Mao and the Colonists - need some help

Sally I love the direction your going in. Encouraging students to use higher level thinking, especially with the idea of comparing two figures and/ or movements is a great way to assess and/ or reteach material. If it were me teaching the class, I would wait until you introduce China to the students and then once they had enough background information I would ask them if them to compare this work to any past work that we have studied in class. You can also have them do a T-Chart documenting the similarities and differences. I hope this helps

On the subject of sharing ideas, I'm planning on adding more information to my government unit for my 9th graders. I talk about communism around the world, including discussion on any past and present countries that practice communism. I think you have taught a government class, and was hoping that you could share any fun lessons or ideas to introducing this subject to the students in a way that would interesting and get the point across?

Thanks!

Working in thought/quotes from the Enlightenment, Jefferson, and Mao would definitely work well. Didn't Jefferson himself say that a little Revolution here & there is a healthy thing? An organizing of their thoughts would depend on the type of students you have...you will know more about YOUR OWN students than I do obviously. A T-chart would work well with a variety of groups. If your students are more visual and hate reading and writing, then a graphic organizer would work well. If they are honors students who love writing, then a comparison/contrast paragraph would suffice. (Note...I would also mention/recommend a tool that goes by the initials "TM" which is similar to a graphic organizer, which is gradually being mandated by all the local districts, and which I know you are familiar with...yet because it is a registered trademark & copyright I want to play it safe in having it mentioned for use on this forum)
Regarding the time frame on when you teach it...it depends on whether you teach Government, World History, or US History. Government can be taught anytime you teach about political systems. World History...yes the fall of China would be a good time to teach it. Regarding US History, either during the 1911 Revolution or the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Hope this has been helpful. Looking forward to reading your comments/reviews of my Final Seminar Project as well. G

thanks for all the great suggestions. I think i will wait and bring back Jefferson when we talk about the "fall of China" About the government class, I would have them create a chart comparing/contrasting capitalism, communism, and socialism, and then look at the countries that have practiced commuism and decided is it really communism or some mixture of communism/socialism. How many of those countries are still communist today? if they have collapsed, why? On the other hand, you could bring the US into it and point out ( as some have) that we, too, practice socialism in certain areas of our economy - the TVA, the bail out of the automakers, etc. Hope this helps.