Armenia: the forgotten genocide
Activity 1: Viewing of short ABC News video clip
Students view the ABC News video entitled The Century with Peter Jennings found at: http://www.teachgenocide.org/videos/index.htm#picture
In this video a basic overview of the Armenian genocide is found. In addition it displays the centrality of a groups cultural identity to the act of genocide
Activity 2: Worksheet
Students complete a worksheet over the video they viewed which can be found at: http://www.teachgenocide.org/files/Videos/The_Century_Handout.pdf
Activity 3: Identifying groups.
Students will be given six handouts with news articles relating to the Armenian genocide from different countries between 1898 and 1915. The purpose is to identify different cultural groups and their perceptions, motives, and views within news literature. They will highlight different groups as they meet them and take notes. The news articles can be found at: http://www.teachgenocide.org/documents/index.htm
and printed to become handouts for the class.

Activity 4: Viewing of Armenia: The Betrayed
In a BBC: Correspondent 45 minute program, Fergal Keane investigates how a terrible slaughter, three quarters of a century ago, has returned to haunt the relationship between Turkey and its western allies. Incorporates cultural themes with current events. The video can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/2562999.stm
Activity 5: Discussion of Armenia: The Betrayed
As a whole class discuss the “ connections between the assumptions, beliefs, and values of a culture and the actions, policies, and products of the people…” (taken from the NCSS standards book page 20). Focus specifically on the Turks, Armenians, and the West collectively. Discuss these connections at the time of the Armenian genocide as well as what is happening right now. Students can come to the board and add input. The class and teacher construct dialogue charts on the board as the discussion evolves.

Genocide throughout History
Activity 1: Brainstorming, What is Genocide?
Write the word "Genocide" on the board. Ask students if they know what it means. The term was first used by Rafael Lempkin in 1944 in his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe . The word is a hybrid consisting of the Greek word "genos," meaning race, nation or tribe, and the
Latin suffix, "cide," meaning killing. Write as many definitions and ideas that the class gives as possible.
Activity 2: Short Writing Assignment
Using the online resources below, test students understanding of what constitutes a genocide according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted in 1951 at: http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm
.
Activity 3: Genocide List
Have students make a list of genocides from the past century. As a reference, use the web site for the International Association of Genocide Scholars at http://www.isgiags.org/references/def_genocide.html
.
Activity 4: Class lecture and handout on the eight stages of genocide
Handout and lecture information found at Genocide Watch: http://www.genocidewatch.org/8stages.htm . Here there are definitions and descriptions of the eight stages of genocide.

Activity 5: Genocide timeline of events
Creating a timeline of events will help students identify, illustrate, explain, and interpret the causes and progression of events that leads to genocide.
Students should work in small groups to create a life-size timeline on large poster paper or newsprint sheets. Each large blank sheet should represent one year, and that year will be written in large bold print on the top. Have students work in their groups to decorate their year sheet with pictures (photographs or drawings), slogans, artwork, poems, copies or re-created newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia. Encourage students to research the important events of that year and think in terms of people and their ideas, the government, the economy and societal factors that illustrate each stage in the progress toward genocide. When student groups are finished with their posters, hang them on a wall in the classroom or hallway, in consecutive years to create the timeline of each genocide.
Websites of student use for this timeline project can include but are not limited to:
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Frontline: "The Triumph of Evil": http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/
NOW: "The Politics of Sudan": http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/sudan2.html
Genocide Watch: http://www.genocidewatch.org
BBC: The Rwandan Genocide: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm
The Committee on Conscience: Darfur: http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/ ...

Native Americans: loss of land and life
Activity 1: Lecture
Teacher led lecture on Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce tribe. Focus is on:
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 the consequences of the need for resources (e.g., the discovery of gold in the Dakotas which led to the encroachment of whites on Sioux and Cheyenne land).
the relationships between resources and exploration, colonization, and settlement of different regions of the world (e.g., the discovery of gold and the settlement of the American West and their influence on Native American life and culture).
Knows the location and human features on maps (e.g., the escape route of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce; the difficulty of the trek due to land features).
Knows the spatial dynamics of various historical events (e.g., the territory where the Nez
Perce lived; the place to which the American government wished to move them; the "escape route" used by Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce; how close they came to escaping into
Canada).
Activity 2: Class reading out loud
Students receive a handout of a copy of an excerpt from the magazine article
An Indian’s Views of
Indian Affairs The piece was published in a magazine for a white audience in 1879, two years after the writer had surrendered to the U.S. government. The piece was written by the Nez
Perce leader Chief Joseph. A copy of the excerpt can be found at printed out for handouts at: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/howthewestwaslost/

Activity 3: Class Discussion
Class discussion centered on twelve discussion questions given to students as a handout found at: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/howthewestwaslost/
Discussion focus is on: the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources and the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment
Activity 4: Computer Lab
Students independently explore three websites to prepare information for the next project.
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Native American Sites. http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/indians.html
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Indian Removal. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html
.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com
.
Activity 5: Tribal Fact Book
Students choose a Native American tribe and make a historical fact book outlining the tribe’s history and current status. Students should include information on how the tribe was affected by the encroachment of white settlers and the imposition of federal policies. Students must include a MAP tracing the tribes population movement until the present if possible.

Hitler and the Holocaust: the psychological effects on individuals
Throughout this lesson students will learn about behaviors associated with peer pressure, conformity, personal identity, deviance, stereotyping, altruism, social expectations, and roles.
Activity 1: Choosing a book
Students choose which short non-fiction book of the following four that they would like to read:
 Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
 We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust by Jacob
Boas
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Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews in the Holocaust by Milton Meltzer
Hiding to Survive: Stories of Jewish Children Rescued from the Holocaust by
Maxine B. Rosenberg
Book recommendations at:
http://remember.org/educate/lessonplan.html
Activity 2: Class reading time
The first thirty minutes of the fifty minute class period for seven class periods is dedicated to silent reading.

Activity 3: Note taking during reading
Students are expected to take notes based on the psychological concepts handouts worksheet given to them
Activity 4: Class discussion of underlying concepts
The last twenty minutes of the fifty minute class period for seven class periods is dedicated to class discussion of underlying psychological concepts which present themselves naturally in the reading. One specific topic will be addressed daily from this list: peer pressure, conformity, personal identity, deviance, stereotyping, altruism, social expectations, and roles.
Brainstorming lists will be kept on the board and students will be expected to take their own notes and keep them in their binders.
Activity 5: Post-reading writing assignment
After reading, students will describe and explain their own personal, social, emotional, physical, and cognitive feelings to what they have read. In addition, students will try to apply these psychological concepts (feelings) to how a character from their chosen book might have felt.

Rwanda: Many different stories
Activity 1: Computer Lab background research
Through the use of the computer lab, students will learn about key events in Rwandan history, terms used in the film, and the basic principles of the United Nations. They will uncover the meaning of genocide and explore different points of view in reporting a historical event.
Students will navigate through the following sites:
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Official Web site of the Republic of Rwanda http://www.rwanda1.com/government/history.html
R emembering Rwanda: The Rwanda 10th Anniversary Memorial Project http://www.visiontv.ca/RememberRwanda/Chronology.htm
Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
What Does the United Nations Do for Human Rights and Justice?
http://www.un.org/geninfo/ir/ch4/ch4.htm
Activity 2: Viewing the Movie G hosts of Rwanda.
This can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/
Activity 3: Note taking from a particular perspective.
Break the class into seven groups and hand out the student worksheets found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/ghosts/worksheet4.html
.

Activity 3 continued:
Assign each group to track one of the following groups or individuals while viewing:
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The United Nations
The United States
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The International Red Cross (IRC) and Monique Mujawamariya (Rwandan human rights activist)
Carl Wilkins (the only American to remain in Rwanda)
The Tutsis
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The Hutus
The journalists
Activity 4: Ghosts of Rwanda Movie Discussion:
As a whole class, students discuss the impact of the film focusing on possible causes, events, and continuing effects of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Students are responsible for contributing to class discussion, with a focus on the group they had been tracking in their notes.
Activity 5: Reflection writing assignment
Students step back from what they have seen to reflect on the larger issues raised by Ghosts of
Rwanda . Students will explore the different actions and reactions of people and groups who were involved in Rwanda. Writing assignment prompts found at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/ghosts/postviewing.html
.

Darfur and the International Community
Activity 1: Video clip viewing
Five video clips are prepared for the students to view as a whole class. The following resources which were chosen will help students to learn about the background on Sudan and the controversy over the role of the international community
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NOW: Understanding Sudan: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/sudan2.html
NOW: Interview with Samantha Power: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/power.html
NewsHour Online: Ravaged Region: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/jan-june05/kristof_6-10.html
NewsHour Online: Sudan in Crisis: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/jan-june04/sudan_6-24.html
BBC: Sudan: A Nation Divided: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/africa/2004/sudan/default.stm

Activity 2: Quiet Reading
Students read alone and take notes on the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , adopted in 1951 which is found at: http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm
.
Activity 3: Writing assignment
Based on the evidence, ask students if the crisis in Darfur should be legally termed "genocide." Why or why not?
Activity 4: Presentation of papers to the class
Activity 5: Whole class discussion
Working as a class, decide what kind of response the United States and the world should undertake, if any, to alleviate the situation in Darfur. A list of possible options is constructed on the main board.

The Economics of Genocide
Two articles relating to the economics of genocide are read. They have widely differing viewpoints as to the role that economics in general and international investments by corporations have in furthering genocide. Both specifically relate to the Sudanese region of
Africa.
Activity 1: Class reads article #1 aloud
Students read The Economics of Genocide in Sudan by E. Reeves found at: http://www.sudanreeves.org/Sections-article523-p1.html
Activity 2: Class reads article #2 aloud
Students read The Economics of Genocide by Chris Makler found at: http://econblog.aplia.com/2006/06/economics-of-genocide.html
Article 3: Class discussion #1
The class discusses and maps on the board how the following topics relate to their readings.
Topics include:
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The role of government in economic policy making
The role of globalization in all economic decisions
Interdependent world economies
The ethics of investments
Unequal distribution of resources and the results (trade, war, etc.)

Article 4: Class discussion #2
Students discuss how two viewpoints could be so different on the role of economics in genocide. They analyze their readings to determine the authors’:
 tone
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 motive what’s missing from the argument
Activity 5: Video clips
Students listen to several video clips that demonstrate how people can make a difference in the spread of genocide through donations and economic ingenuity.
Battling Genocide One Cooker at a Time from Southern California Public Radio.
Found at: http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/battling-genocide-one-cooker-at-atime/6647441/ .
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Google Darfur Chapter One. A documentary by Robert Simental and Matt Bowen.
Found at: http://www.googledarfur.com/ .
Google Darfur Chapter Five. A documentary by Robert Simental and Matt Bowen.
Found at: http://www.googledarfur.com/ .

How science and technology have influenced and been influenced by individuals, societies, and cultures in relation to genocide.
Activity 1: Class discussion
Discuss tools of war and the ethics of creating scientific things for the purpose of killing. Examples may include the atomic bomb, biological diseases, chemical weapons, etc.
Activity 2: Reading
Students read aloud as a class the Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988, found at: http://members.aol.com/apollo711/war/genocide-act.html
This was the Congressional act which placed sanctions on Iraq
Activity 3: Reading
Students read aloud as a class the article from BBC News, Dutchman in Iraq Genocide
Charges, found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4360137.stm
This article explains how prosecutors in the Netherlands have formally charged a Dutch businessman with complicity in genocide for selling chemicals to Iraq's former regime.

Activity 4: Reading
Students read aloud as a class the Wikipedia article with detailed information about the Kurdish city of Halabja which was attacked in 1988 by poison gas; found at:
Activity 5: Discussion of Reading and Video clips
Students will discuss the use of chemical weapons on the Kurdish populations of Iraq by the Hussein regime in the late 1980’s.
Focus on the role of technology in enabling genocide to occur, ethical questions regarding further weapon development and past development, and the global communities role in stopping the spread of such weapons.

Stopping Genocide in the world: What can we do?
Activity 1: Group brainstorming
Challenge the students to define genocide. What is genocide? When is something killing versus genocide? How do we measure it and define it?
Activity 2: Spectrum of Violence Activity
Draw a horizontal line on the board. Label one end “least harmful” and the other end “most harmful.” This is the “spectrum of violence.” Describe to the students a world which is populated by two groups of people: the Purple People and the Pink People. Ask students where on the spectrum they would place the following acts of violence:
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􀂙 Spitting on someone because they are Purple
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Calling someone a bad name because they are Purple
􀂙 Beating up a random Purple person walking down the street because they are Purple
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􀂙 Passing a law to prevent all Purple people from getting jobs from Pink people
􀂙 Ransacking a neighborhood, breaking windows of houses and painting graffiti on Purple peoples’ houses
􀂙 Killing a Purple family because they are Purple
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Rounding up and taking all Purple people to a school yard and killing them

Activity 3: Lecture and Discussion
Topic: What can be done to stop genocide? Focus on what global organizations, countries, and individual groups of people have done in response to genocide in the past and what others are doing now.
Activity 4: View video clips
These videos give students options of what they themselves can actually do in addition to providing information into what the global community is saying and doing.
 Stop Genocide in Darfur . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ4r_TLGoxs
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Calling on China to Use its Leverage to Stop Genocide from CSPAN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74SdtseftRw
Stop Darfur Genocide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcrD2WKrkAg
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Maris Hanis & Sam Bell: Have a Hand in Stopping Genocide.
From Genocide Intervention
Network. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGVJGCuQS28
Stopping Genocide: Darfur, Sudan. Narrated by John Weiss, Associate Professor of History at
Cornell University.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrg5t0I-NU
Activity 5: Making a class plan
Students engage in a discussion and make a plan as to what they will do as a class to help stop the genocide in Darfur.

Rwanda: Exploring civic responsibilities
Activity 1: Class discussion
Ask the students to recall a time when they stood by silently while an injustice was occurring. Invite students to share a story. If participation is low, teacher shares own story.
Activity 2: Briefly explore the students’ feelings and reactions with a handout involving the following questions:
 Did you consider intervening to stop the injustice while it was happening?
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What prevented you from intervening?
What did you feel as you witnessed the injustice?
If you were in the victim’s shoes, what would you have wanted from a bystander/witness?
How did you feel afterwards? What did you do?
If you could go back in time, what would you change about your reaction to the situation?
 How do you plan to respond to similar situations in the future?
Questions for handout found at: http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lessonplan.pdf?rd=1
Activity 3: Lecture
Introduce the background of Rwanda, what happened, and the definition of genocide. This information can be found at:
http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lessonplan.pdf?rd=1
Students are given a handout with the definition of genocide from the UN Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide . This can be found at: http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm
.

Activity 4: Lecture
Introduce the background of Darfur and the situation occurring their. Students are expected to take notes and are given a small packet of information from: .
Activity 5: Class Discussion
Link the events in Rwanda to the ongoing events in Darfur. Ask students:
 Are there similarities between what is happening in Darfur today and what happened in Rwanda?
 What lessons have we learned from what happened in Rwanda and how can they be applied to the current situation in Darfur?
Activity 6: Brainstorming about Civic Duties related to Darfur
Write three terms on the board – “International”, “National”, and “Local”. Ask the students for ideas about what can be done to stop the genocide on each level. Begin with international and end with the local level, and write their responses on the board.
At the end of the lesson, distribute the Resource Pages to all students. Tell them that they can take specific steps to help prevent and stop genocide. Encourage them to learn more. The Resource Pages can be downloaded at:
http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lessonplan.pdf?rd=1

PBS Teachers. www.pbs.org
Genocide Watch. www.genocidewatch.org
Prevent Genocide International. http://www.preventgenocide.org/
BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Armenian Genocide Resource Guide for Teachers. www.teachgenocide.org
Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Resource Center. The Morris and Dorothy Hirsch Collection. http://www.raritanval.edu/Holocaust/index.html#HolocaustTeacherResourc es
American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Genocide Teaching Project.
http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lessonplan.pdf?rd=1
Discovery Education. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/
You tube. http://www.youtube.com
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/