Facing History lesson plans provide 1-4 day activities for use by educators. These lessons are written within the frame work of the Facing History scope and sequence.

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Armenian Genocide: Analyzing Historical Evidence, The This lesson examines the ways in which historical evidence has been used to construct a narrative of what happened during the Armenian Genocide. It uses....

Armenian Genocide: Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, The This lesson explores the challenges facing Armenians during the second half of the 19th century, as they advocated for equal rights within the Ottoman....

Armenian Genocide: Denial, Free Speech, and Hate Speech, The During the ninety-one years since the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, officials from the Ottoman government, and later from the Republic of Turkey have....

Armenian Genocide: Identity and History, The This lesson is the first in a series of lessons examining the Armenian Genocide and its legacies. It can be used with Chapter 1 of Crimes Against Humanity....

Armenian Genocide: Nation Building, The This lesson is the last of four related lessons that focus on the Armenian Genocide and its legacies. It examines the role of the United States in world affairs. As American newspapers turned attention to....

Armenian Genocide: The American Ambassador in Constantinople, The This lesson is the third of four related lessons that focus on the Armenian Genocide and its legacies. It examines the role nations play in one another's affairs. As American newspapers turned attention to....

Armenian Genocide: The Range of Choices, The This lesson examines the range of choices that ordinary people and governments made when they confronted the evidence of genocide. What did people do when....

Armenian Genocide: What is Justice After Genocide?, The This lesson introduces students to the challenges of seeking justice in the aftermath of genocide. Unlike the Holocaust, most of the primary perpetrators of....

Becoming American: A Series of Three Lessons Bill Moyer's documentary film, Becoming American: The Chinese Experience describes the ways the first arrivals from China in the 1840s, their descendants,....

Brutality of Life at Auschwitz, The Drawing on segments from the television series, "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State," this lesson examines the dynamics of daily existence at Auschwitz.....

Building a "Toolbox for Difference" This project was developed by Adrianne Billingham, an educator at Lexington High School (MA), as a concluding activity for an elective class entitled "Race, Gender and Human Behavior." The class had....

Can Journalism Kill? The Case of Rwandan Hate Radio This outline explores the connections between media, propaganda, and mass violence. During the Rwandan genocide, hate radio and music was used to incite violence and atrocities on a massive scale. Recent....

Charting Identity: Building Community in the Classroom This outline provides an introduction into the creation and interpretation of identity charts, a core....

Curriculum Unit on the Armenian Genocide This series of lessons can serve as a mini-unit for teaching the Armenian Genocide. These lessons can by used individually or as a whole to complement....

Defining Community: The Universe of Obligation 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....

Dissent in the Weimar Republic: The Art of George Grosz This outline examines the experiences of German painter George Grosz during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, and provides students with opportunities to interpret his paintings as a means to....

Emmett Till: Choosing to Remember This is the fourth in a series of four complementary lessons that accompany the documentary film The Murder of Emmett Till. It can be used on its own, but works....

Emmett Till: Confronting the Murder This lesson is the first in a series of four complementary activities that accompany the documentary film, The Murder of Emmett Till. They provide a vehicle for discussing this powerful film while also establishing important historical context to better understand its place within American history and for our....

Emmett Till: Connecting the History of Lynching to The Murder This is the third in a series of four complementary lessons that accompany the documentary film, The Murder of Emmett Till. It can be used on its own, but works....

Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made This is the second in a series of four complementary lessons that accompany the documentary film The Murder of Emmett Till. It can be used on its own, but works....

Eugenics and Civic Biology: An Exploration of Buck vs. Bell This lesson outline encourages students to explore the historical implications of the modern eugenics movement. Students can develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which the idea of "race" influenced....

Eugenics and the Progressive Era: Living Newspapers This lesson outline invites students to investigate the complicated history of the Progressive Era, with a focus on the influence of the eugenics movement on public policy and social discourse. Readings from....

Exploring Dimensions of Forgiveness: The Sunflower

Exploring Nazi Propaganda and the Hitler Youth Movement This lesson outline intends to look at different forms of Nazi Propaganda, and to use the German Propaganda Archive, housed at Calvin College, to explore....

Exploring Obedience: Germany under the Nazis This outline offers several ways for students to examine the critical decisions facing German youth and citizens during the 1930s. The question of the whether or not one pledged an oath of allegiance to the....

Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985 Responding to injustice: The philosophy and practice of nonviolence Individuals, groups and nations have responded to injustice throughout history. The purpose of this series of lessons is to look at one particular approach....

Eyes on the Prize: Six steps for nonviolent social change This second lesson, in a series of three that focus on nonviolence, students become familiar with the overall strategy of nonviolence by identifying how....

Eyes on the Prize: Tactics of nonviolence This third lesson, in a series of three that focus on nonviolence, explores the direct action tactics of nonviolence used at....

Eyes on the Prize: The philosophy of nonviolence This first lesson, in a series of three that focus on nonviolence, helps students understand the goals and rationale that provided a foundation for the....

From Theory to Classroom: Eugenics and Education This outline suggests several ways for students to make the critical connection between the American Eugenics movement and the emergence of Nazi race science during the 1920s and 1930s. While distinct, both....

Grade 11 United States or World History Overview This unit will highlight the dramatically different ways Germany responded to the economic crisis. Students are encouraged to reflect throughout....

Grade 11 United States or World History Overview This unit will highlight the dramatically different ways Germany responded to the economic crisis. Students are encouraged to reflect throughout....

Grades 11 & 12 Elective World History - Memphis City Schools Overview This document serves as a course outline for the Facing History and Ourselves semester elective in World History, The elective is offered to 11th....

Grades 7- 12 Jewish Day Schools This unit is designed with middle and high school students in mind. The unit outline can be adapted to suit the needs of your class. The extent to which you....

Grades 7 - 12 World History - The Armenian Genocide Overview This series of lessons can serve as a mini-unit for teaching the Armenian Genocide. These lessons can by used individually or as a whole to....

Grades 7 -12 Supplementary Jewish Schools Overview The Facing History and Ourselves Jewish Education Project provides teachers in Jewish educational settings with training, support and resources....

Grades 7 -9 History or Interdisciplinary History & English Language Arts Overview This unit outline is designed for the middle/high school teacher who is interested in teaching an extended unit or course based on Holocaust and....

Grades 9 - 12 United States or World History Overview This unit will deal with a topic readily known by almost all our students: In-groups and the Out-groups. While familiar to any student, we will....

Guilt, Responsibility, and the Nuremberg Trials 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....

Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust - A Series of Three Lessons The film Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust tells the story of a Jewish father who tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers posed by defenders of the faith who preach intolerance....

High School Unit on We and They: The “Other”

History and Culture of the Roma: Living as the Other This lesson outline can provide students with a background on the history of the Roma, and the challenges they have faced living as "the other" within many European communities. The outline connects to a....

Hitler Youth Movement and Individual Choice , The What choices faced young people living in Germany during the 1930s? In what ways were their choices framed by how they were categorized and labeled by the Nazis? This lesson outline invites students to....

Holocaust and Human Behavior Unit Plan for Jewish Day Schools

Homosexual Life Under Nazi Rule: The Legacy of Paragraph 175 This outline focuses upon the legacy of Paragraph 175 of the German Constitution, used by the Nazis to systematically persecute homosexuals. It is closely based on the acclaimed documentary Paragraph 175 and....

Human Rights: Where Do You Stand? This activity focuses on the fundamental concepts embedded within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and helps students relate these ideas to issues and situations in their own lives. “Where....

Identity and Individuality: Exploring Art & Literature This lesson outline explores the work of Glenn Ligon and Zora Neale Hurston in order to examine complicated questions about their own identity and how they are perceived by others. Readings and resources....

Individuality and Stereotyping: "Hand" Identity Charts This activity is variation on the identity chart, as described in the Holocaust and Human Behavior resource book and in the Campus lesson, Charting....

Interpreting the Works of Samuel Bak: Interruption This outline utilizes Samuel Bak's "Interruption" in order to help students understand the emotional journeys experienced by Holocaust survivors. Professor Lawrence L. Langer, Professor of English Emeritus,....

Interpreting the Works of Samuel Bak: Self-Portrait This outline utilizes Samuel Bak's "Self Portrait" in order to help students understand the emotional journeys experienced by Holocaust survivors. Professor Lawrence L. Langer, Professor of English Emeritus,....

Interpreting the Works of Samuel Bak: The Family This outline utilizes Samuel Bak's "The Family" in order to help students understand the emotional journeys experienced by Holocaust survivors. Professor Lawrence L. Langer, Professor of English Emeritus,....

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

Jesus Colon: Scholar, Worker, Grandson This lesson explores various readings by Jesus Colon as a vehicle to explore identity. Students will be separated into 4-6 smaller groups and each group will....

Judgment and Traditional Jewish Texts: The Sunflower This lesson explores issues of judgment and forgiveness through the study of Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower and traditional Jewish texts. The Sunflower raises questions of the limits and....

Legacies of Sept. 11th: Protecting Democracy in a Time of Crisis This lesson looks at the issues of civil liberties, freedom and safety and the tensions that may arise in a democracy. Using resources created by Facing History and Ourselves after September 11, 2001, the....

Membership, Identity and Traditional Jewish Texts NOTE: This lesson was developed as part of Kesher, Facing History's Jewish Education project. This lesson explores questions of ostracism, peer pressure, inclusion and exclusion, and what causes....

Membership, Identity and Traditional Jewish Texts NOTE: This lesson was developed as part of Kesher, Facing History's Jewish Education project. This lesson explores questions of ostracism, peer pressure, inclusion and exclusion, and what causes....

Memory and Legacy: Building Monuments and Memorials This lesson outline uses art, video, readings, and websites to help students to explore the challenge of constructing memorials and monuments to war, mass....

Middle School or Early High School

Murder of Emmett Till: A Series of Four Lessons, The In August of 1955 a fourteen year old African American teenager was brutally murdered by white men while visiting relatives in Mississippi. His name was....

Nuremberg and the Search for Justice in South Africa This lesson outline explores the critical connection between the Nuremberg Trials and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. By comparing these two distinct efforts, students can closely....

Nuremberg Remembered Documentary: A series of three lessons The Nuremberg trials, held from 1945 to 1949, were a galvanizing moment in history, international law, and human rights. This documentary about the trials....

Nuremberg Remembered: Guilt and Responsibility In Lesson 2, we will address questions of guilt and responsibility by considering the actions of a number of....

Nuremberg Remembered: Reflections and Legacies Students will consider to what extent trials are a deterrent for future atrocities and discuss what additional action needs to be taken to....

Nuremberg Remembered: The Road to Nuremberg As Allied forces marched toward Germany in the spring of 1945, they witnessed what the Nazis had done to civilian populations in concentration camps. Even....

Obedience and Conformity: Police Battalion 101 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....

Obedience and Traditional Jewish Texts: The Milgram Experiment This lesson explores questions of obedience, and why people may participate in something against their conscience or harm others even against their will. It centers on an experiment about obedience....

Planning for Genocide: The Wannsee Conference Focusing on the award winning film "Conspiracy," this lesson outline explores the importance of the Wannsee Conference, held outside Berlin in 1942. The lesson is largely based on information gleaned from....

Prague Farewell: Echoes of Democracy in the Czech Republic This lesson looks at the ways that democracy can be undermined during periods of social change. It focuses on the testimony of a Holocaust survivor in the newly....

Propaganda: Cultivating Obedience to the Nazis This lesson outline explores how the Nazis used a variety of propaganda techniques to enforce obedience and conformity within Germany. A variety of visual sources are used, and through a series of....

Propaganda: The Power of Images A lesson in visual literacy and in learning to separate observation from interpretation using a Nazi anti-communist propaganda poster, a video clip from Triumph of the Will, and illustrations from the book A....

Race in Popular Culture: The St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 This lesson outline engages students in a detailed examination of the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, during which American's fears of "the other" and misinterpretations of the concept of "race" were....

Race, Democracy, and Citizenship: The American Ideal Since the birth of the United States as a republic, ideas of citizenship have been tied closely to misconceptions about race and identity. This lesson uses resources from Race and Membership in American....

Race: Origins and Legacies of A Modern Construct This lesson outline explores the complicated philosophical roots of the concept of "race", and traces its legacies to the eugenics movement in the United States during the early 20th century. Readings from....

Race: Origins and Legacies of A Modern Construct This lesson outline explores the complicated philosophical roots of the concept of "race," and traces its legacies to the eugenics movement in the United....

Raphael Lemkin: Continuing Lemkin's Legacy: What Can We Do to Prevent and Stop Genocide? Raphael Lemkin was instrumental in the drafting and the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.....

Raphael Lemkin: Exploring Lemkin's Actions- The Invention of the Word "Genocide" This lesson focuses on how Lemkin turned his moral outrage into action. Upon learning about the trial of Tehlirian, Lemkin became educated about....

Raphael Lemkin: Identifying Lemkin's Outrage In his early adulthood, Raphael Lemkin did not set out to change the world. He was inspired to act by his own outrage when he learned about the crimes the....

Raphael Lemkin: "Totally Unofficial" lesson plans Raphael Lemkin devoted much of his life to a single goal: making the world understand and recognize a crime so horrific that there was not even a word for....

Regret to Inform: Legacies & Memories of the Vietnam War This lesson outline draws heavily from the acclaimed film Regret to Inform,described by the New York Times as "exquisitely filmed, edited and scored... the documentary equivalent of a tragic epic poem". In....

Rescuers of the Holocaust: Taking a Stand This lesson outline offers a detailed examination of why and how individuals chose to rescue victims of the Holocaust, as well as organizing open resistance to the Nazis. Readings from Holocaust and Human....

Resistance in the Concentration Camps: The Art of Terezin This lesson will help students to understand the importance of art not only to the prisoners in the Terezin Concentration Camp, but also to their own identities and lives. As Aharon Appelfeld, an Israeli....

Resistance to Anti-Miscegenation Laws Overview This lesson outline explores both the emergence of, and reaction to, racist and anti-miscegenation laws during the Progressive Era. Readings from Race and Membership in American History are used in....

Richard Hovannisian - Reflections on the Armenian Genocide Reflections on the Armenian Genocide The Armenian Genocide forcibly removed a people from its homeland and wiped away most of the tangible evidence of its three thousand years of material and spiritual....

Roma Identity: Looking Behind the Mask This lesson outline explores issues of identity and membership faced by Roma living in throughout Europe since the end of the Second World War. Readings from Holocaust and Human Behavior are combined with....

Romani History and Identity Who are the Roma? What does it mean to belong to Romani society? This lesson outline addresses these questions, and invites students to delve into a detailed examination of Romani identity, culture and....

Romani Life before the Nazis: A History of Repression This lesson outline provides background on the history of the Roma, with specific focus on their experiences in Europe prior to the "Porrajamos" or the Great Devouring: the extermination of the Roma by the....

Semester Elective Course in World History: Facing History and Ourselves

Stand Firm: Choice and Consequences What could people have done to resist Nazi terror? What if more people had chosen not to cooperate with Nazi genocide? Using primary documents and first-person survivor testimony, this outline focuses on the....

Taking a Stand: Models of Civic Participation What does it take to stand up for an idea? Why do some people choose to take action to address a wrong, while others choose to standby and watch? This lesson outline invites students to reflect on several....

Unit for HHB: Interdisciplinary (Grades 7-9)

Unit Plan for Supplementary Jewish Schools

United States History / World History - 11th Grade

Versailles Treaty and Post-War Germany: The Challenge of Defeat and Reconstruction, The Some scholars believe that the Versailles Treaty made another war more likely, by laying ruinous reparations on Germany, assigning sole guilt for the war to Germany, and by removing pieces of German....

Voices of Dissent: Opposition to the Eugenics Movement The lesson outline explores several voices of dissent during the height of the eugenics movement in the United States. The activities can provide an opportunity for students to identify and examine....

Web of Community: Jewish Life Before the War, The What was life like for Jews living in Poland and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust? This lesson outline suggests ways in which students can use readings from Jews of Poland and Holocaust and Human Behavior....

Weimar Republic: Making Political Choices During Times of Fragility, The

What Do We Do With a Variation?: The French Head Scarf Dilemma This lesson uses “What Do We Do with a Variation?” the opening reading in Race and Membership in the United States: The Eugenics Movement resource book to....

World Made New: Human Rights After the Holocaust, A This lesson encourages students to explore the historical basis for the modern human rights movement born in the aftermath of the Holocaust and deepens....

"Totally Unofficial": Lesson Plans description