Valley 10th grade
Genocide in Rwanda
10.10 Students analyze instances of nation-building in the contemporary world in at least
two of the following regions or countries: the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts
of Latin America, and China.
1.
Understand the challenges in the regions, including their geopolitical, cultural, military, and
economic significance and the international relationships in which they are involved.
Guiding questions:
What is a genocide?
How did genocide occur in Rwanda?
What groups were involved in the genocide?
What were the effects of the genocide?
How can we better understand genocide? How can we prevent genocide?
Day 1
Step 1: Defining Genocide
Teacher asks students to recall what they remember of the study of genocide in the
20th century and to begin to create a definition of genocide. Class discussion.
In groups, students work on Part 1, page 13 of the HOT Genocide lesson. Teachers
and students read, discuss, and review definition of genocide on page 14.
Step 2: Reading about Genocide
[Teacher may want to use PowerPoint slides to give students a background of
colonial experience in Rwanda.]
Teacher reads the article aloud to the class about genocide. Stopping after each one
or two paragraphs to ask the class questions summarizing the content of the article.
Students each have a copy of the article and follow along. Teacher leads students in
GIST exercise one paragraph at a time.
Day 2
Step 3: Review the common sentence created by the class for the paragraph
summary through the GIST exercise. Teacher writes the sentence on the
board/overhead. Teacher then asks students to provide ideas, dates, examples that
can provide answers to the questions:
What is a genocide?
How did genocide occur in Rwanda?
What groups were involved in the genocide?
What were the effects of the genocide?
Step 4: Teacher introduces the summary paragraph writing assignment. Teacher
introduces students to the rubric (on page 46 of Writing in the History Classroom).
Discuss each component of the rubric and show students the paragraph outline.
Teacher may want students to use the sentence frames or to develop a topic
sentence as a class for students to use.
Day 3:
Step 5: Movie Hotel Rwanda
Day 4:
Step 6: Begin with the HOT exercise The Rwandan Genocide pages 53-55. Teacher
should display each page, ask questions of the class in a pair share format so each
student gets to discuss his/her answer and then share out.
Step 7: Introduce the 6 C’s of primary source analysis and briefly explain each
category. As a class analyze one of the sources on page 56-57 of HOT curriculum
(children’s drawings).
Day 5:
Step 8: Review the conclusions students reached from their analysis of the primary
source. Create a “word wall” on the board with specific topics or words that are
relevant for the Rwandan genocide.
Step 9: Discuss the prompt and writing outline for a source-based response.
Teachers should define interpretation for students and compare and contrast the
writing requirements for summary writing and document-based writing. Teacher
should then discuss the components of the source-based writing and go over the
outline with students.
Extension Activities
HOT Genocide Lesson Part 8 “Who is to Blame?”
Rwanda Library Activity