Elsewhere in this section of historyresourcecupboard we describe how we love using real historians in our lessons. Well here is a cracking example of this activity that you could use when teaching the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Having  armed your kids with the necessary historical knowledge about the terms, get them to show off their newly found mental muscle by challenging a real historian.

Anthony Lentin wrote a great article in History Today called: Germany: A new Carthage? He discusses how far the treaty was devastating  for Germany. In the body of his article he describes the terms of the treaty.  But does he do it well enough? Get  your kids to mark his work, look for any omissions and  then write him a letter / email explaining what they think of his description.  The most able could even review the entire article.

You can download a word document below which you can use ‘off the peg’ to get your students to complete this task. You could either print it off or get your kids to use a digital version to annotate.

This is a great example of how to use real historians in lessons – enjoy!