Facing History and Ourselves - Lessons, Units and Curriculum Outlines

Decision-Making in Times of Injustice Lesson 11

AdamBernstein — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:27:09 +0000

The Nazis in Power: Propaganda and Conformity

Overview:

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Decision-Making in Times of Injustice: a unit to supplement Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

In this lesson, students will analyze several examples of Nazi propaganda in order to identify the messages that permeated German society, and to consider the impact these messages might have had on the actions and attitudes of German children, women, and men.

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Decision-Making in Times of Injustice Lesson 14

AdamBernstein — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:06:25 +0000

The Holocaust

Overview:

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Decision-Making in Times of Injustice: a unit to supplement Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

The purpose of this lesson, and the following one, is to give students an awareness of the enormity of the crimes committed during the Nazi Holocaust and to help them grasp the fact that thousands of ordinary people-teenagers, fathers, daughters, brothers, etc.- participated in perpetrating these crimes, while thousands more stood by and quietly witnessed the suffering and death of millions of innocent people.

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Civil Rights Historical Investigations

CatherineOKeefe — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:08:22 +0000

Overview:

The three units we have developed require students to "do" history—to gather evidence from primary documents, use that evidence to make claims about the past, and then apply what they learn to their own lives today. In the first unit, students learn about the murder and trial of Emmett Till. This material asks students to consider the historical context that contributed to the growth of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. In the second unit, students explore voter discrimination in the South and the philosophy of nonviolence that guided civil rights activists' responses to this injustice, culminating in the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. The third unit exposes students to the civil rights movement in the North by focusing on the struggle over school desegregation in Boston in the 1960s and early 1970s. Thus, a journey through all units allows students to trace the development of the civil rights movement from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Note about grade level
This lesson was orginally written for tenth grade U.S. History classes in Boston Public Schools. It can be adapted to meet the needs of students of varying ages and skill levels.

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A Pivotal Moment in the Civil Rights Movement: The Murder of Emmett Till Unit 1

Nonviolence as a Tool for Change: The March for Voting Rights Unit 2

Education and Civil Rights: School Desegregation in Boston Unit 3

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Literature Circles Lesson 3: Typical Discussion Day Structure

MichaelDurney — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:22:25 +0000

Note: This lesson is in draft form and is pending revision.

Overview:

Because of the emotional content embedded in much of the Facing History material, it is important to consider how the class will be structured during a Literature Circles unit. Some consideration should be given to a daily warm up and debrief so that teachers and students are aware of how the discussions are progressing and potential pitfalls students may be encountering. Moreover, teachers should consider a structure in which only a few groups are discussing on a given day to provide emotional support to those students if necessary (see attached daily and weekly sequence). Other groups may be engaged in reading or completing their roles in preparation for their discussions. Obviously a structure like this needs to be scaffolded beforehand so that many students are able to work independently without direct teacher support (see attached document on the teacher's role).

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

work independently to prepare their role while their group is not discussing
participate in and facilitate a discussion
practice using effective discussion strategies
engage in reflection and self-assessment on their own discussion abilties

Essential Questions:

How can a thoughtful class structure support the emotional and intellectual needs of students?
What is the role of the teacher in providing support to student discussion groups?
How can warm-ups and debriefs support both learning objectives and feelings of emotional safety?

Suggested Grade Level:

Middle School/High School

Duration of Activity:

45-60 minutes

Activity:

Warm-Up:

Begin by giving students an opportunity to reflect on their role and review theday's chapter(s). This could also be an opportunity for the teacher to lead a mini-lesson on a particular strategy if she/he observes something during the discussions that needs to be addressed. As students prepare for the discussion, some of the questions they might consider include:

How do I prepare for a discussion?
What parts of my job would I like to highlight?
What do I want my group members to "hear?"
What techniques tend to keep a discussion going?

Allow students to spend five or ten minutes reflecting before moving on to the discussion.

Discussion:

When groups begin discussing, the teacher can rotate among the groups (for more on the teacher role, see attached). The amount of discussion time can be scaffolded. For instance, the first few discussions may be short, with students only talking for ten to fifteen minutes. Setting a timer works well to build discussion skills so that students are eventually having lengthier conversations (up to 30 minutes). While participating in the discussion, students should be encouraged to ask themselves the following questions:

How do I stay engaged?
How do I listen actively?
How can I contribute beyond what my role requires?
What do I do if I don't feel heard?
How can discussion deepen my understanding of the text?

Debrief:

After the discussion ends, teachers can bring students together to debrief the conversations. This is a good time for the teacher to gauge how the students might be feeling and to assess whether the conversations have been effective. Some of the questions that can be used to guide the conversation are the following:

What was good/hard about the discussion?
What types of questions/ responses kept the discussion going?
What are two or three critical moments from today's discussion?
How do I feel about the teacher's presence in the discussion? Too present? Not present enough? Just right?

Suggested Assessment:

Self-Evaluation:
Using the attached form (see attached self-evaluation), students can do a daily reflection on their role in the discussion. Teachers can collect the self-evaluations during the unit in order to glean an overall snapshot of the students' performance during discussion periods.

Recording and Reflection
Teachers can use a digital recorder, tape recorder or video camera to record a group's discussion. At a later time, the Discussion Director can review the tape and reflect on her/his ability to facilitate the discussion, paying particular attention to whether or not her/his strategies were effective overall. When paired witht he daily self-assessments, these types of reflections can be powerful tools as teachers attempt to grade students at the end of the unit.

Contributor:

Katy Crawford-Garrett

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Attachment	Size
discussion-day-sequence.pdf	9.99 KB
Self-assessment.pdf	6.45 KB
Teacher-Role.pdf	50.32 KB
weekly-sequence.pdf	7.78 KB

Armenian Genocide Lesson Two: We and They, the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire

MichaelDurney — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:10:57 +0000

Overview:

This lesson explores the challenges facing Armenians during the second half of the 19th century as they advocated for equal rights within the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the 19th century, Armenians and other minorities struggled to obtain equal rights. At the same time, nationalism swept through the Ottoman Empire, convincing Greeks and other nationalities to demand independence. Most Armenians rejected calls for separation and instead pushed for reform of the Ottoman government. They looked for allies both inside and outside of the empire, including leaders of what would become the Young Turk movement. During this period, many European and Russian diplomats became increasingly concerned about the treatment of minority groups within the Ottoman Empire. Their arguments and efforts to protect those minorities would set important precedents for the international movement for human rights. However, in the absence of adequate protection, Armenians found themselves facing increasing discrimination and violence. In this lesson, students will consider the consequences of choices made by the Ottoman Government, the international community, and Ottoman Armenian leaders.

The lesson addresses these essential questions:

Who are the Armenians? What is the Ottoman Empire?
What rights did Armenians have in the Ottoman Empire?
What choices were available to Armenians as they sought equal rights in the Ottoman Empire?
How did the Ottoman government respond to Armenian political demands?
What happened when Armenians began demanding more rights?
How did officials in the Ottoman Empire respond?
What challenges do minorities face when they demand for more rights?
How is religion and nationality used to create distinctions of "we" and "they"?

Learning Outcomes:

In this lesson students will...

Understand background information about the Armenian people such as the following: They are an ancient people that have lived in the area that is now Turkey for approximately 2,000 years. They are mostly Christian. They were the first people to formally adopt Christianity as their national religion, even before Rome. They have their own language and culture. Beginning in the 15th century, the Armenians were ruled by the Ottoman Empire. As subjects of the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians had some rights, but did not enjoy equal rights. In the late 19th century, many
Armenians began demanding greater rights.
Identify how religion, history, and national identity are used to create distinctions between "we" and "they."
Learn about the challenges minorities faced when demanding equality in a traditional society through an examination of Armenian demands for civil rights in the Ottoman Empire.
Paraphrase the main idea of a text.

Suggested Grade Level:

9th-12th grade

Duration of Activity:

One hour

Materials:

Selected Readings from Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization:

Humanity on Trial, pp. 35-38
The Sultan Responds, pp. 39-41
Seeking Civil Rights, pp. 42-44
Humanitarian Intervention, pp. 45-47
Showdown at Bank Ottoman, pp.48-50

Video:
The Armenian Genocide (Two Cats Productions/Oregon Public Broadcasting)

Maps:
Current political map of Turkey and Armenia
Map of Ottoman empire at peak

Activity:

Warm up: [Note: If this lesson follows Lesson One, you can integrate students' questions about Gorky into the flow of this lesson.]

Ask students to identify a time when they were in the minority and a time when they were in the majority. Have them write about the differences between these experiences. Students can share their responses and you can record them on the board. Later, you can compare their ideas about what it means to be in the minority and in the majority to the experiences of the Ottomans and Armenians.

Main activity:

1. Introduce the lesson by having students locate the Ottoman Empire on a map. Have students compare this map with a current map of Turkey. Highlight the country of Armenia on the current map. Identity for students some of the countries have been formed from former Ottoman Republics. Explain that this lesson will focus on the story of the Armenians, a minority group living in the Ottoman Empire, of which Ottoman Turks were the majority.

2. In order to establish an historical context for this lesson, have students view a brief segment from the film The Armenian Genocide (minutes 2:35 -7:45). Before they begin watching, write guiding questions on the board such as the following:

Who are the Armenian people?
What is the Ottoman Empire? Who are the Turks?
What rights did Armenians have when they lived as subjects of the Ottoman Empire?
What happened when Armenians began demanding more rights?
Ask students to take notes on any ideas related to these questions.

You could also provide students these questions on a note-taking template.

3. At the conclusion of this segment, have each student share one key idea about the Armenians that they learned from the film. Then ask them to share one key idea they learned about the Ottoman Empire from this film. Discuss what they learned about life for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. [Prompt: How is religion, history and national identity used to create a distinction between "we" and "they"?] Option: Ask students to make identity charts for the Ottoman Empire and another for the Ottoman Armenians based on what they learned in the film. Or, you can have them do this for homework.

4. To help students examine the challenges facing Armenians as they sought equal rights within the Ottoman Empire, break the students into five groups. In these groups they will read and discuss selected readings from Chapter Two, of Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization

Reading 4: Humanity on Trial, pp. 35-37
Reading 5: The Sultan Responds, pp. 39-40
Reading 6: Seeking Civil Rights, pp. 42-43
Reading 7: Humanitarian Intervention, pp. 45-46
Reading 8: Showdown at Bank Ottoman, pp. 48-49

As students read, ask them to highlight or underline the most important ideas in the text.

5. Ask students to imagine that they are journalists writing for a local newspaper about the events described in their assigned primary document. Have each group come up with a headline and a lead paragraph.

6. Each group will share their newspaper headline and paragraph. Have students take notes by recording the headlines and key ideas from the group presentations.

Follow through:

As a large group, discuss some of the key questions that emerge from a study of this period, such as:

Who is responsible for protecting minorities when they are mistreated?
What options did Armenians have in their quest for equal rights? What strategies did they use?
Why do you think they weren't successful in bringing about meaningful change?
Often efforts to draw attention to the plight of Armenians reinforced cultural stereotypes about Muslims. Is it possible to call attention to injustice without further reinforcing attitudes of "we" and "they"? How can advocates for victims distinguish between the perpetrators, their supporters, and cultural attitudes about the victims, without depicting the conflict as a clash between civilizations?
At the end of the video, we learned that the Young Turks, a new political group, had removed (ousted) the Sultan. Why you think many Armenians joined Turks and other minorities in celebrating the Sultan's removal? What challenges remained in their quest for equal treatment in the Ottoman Empire?
During the late 19th century, many countries thought that the best protection for minority groups was to gain their independence. What do you think? Should all minority groups live within their own nation? Why do you think most Armenians rejected that strategy? Would you have advised the Armenians to push for their own country rather than try to change the policies of the Ottoman government?

Suggested Assessment:

Students can write an editorial for the newspaper the class just created. First, students should choose a perspective from one of the readings (i.e. Armenian farmer, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman soldiers, U.S. Senator Wilkinson Call, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Christian missionaries, Armen Garo, European ambassadors, etc.). Drawing from the information they learned during this lessons, students should consider what argument someone would make from this perspective.

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Stitching Truth Lesson Two: The Arpilleristas in Pinochet's Chile

MichaelDurney — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:27:30 +0000

Overview:

In this lesson, students interpret tapestries woven by Chilean women in order to learn about protest, human rights, and civil society.

Suggested Grade Level:

9th-12th

Duration of Activity:

2 hours

Historical Context:

Click here for historical context.

Materials:

Facing History and Ourselves study guide Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile
Arpillera images (these are also attached as a PDF "Stitching Truth Insert")

The following supporting handouts are attached as Word documents:

Sample Analysis of Aprillera Six
Abridged Timeine of Chile's Recent History
Suggested Group Reading Assignments
Document Analysis Template
Arpilleras Presentation Preparation Worksheet
Arpilleras Presentation Graphic Organizer

Activity:

Warm up
In the main activity of this lesson, small groups of students will be responsible for using historical documents to help interpret several arpilleras. Before students begin this work, establish a basic context about this period in Chilean history. You might ask students to identify Chile's location on a map and to volunteer any information they know about Chile. You could also give students a basic overview of the case study by presenting a brief lecture or by asking students to review the timeline included with this lesson. (Note: This timeline is an abridged version of the timeline in the accompanying study guide.)

Before beginning the main activity, students should be able to answer the questions:
Who is Augusto Pinochet?
What did he do in 1973?
What is an arpillera?
Who are the arpilleristas?

Another way to introduce students to the case study is through analyzing one of the arpilleras together. In doing so, you can model what students will do in their small group work. Additionally, analyzing one arpillera as a class is a way to help students become familiar with this time period in Chile. This basic familiarity will help students make sense of the documents they will be working with in the small group activity. Arpillera 6 is appropriate for this introductory activity because of its simple imagery and its relationship to various moments in the timeline. Here are some steps you might follow to help students analyze this arpillera as they are introduced to the key ideas in this case study: [Note: A sample analysis of Arpillera 6 is included with this lesson.]

1. First ask students to describe what they see on this tapestry, prompting students to pay attention to objects, colors, composition, lines, and shapes. They could record their observations in their journals or notebooks. This is an appropriate time to introduce students to the Spanish word for tapestry, arpillera, and to explain that the weavers are called arpilleristas.

2. After closely observing arpillera 6, ask students the following questions: (Students could answer these questions individually or with partners.)

What story is the weaver, Gala Torres, trying to tell?
What do you think is the meaning of this tapestry?
What questions do you have about the weaving?

3. Pass out the timeline. Equipped with this historical information, ask students to expand on their initial interpretation of the arpillera. You might provide students with guiding questions such as: Why are the women dancing without men?, Why do they have those images on their shirts?, and Why do you think Gala Torres decided to weave this piece?

4. You can add to students' analysis of the weaving with your own insights, modeling how to make inferences based on historical information gathered from the timeline. At the end of the analysis, students should suggest a Spanish or English title for this arpillera.

5. A short debriefing of this exercise might ask students to reflect on how learning more about the history of Chile changed their interpretation of arpillera 6. Students could also brainstorm additional information they would like to know about Chile that might help them better understand the meaning of arpillera 6. After completing the main activity of this lesson, students should have the information they need to answer many of their questions.

Note: Spanish words, such as arpillera, appear throughout the case study and the primary documents. Many of the arpilleras included in the case study have Spanish words woven into the tapestry. This case study provides an excellent opportunity for Spanish-speaking students to use their language skills not only to facilitate their understanding of the material but also to help their non-Spanish-speaking peers understand the material as well.

Main Activity
1. Divide the class into three groups. Each group is responsible for presenting the story of two or three arpilleras to the class. If your class is large, you might want to divide the class into six groups. In this case, you could assign one arpillera to each group.

2. The case study itself, as well as the primary documents included in the case study, provide information that will help students interpret the meaning of the arpilleras. As students reveal their understanding of the arpilleras, they will also be answering specific questions about civil society raised by these tapestries. The attached chart illustrates how the arpilleras, readings, and questions might be distributed among the three groups. You do not need to assign all of these readings. Based on your students' reading levels and the time you have for these lessons, you might decide to use fewer readings or excerpts of these readings. Readings could also be assigned for homework.

3. There are many ways you could structure students' group work. Students could be assigned documents, including excerpts of the case study, to read on their own or with a partner. Then they could use the information gathered from their assigned documents to interpret the arpilleras. Or, the group, especially if it is small, could read all of the documents together. We have included supporting worksheets with this lesson that can be used to help students organize and synthesize information. The Document Analysis Template can help students keep track of evidence gathered from supporting documents. The Arpillera Presentation Preparation Worksheet has been designed to help students synthesize information from the supporting documents in order to analyze their groups' arpilleras and to answer specific questions about civil society.

Follow through
Each group should tell the story of its arpillera(s) to the class. As they do so, students should provide evidence they gathered to support their interpretation and they should address their group's key questions about civil society. The Arpilleras Presentation Graphic Organizer, included with this lesson, can help students take notes during the presentations. If you have access to a computer and a large screen, you can project images of the arpilleras. (Go to www.facinghistory.org/arpilleras to see a slide show of these images.) If you do not have access to this technology, you can make copies of the arpilleras for students to share.

Extensions:

The popular musician Sting wrote the song "They Dance Alone / Ellas Danzan Solas" after he saw a news story about Chilean women dancing in the streets of Chile in protest of Pinochet's oppressive regime. As depicted in arpillera 6, the women danced with pictures of their missing fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers pinned to their clothes. He performed the song in both English and Spanish, and he even sent a copy of this song to Pinochet. The following links lead you to the lyrics in English and in Spanish:

(English version) www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sting/theydancealone.html
(Spanish version) www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sting/ellasdanzansolascuecasolas.html

Listening to this song and reading the lyrics provides students with another entry point to the history of Pinochet's Chile and the Chilean women's resistance movement. Sting's song "They Dance Alone" highlights the role of the artist as a participant in civil society and encourages students to consider the roles of art, music, dance, and drama in protest and resistance.

Suggested Assessment:

Students could turn in an analysis of an arpillera based on their understanding of the social and political context in Chile. You could also ask students to explain what the arpillera reveals about civil society.

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Attachment	Size
Sample Analysis of Arpillera 6.doc	26 KB
Lesson Two - Suggested Group Reading Assignments.doc	28 KB
Abridged Timeline of Chile's Recent History.doc	24.5 KB
Document Analysis Template.doc	25 KB
Arpillera Presentation Preparation Worksheet.doc	24.5 KB
Arpilleras Presentation Graphic Organizer.doc	26.5 KB
stitching_truth_insert.pdf	1.21 MB

Choices in Little Rock

MariaHill — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:40:46 +0000

Overview:

Choices in Little Rock is a teaching unit that focuses on efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957—efforts that resulted in a crisis that historian Taylor Branch once described as "the most severe test of the Constitution since the Civil War." The unit explores civic choices—the decisions people make as citizens in a democracy. Those decisions, both then and now, reveal that democracy is not a product but a work in progress, a work that is shaped in every generation by the choices that we make about ourselves and others. Although those choices may not seem important at the time, little by little, they define an individual, delineate a community, and ultimately distinguish a nation. Those choices build on the work of earlier generations and leave legacies for those to come.

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Table of Contents
Introduction iv

Part 1: Individual and Society 1
Lesson 1: Who Are We? 3
Lesson 2: Why “Little Things Are Big” 7
Lesson 3: Why Differences Matter 12
Lesson 4: Race and Identity 15

Part 2: Dividing a Nation, Segregation & Its Consequences 21
Lesson 1: The Legacies of Segregation 23
Lesson 2: The Legal Basis for Segregation: Plessy v. Ferguson 30
Lesson 3: The Consequences of Plessy v. Ferguson 37
Lesson 4: The Road to Brown v. Board of Education 50

Part 3: Choices in Little Rock 55
Lesson 1: The First Day of School 57
Lesson 2: The Choices Leaders Make 66
Lesson 3: The Choices the Media Made 87
Lesson 4: The Choices the Students Made 97
Lesson 5: The Choices the Community Made 118

Part 4: The "Lost Year" 126
Lesson 1: The State v. the Federal Courts 128
Lesson 2: Shaping Public Opinion 135

PART 5: Legacies 147

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Decision-Making in Times of Injustice Lesson 17

MariaHill — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:24:46 +0000

Remebrance, Participation, and Reflection

Overview:

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Decision-Making in Times of Injustice: a unit to supplement Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

In the ﬁnal lesson of this unit, students will address these questions by creating a monument to their learning about Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior.

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Decision-Making in Times of Injustice Lesson 16

MariaHill — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:20:40 +0000

Justice after the Holocaust

Overview:

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Decision-Making in Times of Injustice: a unit to supplement Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

The purpose of this lesson is to help students deﬁne what justice looks like after the Holocaust and to help them develop a deeper understanding of justice in their own lives.

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Decision-Making in Times of Injustice Lesson 15

MariaHill — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:16:48 +0000

The Holocaust: Bystanders and Upstanders

Overview:

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Decision-Making in Times of Injustice: a unit to supplement Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

In this lesson, students will explore stories of individuals, groups, and nations who made choices to resist the Nazis and rescue Jews and other victims of persecution.

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