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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Creating character: Citizenship

http://college.usc.edu/vhi/creatingcharacter/lesson/citizenship/index.html

A lesson plan for grades 6–12 Guidance and Social Studies

Provider: USC Shoah Foundation Institute


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In this lesson, while participating in whole class discussion and collaborative group work, students explore the concept of citizenship. During the activities, students watch visual history testimonies of Dina Gottliebova-Babbit, Robert Mendler, and Henry Adler, Holocaust survivors who experienced disenfranchisement under Nazi rule. Students consider the consequences of institutionalized discrimination.

Students will:

  • Explore and develop an understanding of the concept of citizenship
  • Identify the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship
  • Evaluate how a group of citizens becomes the target of discrimination
  • Identify the effects that a loss of citizenship has on individuals and society
  • Evaluate their personal responsibility toward others who are being discriminated against
  • Identify actions they can take to prevent citizens from losing their rights
  • Work with visual history testimony
  • Use visual history testimony to examine the impact the loss of citizenship had on survivors of the Holocaust.

Shoah provides a list of materials necessary for completing the lesson, discussion questions, links to the video archives, graphic organizers, handouts, and step-by-step instructions for how to complete the activities.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Guidance (2001)

Grade 6–8

  • Goal 1: Acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
  • Goal 7: Acquire the attitudes, knowledge, and interpersonal skills to help understand and respect self and others.
    • Objective 7.11: Respect alternative points of view.
    • Objective 7.12: Recognize, accept, respect, and appreciate ethnic, cultural, and individual diversity.
  • Goal 8: Make decisions, set goals, and take appropriate action to achieve goals.
    • Objective 8.06: Demonstrate a respect and appreciation for individual and cultural differences.
    • Objective 8.10: Use persistence and perseverance in acquiring knowledge and skills.

Grade 9–12

  • Goal 1: Acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
  • Goal 7: Acquire the attitudes, knowledge and interpersonal skills to help understand and respect self and others.
    • Objective 7.15: Recognize, accept, respect, and appreciate individual differences.
    • Objective 7.16: Recognize, accept, and appreciate ethnic and cultural diversity.
  • Goal 8: Make decisions, set goals, and take appropriate action to achieve goals.
    • Objective 8.07: Demonstrate a respect and appreciation for individual and cultural differences.
    • Objective 8.11: Use persistence and perseverance in acquiring knowledge and skills.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 8

  • Goal 6: The learner will analyze the immediate and long-term effects of the Great Depression and World War II on North Carolina.
    • Objective 6.03: Examine the significance of key ideas and individuals associated with World War II.

Grade 9

  • Goal 5: Global Wars - The learner will analyze the causes and results of twentieth century conflicts among nations.
    • Objective 5.03: Analyze the causes and course of World War II and evaluate it as the end of one era and the beginning of another.
  • Goal 6: Patterns of Social Order - The learner will investigate social and economic organization in various societies throughout time in order to understand the shifts in power and status that have occurred.
    • Objective 6.03: Trace the changing definitions of citizenship and the expansion of suffrage.
    • Objective 6.06: Trace the development of internal conflicts due to differences in religion, race, culture, and group loyalties in various areas of the world.

Grade 10

  • Goal 10: The learner will develop, defend, and evaluate positions on issues regarding the personal responsibilities of citizens in the American constitutional democracy.
    • Objective 10.01: Explain the distinction between personal and civic responsibilities and the tensions that may arise between them.