Stalin's Purges: Making Connections

French Cartoon from the 1930s, caption reads: "Visit the Pyramid of Russia"

Teaching the National Study in HSC Modern History, no matter which option it is, can be a daunting task. In my mind this is predominantly due to the sheer endlessness of historical thinking. In other words, the more I look into something the more there is to see. You could read about Soviet Russia forever, delving into records of the past to construct a simulacrum of increasing depth. The past itself, however, can never be brought back to life. All we can do is try to replicate an impression of it using the available details. 

I don't know about you but I find that hard.

When I'm programming for History I'm always grateful for the information provided in the syllabus but, even with this seemingly finite guide, I'll start mining sources and won't know when to stop. And that's because there is no 'when' to stop - this is history we're talking about. It's not possible to collect all the information because we can't go there and see it for ourselves. We can't ever get to a point and say, "Well, that's it. I've finished finding all the facts". The facts are legion, and I haven't even mentioned the impact of postmodernism.

So what's the lesson here?

Do I try to teach my students everything? How can I when it's not possible due to the nature of history itself?

Do I just give students a list of facts and get them to research everything? Well, that doesn't work for every student.

I don't have the answer. At least, not definitively. What I do know is that my teaching and learning cycle allows me to continue refining what I've taught. In the case of teaching the Russia and the Soviet Union study multiple times I've been able to observe how different sets of students react with different sorts of material and task requirements. Despite what some might say, this teaching lark is not a science. Getting a unit together and teaching it to one class will not be the same as teaching that very same unit to a second class. The conditions can not be replicated because every individual is unique, and every combination of individuals produces a unique class room. We can refine our materials in these conditions over and over again, getting closer and closer to something that really works quite well, but perfection just won't ever be achieved. It's impossible. 

There are other problems to consider too; Modern History isn't Advanced English, it's a subject that attracts students with a range of abilities. A while back there was a course called Modern History (People and Events) which offered more scope for differentiated learning across the Senior History curriculum; from what I can gather it was to Modern History as English Studies is to Standard English. This course was phased out, meaning that any Modern History class can now have students with particular literacy needs not necessarily primed for essay writing and higher order source analysis.

My point is that in tackling something as challenging to study as Stalin's Soviet Russia we need to find 'ways in' for a diverse range of students. Ways that don't come across as too prescriptive or finite whilst also allowing students to come up with their own clear answers. It's deceptively difficult to straddle the balance between these things.

The resource I've included here deals with the Purges enacted by Stalin between 1934 and the outbreak of WWII. I wanted something that provides a seemingly simple overview but also forced all of my students to move beyond rote learning.

• The PPT gives an overview of the Purges, with each slide containing an image. The teacher takes the students through the slides while the students work through a separate resource, a document broken into a box per slide. 
• Each slide contains the image from the slide but rather than simply getting the students to copy or summarise information from the PowerPoint, the goal is that the students make connections between each image and the information from the slide. 
• By synthesising a more personal response in this fashion, students are drawing a cause and effect relationship between visual materials and the history that produced them.

Resources:
The Purges - PowerPoint Presentation
The Purges - Student sheet