Facing History Educator Resources Feed

Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: A Supplement to Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

Ariel Perry2 — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:15:06 +0000

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This resource, which is currently still in its pilot stage, connects our core resource book, Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, with writing prompts that align with the expectations of the Common Core State Standards. This resource includes specific writing prompts and teaching strategies that ask students to use evidence as they craft a formal argumentative essay. In addition, the resource features effective writing strategies for general use in the social studies or English classroom.

As students read and reflect from our core resource book, they investigate the forces that undermined democracy in Germany, betrayed a generation of young people, and ultimately led to the Holocaust. In doing so, students discover that many of those forces threaten our own society today. The book then helps students discover how their decisions can make a positive difference in their community, nation and the world.

Study Guide

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Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: A Supplement to Civil Rights Historical Investigations

CatherineOKeefe — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:39:43 +0000

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This resource aligns our Civil Rights Historical Investigations units with the Common Core State Standards through an argumentative writing assessment.

The three Civil Rights Historical Investigations units 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. This supplement includes specific writing prompts and teaching strategies that ask students to use this evidence to craft a formal argumentative essay about the civil rights movement. In addition, the resource features effective writing strategies for the social studies classroom.

Study Guide

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Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: A Supplement to Choices in Little Rock

CatherineOKeefe — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:35:45 +0000

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This resource aligns our Choices in Little Rock unit with the Common Core State Standards through an argumentative writing assessment.

Choices in Little Rock is a teaching unit that focuses on efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, and explores civic choices—the decisions people make as citizens in a democracy. This supplement includes specific writing prompts and teaching strategies that ask students to use evidence as they craft a formal argumentative essay. In addition, the resource features effective writing strategies for the social studies classroom.

Study Guide

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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.

Contributor:

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

Network Status:

Public

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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

Network Status:

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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.

Download the PDF

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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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The Diary of Anne Frank Teacher’s Guide PBS Masterpiece Classic

CatherineOKeefe — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:38:59 +0000

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Developed by WGBH in collaboration with Facing History and Ourselves, this study guide accompanies the 2010 PBS Masterpiece Classic series The Diary of Anne Frank, a new film version based on fresh information about Anne Frank’s family, life, and death. Drawing extensively on Anne's own words, including long-deleted passages of her diary, and featuring vividly-recreated scenes filmed in Amsterdam, the series aims to adapt this much-taught classic for a new generation, setting out to show young viewers that Anne was a “thoroughly modern teenager—similar in many ways to today”—who lived in anything-but-normal times.

The guide is aimed at middle school and high school teachers. Together the film and guide can serve as a key element within a larger unit on World War II, Holocaust studies, or coming-of-age literature in social studies, history, English, and writing courses. It can also be used as a resource within units on diversity, tolerance, and human rights.

Features include:

Discussion questions that aim to spark critical thinking and reflection
Suggested activities, worksheets and handouts
Extensive resources for further exploration, including companion website and links to online resources and social media

Additional Information:

The Diary of Anne Frank– PBS Masterpiece companion website

PBS Educational Media – Purchase a Copy

Study Guide

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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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