Creating character: Perseverance
http://dornsife.usc.edu/vhi/creatingcharacter/lesson/perserverance/index.html
A lesson plan for grades 6–12 Guidance and Social Studies
In this lesson, students explore the concept of perseverance and discuss their own personal experiences with hard work, inspiration, and accomplishment. Students view testimonies of people affected by discriminatory laws against Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Students listen to the stories of Alicia Appleman, who continued to find a way to learn after being banned from school; Esther Jungrels, who talks about her brother’s perseverance to provide food for his family; and Dorothy Greenstein, who fought to preserve her cultural heritage.
Students will:
- Develop an understanding of the concept of perseverance
- Identify examples of perseverance from their own lives
- Explain the importance perseverance plays in their actions and in the actions of others
- Identify ways they can exemplify perseverance in their lives
- Work with visual history testimony
- Use visual history testimony to identify examples of perseverance in the lives of Holocaust survivors.
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.
- Objective 1.10: Take responsibility for actions.
- 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.
- Objective 1.10: Verify responsibility for actions.
- 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.
