Facing History and Ourselves - Lessons, Units and Curriculum Outlines

It's About Time: Responding to the Crisis in Darfur

Liz Kelleher — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 20:04:11 +0000

Overview:

Welcome, UK Visitors. Find out more about the work of Facing History and Ourselves, register for UK educator workshops and seminars, or contact our London office at www.facinghistory.org/offices/london.

This outline provides a comprehensive examination of the Nuremberg Trials, and can be used to address issues raised in the Justice, Memory and Legacy section of Holocaust and Human Behavior. Readings from the resource book are accompanied by selected websites and videos.

Learning Outcomes:

In this lesson students will

Learn about the ongoing crisis in Darfur
Hone reading comprehension skills, such as reading for details.
Consider the relationship between knowledge and action with regard to responding to current events, especially to humanitarian crises.
Evaluate the role of the media in covering humanitarian crises

Essential questions:

How do we respond to an ongoing humanitarian crisis when the information we have changes every day? How can we impact the decisions of political leaders?
When preventing genocide or other forms of injustice, how much do we need to know before we act?
What is the responsibility of the media when reporting about genocide?

Suggested Grade Level:

9-12

Duration of Activity:

60-90 minutes

Materials:

BBC News, "West Sudan curfew as talks fail" (12/22/03)
BBC News, "Darfur attacks fuel genocide fear" (11/15/04)
BBC News, "Clooney speaks of Darfur horrors" (12/16/06)
Map of Sudan

Activity:

1. This lesson focuses on how we learn about current events over time. As a start-up activity, you might ask students to think about how they learn about current events. Do they watch the news? Read about the news on the internet or in newspapers? Overhear people talking about current events? To what extent do they think it is important to know what is going on in their community? Their country? The world?

2. The conflict in Darfur has received attention in the media, especially since celebrities, such as George Clooney, have traveled to the region. As a result, some students may know about the situation in Sudan. Before having students read newspaper articles about Darfur, you might want to find out what students already know about the conflict in the western part of Sudan. One way to do this is by asking students to point out Sudan on a map of Africa. Once they know where Sudan is, you can ask students if they have ever heard of Darfur. Where is it? What do they know about it?

3. The main activity for this lesson engages students in the reading of three newspaper articles written about Darfur, one from 2003, another from 2004, and one from 2006. The purpose of the activity is twofold: Students will not only learn about what has happened and is happening in Darfur, but they will also think about how their responses to the events there change as they have more and different information. We suggest that students do this activity in small groups of 2 or 3, but they could also do this activity individually.

Pass out the first article, "West Sudan curfew as talks fail." When reading this article, students can highlight any words or phrases that answer the questions, "What was happening in Darfur on December 22, 2003?" and "How are people responding to the crisis?" Then, as a class you might write the date of the article (12/22/03) on the board and all of the details the class found from the article. When students add information to this list, you might ask them how they know this information - what evidence has the reported provided to make them believe the fact is true?
After reading the first article and listing important information, ask students what readers of this article might do with this information. How might they respond? Brainstorm a list on the board entitled "Possible responses to learning about Darfur." Examples of what students might say include the following: nothing, tell others, try to find out more information, send money to a relief agency, join an activist group, participate in a rally, try to influence a government official, work for a relief group, etc. After you have a list on the board, have students respond to the following question in writing: After reading this article, what do you think would be the best possible response? Why?
Repeat this same process for the next two articles. When debriefing students' reading, it is important for students to recognize the new information that is revealed over time. For example, in the first article from 2003, the journalist reports that "600,000 people have fled," but does not refer directly to people being killed. About one year later, in 2004, the reporter writes, "It is now estimated that 70,000 people have died in Darfur" and graphic descriptions of these deaths are included in the article. Moreover, the 2004 article uses the word "genocide" to describe the situation in Darfur, while the 2003 article did not.
If students are not familiar with the term genocide, you might want to take a few minutes to explain what it means and how using this term carries important political implications. For more information about the term genocide and the UN Genocide Convention, refer to the explanation provided by Human Rights Web. Andy Carvin, director or Digital Divide Network, also provides a clear, student-friendly explanation of the term genocide.
After reading each article, you might also give students the opportunity to add to the list of "Possible responses to learning about Darfur" that is posted on the board.

4. In the final part of this lesson, students reflect on their experience reading the three articles. Before entering into a class discussion, you might ask students to review their three written responses to the articles. Then you can ask for volunteers to share how or why their responses might have changed (or not) as they read each article. A class discussion might be stimulated by the following questions:

How were the stories constructed? What elements do they use to tell the story?
To what extent is our response to a humanitarian crisis dependent on what we know? What does this teach us about the importance of following current events? What might happen if nobody followed the news?
How many innocent people have to die before people take action to stop this kind of violence? If people are moved to act by the deaths of massive numbers of people, is it possible to stop acts of genocide before hundreds of thousands of people are killed just because they belong to a particular group? What might move people to act before so many people have died? What will have to happen in Darfur in order to motivate more individuals, groups, and government officials to take action?
What is the responsibility of journalists when reporting on topics such as genocide? Christiane Amanpour, international correspondent for CNN, explained her philosophy about journalism as follows: To tell the truth. To be objective, but not neutral, especially in cases of genocide....[Journalism] is a noble and valuable profession. Done right is a positive force and valuable contribution to society.Why do you think Amanpour means when she says that a journalist should "be objective, but not neutral"? What is the difference between objectivity and neutrality? [As an extension activity you might have students review the articles they just read about the crisis in Darfur and then discuss the following questions: To what extent do you find these journalists are being objective or neutral when reporting on Sudan? Do you think these reporters are a "positive force and valuable contribution to society"?]

Extensions:

1. An appropriate companion to this lesson is the reading "No Time to Think" on page 189 of Facing History and Ourselves Resource Book Holocaust and Human Behavior. This reading describes how a man living in Nazi Germany fails to respond to the incremental changes he sees around him, until it is too late and his entire society has been transformed. This reading emphasizes what can happen when people fail to respond to the early warning signs of a humanitarian crisis.

2. The powerful poem, "The Hangman," is a parable in which the people of a town are hanged, one by one, by a mysterious stranger who erects a gallows in the center of the town. For each hanging the remaining townspeople find a rationale, until the hangman comes for the last survivor, who finds no one left to speak up for him. This poem raises a similar question to those raised in the reading about the unfolding genocide in Darfur: When should people act in the face or injustice and violence?

3. You might ask students to pick their own current event and follow it over time. They can keep a "current events" log where they record new information they learn as well as their reactions to this changing situation. At the end of this experience, students might write a paper commenting on what they learned about the media, current events, and being an informed citizen. Or you might have students share what they learned about their current event with the class.

Suggested Assessment:

Students can write their own article "objective, but not neutral" article about the situation in Darfur. With their article, students can turn in a "journalist statement" explaining several decisions they made when writing the article such as which information to include and whose perspectives to represent. One resource that might help students complete this assignment is Your Turn to Tell the Story: The Darfur Genocide (NOTE: You must be a subscriber to TimesSelect). On this page, Nicholas Kristof invites students to write their own stories, articles or editorials about events in Darfur. This site provides links to news articles, photos and videos that students can review before writing their own texts.

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Facing History and Ourselves, December 2006

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Guilt, Responsibility, and the Nuremberg Trials

Liz Kelleher — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:56:33 +0000

Overview:

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

examine their own views guilt and responsibility during wartime.
analyze who should have been judged - the individuals who gave orders, the people who carried them out, or the people allowed the atrocities to occur
evaluate whether justice was achieved at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

Suggested Grade Level:

Grades 7-12

Duration of Activity:

2-3 class periods

Historical Context:

Beginning with the end of World War II, a series of war crimes trials have been conducted, the first being the trials held in Nuremburg in 1946. Since this lesson outline examines the goals and methods of these trials, the following readings from Holocaust and Human Behavior build a vocabulary and chronology necessary for the activities included in this outline: Chapter 9, Judgment, "Overview," "The Rules of War," "Humanity's Aspirations to Do Justice," "We Were Not Supposed To Think.

Materials:

1. Readings. In addition to the selections above from Holocaust and Human Behavior, the following readings could be used to highlight specific aspects of this outline:

Chapter 9, Judgment, "Obedience to Orders," "Betraying the Children," "The Scientists of Annihilation," "Less than Slaves," "Toward International Standards," "On Trial," and "The United Nations and Genocide."

2. Videos. The following videos are essential to this activity. For more information on how to obtain copies of these videos, visit the Facing History Lending Library.

Nuremberg Remembered
Heil Hitler: Confessions of a Hitler Youth (section at the end regarding Alfons Heck's reflections on the Nuremberg Trials)

3. Web Sites:

Activity:

1. Have students begin with a pre-writing activity by asking them to comment on their journals about the following questions (For more information on how other Facing History teachers have used journals, go to Strategic Ways to Use a Facing History Journal.)

Who is guilty and who is responsible for the atrocities committed during the World War II?

Are individuals responsible for wartime atrocities if they have obeyed the laws of their nation?

2. Debrief their reactions to this quote in small groups or with a think-pair-share activity.

3. A homework or classwork journal assignment can be used at this point to transition these activities towards an examination of the Nuremburg trials. Combined with Chapter 9, of Holocaust and Human Behavior, The Overview, the following questions could be useful in directing students attention to the trials of the Germans after World War II:

- Are there rules for war?
- Who should enforce them?
- What happens if you break them?

4. Begin an examination of Nuremburg by showing the short film Nuremberg Remembered. This introduction can be reinforced through a careful examination of The Rules of War in Chapter 9, Judgment. Students may want to compare the legally defined rules of war described here with the reactions to the journal prompt from above.

Optional: The personal reflections by Alfons Heck in both the video Heil Hitler: Confessions of a Hitler Youth and Betraying the Children in Chapter 9, could also be used to begin an examination of the trials.

5. Based upon the following readings, students will participate in a barometer activity in which they respond to the assertion:

The Nuremburg War Crimes Trials were successful in punishing those responsible for the crimes of World War II

After reviewing the following selections from Holocaust and Human Behavior,students should organize themselves into a line, with one end representing absolute agreement with the statement and the other end absolute disagreement. Once they have situated themselves, invite students from either the extremes or the middle to explain their reasoning, and see if they can shift the location of other students.

- Chapter 9, Judgment, "Humanity's Aspirations to Do Justice," "Obedience to Orders," "A Man of Words," "We Were Not Supposed To Think," "The Scientists of Annihilation," and "Less than Slaves."

Extensions:

1. Have students read the selection On Trial from chapter 9 of Holocaust and Human Behavior. This reading describes the experiences of a German journalist attending one of the trials held in Frankfurt in 1964. The first two Connections questions examine important questions about guilt, innocence and responsibility.

2. A second reading in chapter 9, Choices, includes the 1991 Yale commencement address by Guido Calabresi. This reading examines additional questions about justice, war guilt and responsibility.

3. Facing History has produced a companion study guide to the documentary Facing the Truth with Bill Moyers, which examines the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa.

Contributor:

Karen Murphy, Facing History and Ourselves

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Obedience and Conformity: Police Battalion 101

Liz Kelleher — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:50:46 +0000

Overview:

How can we explain the behavior of individuals who followed orders, and committed atrocities and murder during the Holocaust? Why did some choose to obey authority rather than resist? This lesson outline explores these questions and others through a detailed study of perpetrators of horrific violence during the Holocaust. Connections are made to the Milgram experiment as well as readings from Chapter 7, The Holocaust, in Holocaust and Human Behavior

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

explore the role of obedience in the implementation of the Holocaust.
analyze the decisions made by bystanders and perpetrators.
use the results of Milgram's experiment to interpret the role of authority in decision making.

Suggested Grade Level:

Grades 9-12

Duration of Activity:

1-2 class periods

Historical Context:

This lesson outline focuses on the experiences of particular group of perpetrators active during 1942, the Holocaust became a matter of bureaucratic policy.

Chapter 7 The Holocaust: "Reserve Police Battalion 101"

Materials:

Readings

The reading Reserve Police Battalion 101 is central to the activity. The additional readings from Holocaust and Human Behavior that follow provide important context for understanding the choices confronted by individuals living under the Nazi regime. It is highly recommended that students have an understanding of the larger historical of the period.

Chapter 7, The Holocaust: "Reserve Police Battalion 101";
Chapter 5, Conformity and Obedience: "A Matter of Obedience?"

Videos

The following videos are essential to this activity. For more information on how to obtain copies of these videos, visit the Facing History Lending Library

Genocide (episode from the "British World at War" series)
Obedience: The Milgram Experiment

Websites

Activity:

1. Have students take turns reading aloud the first half of "Police Battalion 101" (HHB, p. 313-317, stopping after the line in the second paragraph:

"Trapp then made an extraordinary offer... he could step out."

In their journals, students should respond to the following questions:

How many men do you think took Trapp up on his offer?
What influenced the men's decisions about whether or not to take up Trapp's offer?

The students should share their responses, either within a small group or the whole class. As an option, consider creating an identity chart for the members of the Battalion while students are reporting out their responses.

2. Students should complete the remainder of reading and write a personal response within their journal. A large group discussion could revolve around the central question: Why did so few men take up Trapp's offer? What influenced these men to act, as a group, in such a murderous way? Was it just antisemitism or was there something more?

3. Show video "Obedience", which documents the groundbreaking experiments by Stanley Milgram. Show the clip of the test subject who obeys the instructions of the test administrator to the most advanced degree. Students should record their response to this segment in their journals. Have students watch the segment again and take notes with them: what language is used by the experimenter and the teacher? What is the teacher's body language? Why does he obey orders to such an extreme degree?

4. Show a second clip from "Obedience", in which the test subject does not follow the instructions of the test administrator. Have students write a response and share. If it does not come up, ask them what more could this individual have done?
(Note: Although the subject stops administering the electric charge, he does not check on the learner. Why might this have been? Why did he not threaten to contact the authorities?)

5. In reflecting on Milgram's experiment, Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist at Stanford University, focused on the behavior of those who refused to obey:

"The question to ask of Milgram's research is not why the majority of normal, average subjects behave in evil (felonious) ways, but what did the disobeying minority do after they refused to continue to shock the poor soul, who was so obviously in pain? Did they intervene, go to his aid, did they denounce the researcher, protest to higher authorities, etc.? No, even their disobedience was within the framework of acceptability, they stayed in their seats, in their assigned place, politely, psychologically demurred, and they waited to be dismissed by the authority. Using other measures of obedience in addition to going all the way on the shock generator, obedience to authority in Milgram's research was total violence against them".

How does an answer to his question help explain why the soldiers were never punished for refusing to participate?

Extensions:

1. Apply what has been learned about the relationship between obedience and authority to other sets of decisions by examining other examples of perpetrators and bystanders:

Chapter 7, The Holocaust, "Obeying Orders"
Chapter 8, Bystanders and Rescuers, "Fateful Decisions", "The Role of the Protestant Churches", "The Role of the Catholic".

2. The themes of obedience and the complicated roles played by perpetrator and bystanders can be seen in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.

Download a copy of the Schindler's List study guide.

Suggested Assessment:

A good assessment of this lesson outline is something called a Barometer Activity.

Make the following statement: "Obedience was the primary reason why Germans and their allies killed Jews during the Holocaust." Students write in their journals whether they agree or disagree with the statement or, are unsure or neutral about it and why. Posted at one end of the classroom is the word "Agree" and at the other end is the word "Disagree." In the middle is the phrase: "Unsure/Neutral." Students must stand, as in a barometer, along this continuum. Students will be asked to give their reasons as to why they have chosen where they are standing, The goal is to encourage students to move their way along the continuum. This activity is a good way to practice the discussion skills they have been working on all semester in terms of listening, responding, and disagreeing with one another respectfully.

Contributor:

Howard Lurie, Facing History and Ourselves

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Defining Community: The Universe of Obligation

Liz Kelleher — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:46:49 +0000

Overview:

This outline invites students to explore the concept of a "universe of obligation," and provides several contemporary examples of how this concept can influence individual and collective behavior. Readings from Holocaust and Human Behavior and Choosing to Participate are used.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

Develop a deeper understanding of the concept of "universe of obligation" that exist among individuals and within communities.
Explore the implications of a "universe of obligation" for their own lives and communities.
Utilize reflective journal writing as a means of deepening their appreciation for the themes and content explored within a Facing History class.

Suggested Grade Level:

Grades 7-12

Duration of Activity:

1-2 class periods

Historical Context:

In order to fully appreciate the concept of a "universe of obligation," it is necessary to read the introduction to Chapter 2, We and They of Holocaust and Human Behavior.

Materials:

Readings

The following readings from Holocaust and Human Behavior can be used in the Follow-Up section of this outline:

Chapter 4: The Nazis Take Power: "Do You Take the Oath?"
Chapter 8: Bystanders and Rescuers: "Protest at Rosenstrasse 2-4," "Fateful Decisions," "The Courage of LeChambon," and "The Response of the Allies."

The Choosing to Participate study guide and online exhibit also contains two stories which can be used to illustrate the concept of a universe of obligation.

Websites

Not in Our Town

Videos
The following video can be used to support the activities within this lesson outline

Handouts

Universe of Obligation activity sheet

Activity:

1. Introduce the theme of community by asking student to consider following quote on community and obligation. Display the following quote without attribution:

"I love my daughters more than my nieces,
my nieces more than my cousins,
my cousins more than my neighbors.
But that doesn't mean that we detest our neighbors."

2. Use the think-pair-share process to debrief this quote.

3. With a larger group, focus a discussion on the following questions or themes:

What is this person's vision of community?
In what ways does this vision of community make sense?
Does this vision make you at all uncomfortable? Why or why not?

4. Discuss the idea of a hierarchy of caring. What happens if we expand this hierarchy out to include people like us in the form of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, political beliefs, profession, clubs, schools, etc.? Who would you save from a burning building first? Who are we obligated to and in what ways?

Introduce the idea of a universe of obligation. In the introduction to Chapter 2 of Holocaust and Human Behavior, Helen Fein defines this important concept as the circle of individuals and groups "toward whom obligations are owed. to whom rules apply, and whose injuries call for [amends]" (HHB, p. 56).

5. Now read entire quote (from The New Yorker, April 28, 1997):

I love my daughters more than my nieces, my nieces more than my cousins, my cousins more than my neighbors. But that doesn't mean we detest our neighbors. The fact of being Francophile doesn't require being xenophobic. The fact that I prefer the French does not mean that I detest the English. I like them less than the French - over all. Because it could happen that I like an Englishman better than a Frenchman, individually, or a Senegalese more than an inhabitant of Saint-Cloud. It depends on his quality, on his affinities with me, on his opinions, and all that. But I think that it's very difficult to make people understand.

6. Before discussing the quote further, identify the author of the quote, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Founder and President of The National Front, a French far-right political party. For more information about Le Pen, view the Anti-Defamation League's website.

7. Using think-pair-share, re-examine the entire quote now, and with the context of Le Pen's political viewpoint. Return to a larger group discussion, and revisit the concept of the universe of obligation.

8. Have students use their journals to further develop the concept of a universe of obligation.

Extensions:

The concept of a universe of obligation extends throughout many of the readings within Holocaust and Human Behavior. One way to extend and deepen an understanding of this concept is to examine specific historical moments when an individuals and groups either recognized, or failed to recognize their obligation to others.

Below, are several readings from HHB in which stories of rescue and resistance reveal how people acted. There are also accounts of how individuals and nations sometimes failed to act at critical moments:

Chapter 4: The Nazis Take Power, "Do You Take the Oath?"
Chapter 8: Bystanders and Rescuers, "Protest at Rosenstrasse 2-4," "Fateful Decisions," "The Courage of LeChambon," and "The Response of the Allies."

Suggested Assessment:

As an assessment of the above exercise, explain to the class that it is now necessary to expand their existing understanding of community to their own lives.

1. Break into no more than 5 groups. Make sure each group has newsprint and markers.

2. Provide one basic instruction for each group: "As a group, draw a picture of community."

3. Allow at least 30 minutes for groups to draw their communities. Make sure as you go around to make sure they have someone to present their work to the larger group.

4. Each group should have 3 minutes to present with 1 or 2 minutes for questions. Establish the questions each group should expect:
Is this a picture of a definition of community, community as an ideal, or an actual community?
How did your own group function as a community in coming to consensus?

5. Debrief: As a group, talk about the difficulty in defining concepts like community and the universe of obligation which emerge within each community. Address the questions of what causes communities to collapses, or to be created anew? What communities do they belong to outside of the one they are presently sitting in? Can a community be coercive, or is it necessary to members to want to be part of it?

Contributor:

Kevin Feinberg, Facing History and Ourselves

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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.

Download the PDF

View additional resources for this curriculum

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

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).

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

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 the day'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.

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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