Vox for WW1. I used it and prompted students to prepare a presentation identifying (and explaining the relevance of) the five maps from the list they felt were most critical in telling the story of World War 1.

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