Across the globe, individuals and societies are confronting profound questions about identity, membership, and living with difference.
This collection provides structured activities for making connections to current events and discussing sensitive topics in a safe and reflective classroom. The lessons examine examples of division and intolerance, as well as powerful cases of individuals and communities working together and standing up to hate. Use this collection to help your students:
- Recognize and discuss both explicit and implicit manifestations of antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia
- Improve their critical thinking and news literacy skills
- Develop empathy and a sense of civic responsibility
- Identify concrete ways that young people can participate in nurturing a civil society and a stronger democracy
These resources can be used together or separately, depending on your students’ need and class time. Whether you choose to teach one lesson or all three, it is important to use these resources within a classroom context that fosters civil discourse and student reflection.
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Understanding the Global Refugee Crisis
Students use videos and readings featuring US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power to develop a historical and human understanding of today’s global refugee crisis.
Fostering a Reflective Classroom
Before beginning your class’s journey through a Facing History unit, engage the students in the process of creating a class contract that clearly defines rules or expectations for participation.
The Persistence of Antisemitism
Learn about the lingering threats of antisemitism that Jews in Europe, and especially Poland, faced after the Holocaust.
Resource Type
Choosing to Participate
Learn about people who have taken action to make the world a more just and compassionate place, and consider the ways we can participate as caring citizens of the world.