Lesson 1 - Irish Civil War

Understanding 1917 & Beyond

Lesson 1 - Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War followed the War of Independence and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and lasted from June 1922 to May 1923. It was the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that triggered the war – the Provisional Government supported the Treaty whilst the anti-treaty faction believed the Treaty was a betrayal of the Irish Republic.

Resources with links to Statutory Requirements

Intentions

Intentions

  • Review the resources and links to understand why Ireland’s Provisional Government supported the Treaty whilst the anti-treaty faction believed the Treaty was a betrayal of the Irish Republic.
  • Using the information from the links as an example, prepare and complete a creative response to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the topic.

Opportunities for Cross Curricular learning

Using ICT

The resources examine the topic utilizing a number of different media, which serve to engage pupils with the material, challenging them to think more creatively and encourage discussion.

The resources could inspire tasks that would support presenting, researching, desktop publishing, working with moving images, working with images and working with sound.

Communication

The resources provide pupils with the opportunity to develop their talking and listening, reading and writing skills through independent learning and shared experience.

Opportunities for Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities

Using the content, pupils have the opportunity to investigate meaning, explore ideas and analyse the information they are provided with. Within their individual learning, through group work and by questioning ideas, there is ample scope within the materials to include a focus on TS & PC. For this section, the following strands from the TS & PC framework are the most obvious to consider:

Managing Information

Pupils have the opportunity to:

  • plan and set goals and break a task into sub-tasks;
  • use their own and others’ ideas to locate sources of information;
  • use a range of methods for collating, recording and representing information; and
  • communicate with a sense of audience and purpose.

Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

Pupils have the opportunity to:

  • make links between cause and effect;
  • justify methods, opinions and conclusions;
  • use different types of questions; and
  • make connections between learning in different contexts.

Being Creative

Pupils have the opportunity to:

  • seek out questions to explore and problems to solve;
  • learn from and value other people’s ideas;
  • challenge the routine method; and
  • take risks for learning.

Working with Others

Pupils have the opportunity to:

  • listen actively and share opinions;
  • take personal responsibility for work with others and evaluate their own contribution to the group; be fair; and
  • suggest ways of improving their approach to working collaboratively.

Self-Management

Pupils have the opportunity to:

  • organise and plan how to go about a task;
  • learn ways to manage their own time; and
  • compare their own approach with others’ and in different contexts.

Opportunities to develop

Possible Task

Using audio editing software, record a mock debate in which half the group argues in favour of the Treaty, whilst the other half argues against the signing of the Treaty.

Working in groups, you must script a debate on the pros and cons of signing the Treaty and record it using audio editing software. Within your scripts, talk about the events that led to the Treaty and the possible consequences of signing or not signing it. Use the audio editing software to add effects to make the recording sound more authentic e.g. add echo, crowd noises, etc...

Areas of Learning: The Arts (Drama), Language and Literacy (English/Irish with Media Education), Environment and Society (History)

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