If you’re an American teacher, you might be thinking about your fascism lesson plan a little differently these days. These connections to current events are just a little too on-the-nose. Your students might even be more curious about this F word than the one they usually use. 

Regardless of why you might feel called to teach your students about fascism right now, I’m going to offer some tips and ideas for how to do it in this blog post.

Whether you’re planning your World War II or interwar years unit, or you’re reading a holocaust novel, this fascism lesson plan is the perfect prep lesson to build context.

By introducing students to the characteristics of fascism, including Benito Mussolini’s Fascist State, Adolf Hitler’s rise, and the broader rise of totalitarianism, you’ll help them understand the why behind some of the darkest major events in world history.

Designed for high school English classrooms, this rigorous lesson is packed with metacognition, collaborative work, and historical analysis to support critical thinking and a deep understanding of how fascist governments took hold in European nations.

If you’d like to skip the prep work entirely, you can grab my What is Fascism? Lesson, complete with lesson plan, gallery walk activity, slideshow, guided notes, and more, right here.

A Fascism Lesson Plan Step #1: Pre-Thinking

We know that metacognition–getting students to think about their thinking–is so important, so try to build some pre-thinking into your fascism lesson plan. 

In my What Is Fascism? Lesson, I ask students to brain dump everything they associate with the word “fascism.” Some students may have studied this in depth in history class. Others may have never heard the word. Some may have heard it thrown around on the news, on social media, or at home.

This kind of pre-thinking helps get your students to start making connections. It also serves as a kind of preassessment for you, letting you know where your students are at.

Of course, there are other ways to build pre-thinking into your lesson.

You could kick things off by asking students to brainstorm: What makes a government oppressive? How does a leader gain total political power? This pre-thinking task encourages personal reflection and sets the stage for exploring fascist regimes as a new kind of dictatorship.

Provide a graphic organizer to help students compare their initial thoughts with the key learning points they’ll gather throughout the lesson. (In my lesson, I provide a brain map for students to fill out.) 

This is a great opportunity to tie in historical thinking skills and make connections to the United States, Soviet Union, and European democracy in the 20th century. (This is especially true if you know from your school or district’s curriculum that your students would have studied these things previously.)

A Fascism Lesson Plan Step #2: Gallery Walk

If you want to create a strong fascism lesson plan, include some kind of hands-on or movement activity. 

In my Fascism Lesson Plan, I continue students’ independent thinking by having them do a gallery walk. During this gallery walk, students examine posters with information on two historical fascist governments. They then use this information to answer some questions and create their own definition of fascism. 

(It’s nice when you can get students thinking and working instead of sitting back for the answers!)

Transform your classroom into a museum-like space with a gallery walk introducing two examples of fascist leaders, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Include other information and features of life in German national socialism and Italian fascism. 

My Fascism Lesson includes six posters to help you do this. The posters include a timeline of the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany; interesting facts about education, propaganda, and more from each fascist government; and more.

You could create your own posters for a gallery walk (or add information to my lesson). You might include lesser-known primary sources like speeches, propaganda posters, or even excerpts from the Beer Hall Putsch trial.

As students move around, have them jot down observations and pose questions on a worksheet or even sticky notes on the posters themselves.

A Fascism Lesson Plan Step #3: A Lesson on the Characteristics of Fascism

Once students have had a chance to examine some historical examples of fascism and do their own thinking, it’s finally time for you to teach a lesson!

In my What is Fascism? Lesson, I include an editable slideshow and guided notes for this part of the lesson. You could, of course, create your own lesson using a Google Classroom product, pdf format handout, or even interactive whiteboards.

Unless you are specifically teaching a history lesson for a social studies class, I recommend focusing on the characteristics of fascism in your lesson.

This way, students are learning about fascism as a type of government that can still exist today instead of thinking about fascism as a relic of the past. Students must see history as a tool for understanding the present and the future. 

Students can fill out guided notes, a graphic organizer, or take their own notes as you teach.

A Fascism Lesson Plan Step #4: Writing Activity

Now it’s time for students to apply what they’ve learned! 

In my Fascism Lesson, I include an optional extension activity that asks students to write whether or not they believe that the United States is in danger of becoming fascist.

This question might be controversial in some schools or districts, so definitely skip this activity if it makes you nervous. However, I think students will have interesting thoughts on the topic. The question is also highly engaging and relevant, which makes it teaching gold. 

If, however, this question feels a little dangerous, and you still want students to write, just change the question. You can have students analyze one of the fascist governments discussed and choose from several prompts:

• What were the methods Mussolini used to gain and maintain power?
• How did Hitler’s lessons from the Beer Hall Putsch shape the Nazi Party’s success?
• Compare and contrast Mussolini’s Fascist State and Hitler’s regime.

Encourage students to use evidence from the slide deck and gallery walk to support their arguments. If you really want to turn this into a major writing assignment, you could even have students do more research and pull from primary sources. 

This task builds toward instructional objectives related to historical analysis, personal reflection, and understanding the human cost of fascist dictatorships.

When to Teach This Fascism Lesson Plan

This fascism lesson plan fits seamlessly into multiple units in social studies, world history, and even high school ELA if you’re doing cross-curricular instruction:

• As front-loading for a Holocaust novel unit
• During a World War II unit
• As part of an interwar years deep dive
• While teaching about totalitarian regimes alongside the Soviet Union
• During Black History Month, when discussing the global response to fascism and the experience of Native Americans and African Americans during WWII
• As a standalone history lesson on the rise of fascism and its warning signs
• To answer the question, “What is fascism?”

Final Thoughts for English and History Teachers

As English and history teachers, our job isn’t just to cover major events—it’s to help students develop the tools to recognize the warning signs of dangerous ideologies. This fascism lesson plan does exactly that.

It’s more than just a prep lesson—it’s a conversation starter, a challenge, and a window into a turbulent past that continues to echo today.

If you need a done-for-you fascism lesson plan, grab my What is Fascism? Lesson here!