Genocide in Rwanda, Day 3 - Class Recap

A young Egyptian guy, who wanted me to take his picture in front of the pyramids in Cairo. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

Two more weeks of work until a nice break! Lots to do - today, we looked more into Imperialism and Privilege, as I asked students to think about how they may have impacted Rwanda. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 21: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 2: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Africa for Norway" by SAIH - The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund. I was projecting this video as students walked in - it is a humorous look at stereotyping, and how Norwegians should not stereotype Africans, because what if the opposite happened. I read the reasoning behind the video in class.

AGENDA 12/8/14:
News Brief/Blog Recap – Patrick
Imperialism
Privilege
Speech Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Rwanda speech due - bring two copies, typed. The Rwanda resources will help. Next news brief: John.

News Brief: Patrick had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: NYTimes.com -Syria Reports New Strikes From Israel Near Capital. We found Israel and Syria on our world map packets and talked about the ongoing conflict in the region.

John was selected to do the next news brief.

Imperialism: Next, I went over the concepts of imperialism and colonialism, in the form of a PowerPoint. Students took Cornell Notes on the presentation.

Google Drive - Imperialism PowerPoint

One of the learning targets associated with this unit is Knowledge LT 21: I can identify the critical components of imperialism. This presentation was to help students understand how to do that, especially in regards to how Belgium had an impact in Rwanda, long after the independence in 1962.

Privilege: Another component of how we look at people in the world is the concept of privilege. Specifically, white privilege - a system of advantages some people get over others, that are often not even recognized. Here is the reading we went through, by Peggy McIntosh:

Google Drive - White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

I think my point could have been more clear, so I apologize if it was not. Basically, I am asking everyone to think about how our privilege here in America (of being a world superpower) relates to our study of Rwanda. Specifically, I think that race has a lot to do with it. In any case, it was an interesting discussion - thanks!

Speech Work Time: The rest of the class (about 30 minutes) was devoted to working on your speech. Here are the directions, from last class:

The final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Tuesday, December 16th. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give). This is due in class (TWO COPIES, typed) next class - Wednesday, December 10th. Here's the assignment:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (like Dr. Franco) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:

Google Drive: Rwandan Genocide Speech Preparation Materials

Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:

Google Drive: Genocide in Rwanda: The Basics PowerPoint

Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)