FACING
HISTORY IN
THE
CLASSROOM
TOM THORPE – UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH
TEACHER, COLORADO ACADEMY
CORE LEARNING,
SCOPE & SEQUENCE
CORE LEARNING
PRINCIPLES
FACING HISTORY
SCOPE & SEQUENCE
WHAT DO WE DO WITH
A VARIATION
THE PROBLEM WE ALL
LIVE WITH
1964 by
Norman
Rockwell
Ruby
Bridges
Hall on
her was to
1st grade
in Little
Rock
8TH GRADE HUMANITIES
CURRICULUM
ENGLISH
US HISTORY
Warriors Don’t Cry
US Civil Rights – Choices
Emmett Till Essay
Constitution/civics – mock
congress activity
To Kill A Mockingbird
Agents of Change Research
paper
Lit Circle: A Raisin in the Sun,
Of Mice and Men, House on
Mango Street, and Animal
Farm
Red Scarf Girl or Balzac and
the Little Chinese Seamstress
US Civil War
World War II & Nuremberg
Trials - Holocaust and
Human Behavior
The Cold War & Chinese
Cultural Revolution – various
resources
EMMETT TILL ESSAY
What does it mean for an
event to be pivotal?
Choices, consequences, and
reaction to behavior. Civil
rights
Historical context –
lynching, Jim Crowe, rise of
the media, precedents of
Civil Rights actions, WWII
and military integration
Essay – choices coupled
with historical context
What makes an event
pivotal?
Rubrics, models, primary
sources, etc.
EMMETT TILL’S
FUNERAL
WORSE THAN WAR –
UDHR & TRANSITIONAL
JUSTICE
Is there justice after genocide?
What is it?
What role does the state and
the international community
play in deterring such
perpetrators?
Are these the most effective
institutions?
“All told, in our time [the last
100 years], there have been
more than 100 million innocent
victims of genocide—more
than all the combat deaths in
all the wars fought during that
time everywhere in the world.
Based on the human toll alone,
genocide and mass slaughter
are worse problems plaguing
humanity than war.”
RED SCARF GIRL AND BALZAC AND THE
LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS – CIVIL
RIGHT IN CHINA
SCATTER THE OLD
WORLD, BUILD A NEW
WORLD, CIRCA 1967
CHAIRMAN MAO GOES
TO ANYUAN, CIRCA
1968
FOUR CORNERS
 Statement 1: The needs of larger
DEBATE
society are more important than the
needs of the individual.
Choose one of the following:
-
Completely Agree
-
Agree
-
Disagree
-
Completely Disagree

Statement 2: The purpose of
schooling is to prepare youth to be
good citizens.

Statement 3: Individuals can choose
their own destiny; their choices are
not dictated or limited by the
constraints of society.

Statement 4: One should always
resist unfair laws, regardless of the
consequences.

Statement 5: I am only responsible
for myself.
CONCLUSION
To what stage of the Facing
History Scope & Sequence,
or continuum, do you relate
to most as an educator?
Which stage would make the
greatest impact on student
learning?
Tom Thorpe –
tom.thorpe@coloradoacade
my.org
Dave Fulton –
dave_fulton@facing.org