April Leigh Collins

Lesson Plan # 1 To Be Taught Wednesday, February 22, 2012 Goals / Objectives Students will continue their study of genocide post World War II and will further analyze the genocide in Rwanda from 1994. State Standards: Social Studies Domestic Instability (political unrest, natural and man-made disasters, genocide) Ethnic and Racial Relations (racism and xenophobia, ethnic and religious prejudices, collective and individual actions) Military Conflicts (causes, conduct and impact of military conflicts, wars and rebellions) 8.4.9 D. Analyze how conflict and cooperation among social groups and organizations impacted world history through 1500 in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe. Domestic Instability Ethnic and Racial Relation Language Arts 1.1.8 Make, and support with evidence, assertions about texts. Compare and contrast texts using themes, settings, characters and ideas. Make extensions to related ideas, topics or information. Describe the context of a document. Analyze the positions, arguments and evidence in public documents. 1.6.8 Listen to selections of literature (fiction and/or nonfiction). Relate them to previous knowledge. Predict content or events. Summarize events and identify the significant points. Identify and define new words and concepts. Analyze the selections. Materials and preparation Students will watch 1 hour of the documentary film Ghosts of Rwanda (film provided by the teacher) Students will complete a one page graphic organizer while watching the film (attached at the bottom of this lesson) Pencil/Pen/Highlighter Classroom arrangement and management issues Because the students are watching a documentary film the classroom will be arranged normally. Normal arrangement involves the chairs in rows and each row separated by approximately 1.5 feet. This is the arrangement most favored by the Head teacher of the class and is the least conducive to student talking during the film Plan 1. Introduction. Hook: We briefly learned about genocide last week. The first genocide we will be learning about is the genocide in Rwanda that took place in 1994. The genocide only took 100 days. That is just over 3 months. Over that time 800,000 people were killed. The Tutsi ethnic group was being killed by the Hutu ethnic group as a result of many years of ethnic tensions between the two groups. We will be reading an article about the genocide, then we will watch an hour of a documentary on the Rwandan genocide and then we will end class with a discussion on what we learned today!

2. Work and explore. Guided Practice and Explicit Instruction: After the brief introduction I will have the students read an article detailing what happened in the genocide that is from BBC. The article can be found here: Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm They will complete a short exit slip while reading the article I am having them read the article because I do not want to rely too much on direct lecture style instruction. I will have them read the article in pairs and discuss what they have read. They will be welcome to use the article to help them fill out their graphic organizer (which is below). I will then show them one hour of the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda. (After the documentary we will conclude class by having a discussion on what the students just watched. Their homework will be their first Journal Reflection. The topic of their journal reflection will be: Why did the genocide in Rwanda happen? Do you think it could have been prevented or stopped faster? What do you think the United States should have or could have done to help?) 3. Debrief and wrap up. Anticipating students responses and your possible responses I fully expect that many of my students might get upset during the documentary. I also expect that, though I have seen the film many times, I will also get upset. Genocide is not a light topic, and I will be prepared for students having emotional reactions to the material. I sent home a permission slip ahead of the unit with the titles of each film we will be watching, along with the reason for showing the documentaries so that parents are aware of the unit and can opt out for their children if they feel that the footage is too graphic. I have, however, screened each of the films ahead of time and have made sure that the material is appropriate for the students. They are all 13 or 14 years old and I believe that they can handle the material that is shown on class. The discussion questions I will use when conducting the post-film dicussion are below (questions taken from the PBS Ghosts of Rwanda Lesson Plan online): What had the most impact for you in the film? What did you learn from watching the film? Who in the film do you think might be haunted by "the ghosts of Rwanda?" Why? Some of those involved have suggested that racism may have been a factor in the international community's decision not to intervene in Rwanda. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why? At what points could someone have intervened and possibly changed the history of the genocide? Why was the Red Cross more effective in Rwanda than the U.N.?

Assessment of the goals/objectives listed above

I will be using a class list on a clipboard to mark down when students participate during the lecture. This will help me in determining their participation grade as well as help me determine who to call on. I want all of the students to participate in the discussion at least once. Students will be writing a Journal entry which they will turn in the next day. I will assess the journal entry for completion of the response as well as how much they thought about their answer and if they included any questions they have. Journal Prompt: Why did the genocide in Rwanda happen? Do you think it could have been prevented or stopped faster? What do you think the United States should have or could have done to help? What questions do you have that were not answered today? Accommodations 1. Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging I do not expect that any of the students will find the material too challenging in terms of intellectual difficulties. I do expect two possible concerns. The first I touch on above. I believe that some of the students might have problems watching the film because of the emotions of the film. If this is the case I will let them step into the hallway to compose themselves, or, if they wish, they will be welcome to stop watching the film and go to the library to read some genocide related articles that I will have prepared for students that do not wish to watch the film. I have not had any students or parents tell me that they do not want to watch the film, so I do not expect any of them to completely opt out, however I am prepared if that is the case. The other issue that I am preparing for is that the students may still be confused about a lot of what happened in Rwanda. I expect that many of them will want to know a) Why the US didnt get involved. b) Why they havent heard of this before. c) Why the world (other governments) didnt get involved. d) What could possess people to go out and hack their neighbor to death with a machete? I will try to prepare answers for them, but one thing I want to stress to them is that there are no easy answers, and that the world is very complicated and that I cant answer some of their questions and that I really wish that I could. 2. Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early? Due to the fact that we will be watching a film and then having a class discussion there wont be an opportunity for anyone to finish early. I also dont think that anyone will need a great challenge. I expect the material to be quite challenging and as addressed above might be too challenging emotionally for some of the children. I hope it is not, and I will be prepared to help them out if that situation does arise.

Name:_______________________________________ _
Rwandan Genocide Graphic Organizer: The Tutsis and Hutus are both ethnic groups in Rwanda. Historically the Tutsis have been treated better and thought of as superior. Why might this lead to tensions between the groups?

What was the catalyst to the beginning of the genocide? What happened that finally started the genocide?

How long did the Rwandan Genocide take?

How many people were killed? (Approximately)

How were the majority of people killed?

Why did the United States order its embassy closed? What do you think about all of the white people leaving with assistance while the Tutsis had to stay?

How was radio used during the genocide? Did radio broadcasts in Rwanda help or hurt the genocide?

They will have a short exit slip (for PSSA practice) that will read: What was the authors purpose in writing this article? How do you know? (2 examples)

What was the authors purpose in writing this article? How do you know? (2 examples)

What was the authors purpose in writing this article? How do you know? (2 examples)

What was the authors purpose in writing this article? How do you know? (2 examples)