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The Boston Holocaust Memorial was one of the most powerful I have seen. As you walk through the glass, steam comes up from the grates, and names of people that were killed in various concentration camps are on the sides of the glass. Photo taken in 2013.
We are getting closer and closer to finals! A couple of more days of learning about the Holocaust, and then we are there! Here's what happened in class today:
Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 17: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Behavior LT 1: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Soundtrack: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" by U2. Selected for today because the song is in large part about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose legacy we honored on Monday with not having school. I hope you did something to try and serve our community with your time! Lyrics here.
AGENDA 1/19/15:
News Brief – Zack
Finish Tea Party
Rise of Hitler
Homework: Read the blog. Finish reading the Rise of the Nazis article and making 3 discussion questions for next class. Prepare for finals! Next news brief: Isaac.
News Brief: Zack selected an article about this story to bring in: NBCNews.com - Motorcycle Suicide Attack Hits Major Pakistan Highway, Killing 10. We found Pakistan in the Middle East on the world map packet, and we talked about the continuing conflict with the Taliban in the region.
Isaac was selected to do the next news brief.
We also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):
Finish Tea Party: After the news, we finished the "tea party" activity from last class. Instead of just giving students a reading, I though this was a more interesting way for everyone to learn (and move around, and talk with each other) about some key figures and events in Nazi Germany. Here is the assignment that students filled out:
And here is the document of different events and people that students were learning about, in terms of their importance in helping the Nazi government establish and maintain power (the knowledge target for the unit):
Thanks for doing a good job with this activity!
Rise of Hitler: I asked how the Holocuast was possible, and if we could consider something like this happening to us - either as the Nazis or the persecuted people. I think it is hard to consider ourselves capable of such horrific acts. Which is why the Stanford Prison Experiment is so famous. Basically, it was a psychological experiment based on assigning roles to Stanford students (really smart people) - either as "prison" guards or prisoners. The prisoners were taken and not allowed out for six days (until the experiment ended early). The prison guards turned into awful, terrible people. Here's the clip we watched in class (there are many others out there - do a search if you want to learn more):
After the clip, I came back to the idea of wondering if something like the Holocaust could happen again. It's a difficult question for historians, and for people in general. We want to believe that people are good. If we aren't careful about learning the history and psychology to combat it, I think there is a better chance of something like this happening again.
With that idea, I passed out this reading, which has to do with how the Nazi political party and Hitler came to power in Germany:
1) What happened so that Hitler could establish power? Could this happen again?
2) Make three discussion questions (not yes or no answers) about the reading. Try to base your questions on specific quotes from the reading and grounded in reality (NOT: what if World War II never happened?).
Socratic Seminar Prep: Next class, we will have a graded (on the behavior targets) discussion on the Rise of Hitler reading, so I wanted to go over how that will work.
I passed out this self-assessment, which students will use in evaluating themselves on the discussion and unit work:
To go along with the preparation, I also passed out some tips on how a good Socratic Seminar works (it is my hope to sit back and let students run the discussion, so that it is more authentic with participation):
The rest of class was devoted to reading the article and preparing discussion questions. Next class, I am hoping that we can have an interesting, student led discussion on the article and the questions it generates - specifically about if this could possibly happen again.
Thank you for your hard work, everyone! See you next class.
With that idea, I passed out this reading, which has to do with how the Nazi political party and Hitler came to power in Germany:
The questions and answers that I wanted the class to do in preparation for a discussion next class on this were:
2) Make three discussion questions (not yes or no answers) about the reading. Try to base your questions on specific quotes from the reading and grounded in reality (NOT: what if World War II never happened?).
Socratic Seminar Prep: Next class, we will have a graded (on the behavior targets) discussion on the Rise of Hitler reading, so I wanted to go over how that will work.
I passed out this self-assessment, which students will use in evaluating themselves on the discussion and unit work:
To go along with the preparation, I also passed out some tips on how a good Socratic Seminar works (it is my hope to sit back and let students run the discussion, so that it is more authentic with participation):
The rest of class was devoted to reading the article and preparing discussion questions. Next class, I am hoping that we can have an interesting, student led discussion on the article and the questions it generates - specifically about if this could possibly happen again.
Thank you for your hard work, everyone! See you next class.
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