Teaching Strategies

We encourage teachers to use student-centered teaching strategies that nurture students' literacy and critical thinking skills within a respectful classroom climate. The strategies suggested here can be used with students of all ages with any academic content.

All terms Introducing a New BookThis pre-reading activity is an effective way to introduce students to a new book from a work of literature to a historical resource book, such as Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior. Spending some time looking at the content of a book can spark students interest and can provide students with context that will help them engage with the material. 3-2-1This activity helps structure students responses to an activity, a reading or a film. It provides an easy way for teachers to check for understanding and to gauge students interest in a topic. Sharing 3-2-1 responses can also be an effective way to prompt a class discussion or to review material from the previous lesson. Alphabet brainstormBrainstorming is an effective way to help students get ideas from head to paper. The Alphabet Brainstorm helps structure students brainstorming by asking them to generate an idea that begins with each letter of the alphabet. This can be done as an individual, small group, or whole class activity. It is a quick way to generate thoughts, measure prior knowledge, and evaluate learning. Analyzing Visual Images and StereotypingIn this strategy students will: Develop awareness of historical context Develop critical thinking skills, particularly in regards to visual images Enhance their observation and interpretive skills Develop conceptual learning techniques

All terms Anticipation GuidesAnticipation guides ask students to express an opinion about ideas before they encounter them in a text or unit of study. Completing anticipation guides prepares students to recognize and connect to these themes as they surface in their learning. Reviewing anticipation guides at the end of a lesson or unit is one way to help students reflect on how learning new material may have influenced their opinions, perhaps by reinforcing previously held beliefs or by causing ideas to shift. Assigning RolesMany teachers find that assigning students particular roles is an effective way to structure group work. Sometimes certain students tend to assume too much responsibility for the groups work, while other students may be reluctant to contribute to the groups activities. Assigning roles helps distribute responsibility among group members and ensures accountability for all students participation. As students practice different roles, they have the opportunity to develop a variety of skills. Attribute Linking - Building Community by Taking Perspectives This activity is designed to help students discuss difficult issues, while also recognizing that they likely represent different perspectives. "Attribute Linking" can help students to define, clarify, and personalize the roles of victim, perpetrator, and bystander, By having students look for attributes they share before they discuss issues on which they may differ, the exercise emphasizes commonality over differences and helps students recognize the value of negotiation. Finally, this exercise builds trust and contributes to a climate of openness in the Facing History classroom.

All terms Barometer - Taking a Stand on Controversial IssuesThe barometer teaching strategy helps students share their opinions by lining up along a continuum to represent their point of view. It is especially useful when trying to discuss an issue about which students have a wide range of opinions. Engaging in a barometer activity can be an effective prewriting exercise before an essay assignment because it gets many arguments out on the table. Big Paper - Building a Silent ConversationThis discussion strategy uses writing and silence as tools to help students explore a topic in-depth. Having a written conversation with peers slows down students thinking process and gives them an opportunity to focus on the views of others. This strategy also creates a visual record of students thoughts and questions that can be referred to later in a course. Using the Big Paper strategy can help engage shy students who are not as likely to participate in a verbal discussion. After using this strategy several times, students comfort, confidence, and skill with this method increases. Biopoem: Connecting Identity and PoetryWho am I? is a question on the minds of many adolescents. This activity helps students clarify important elements of their identity. When biopoems are shared they can help build peer relationships and foster a cohesive classroom community. Biopoems get beyond aspects of identity that are often more obvious and familiar (such as ethnicity, gender and age), by focusing on other factors that shape our identities such as experiences, relationships, hopes and interests. Biopoems can also be a way for students to demonstrate what they know about historical or literary figures. It provides a structure for students to think Consensus building,Discussion,Perspective taking,Sharing ideas

All terms more critically about an individuals traits, experiences and character. Bodysculpting - Using Theater to Explore the HolocaustBodysculpting is a strategy teachers use to help students debrief material (readings, videos, fieldtrips, survivor testimony, etc) that evokes strong feelings. Nonverbal forms of expression can be an effective medium for students when they are trying to process powerful emotional content that is difficult to put into words. The bodysculpting teaching strategy provides a nonverbal form of expression by requiring students to represent ideas through bodypositioning. Caf ConversationsUnderstanding the past requires students to develop an awareness of different perspectives. The Caf Conversation teaching strategy helps students practice perspective-taking by requiring students to represent a particular point-of-view in a small group discussion. During a conversation with people representing other backgrounds and experiences, students become more aware of the role many factors play (i.e. social class, occupation, gender, age, etc) in terms of shaping ones attitudes and perspectives on historical events. Caf Conversations can be used as an assessment tool or can prepare students to write an essay about a specific historical event. Character ChartsGraphic organizers, like the sample below, can be used to help students organize information about major and minor characters in a text. Completed character charts are useful tools for writing essays and studying for tests. They are often used to record information about literacy characters, but can also be adapted to record information about historical Assessment,Developing a thesis,Perspective taking

Assessment,Discussion,Finding evidence,Graphic organizer,Literacy,Reading,Research,Writing

All terms figures. ChunkingAn important skill for students to practice is the ability to comprehend challenging texts. Chunking is an example of a strategy that helps students breakdown difficult text into more manageable pieces. Dividing content into smaller parts helps students identify key words and ideas, develops students ability to paraphrase, and makes it easier for students to organize and synthesize information. Community-Building: Using Our Names to Understand Each Other This activity uses students names as a way to build connections and community within the classroom To help students get to know other people in their class To find commonalities around the history of their names ContractingA Facing History and Ourselves classroom is a place where explicit rules and implicit norms protect everyones right to speak; where differing perspectives can be heard and valued; where members take responsibility for themselves, each other, and the group as a whole; and where each member has a stake and a voice in collective decisions. Facing History calls these spaces reflective classroom communities. Reflective classroom communities often do not happen by accident; rather, they are deliberatively nurtured by students and teachers who have shared expectations about how classroom members will treat each other. One way to help classroom communities establish shared norms is by discussing them openly through a process called contracting. Sometimes this involves drafting and agreeing to a formal contract of behavior as well.

All terms Deepening Literacy: Text to Self; Text to Text; Text to WorldReading comes alive when we make connections beyond the text itself. This is a skill that can be practiced and learned.In this strategy students will: Strengthen their literacy skills Make connections between the reading an themselves Make connections between the reading and other texts Make connections between the reading and the larger world Document Analysis TemplatesAnalyzing historical documents requires students to identify the purpose, message and audience of a text. Document Analysis Forms are graphic organizers that guide students through a process of identifying important background information about a document (e.g. author/creator, date created, place, format, etc.) and using this data to determine the bias or perspective of a text. Essential QuestionsTo get at matters of deep and enduring understanding we need to use provocative and multilayered questions that reveal the richness and complexities of a subject (Wiggins and McTighe). Essential Questions represent enduring questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no response. By connecting material to a significant theme that resonates with the lives of adolescents, essential questions can add relevance and focus to a unit of study. Essential Questions can be used to guide curricular decisions and can provide the backbone for assessments. Evaluating Internet ResourcesThe Internet has a vast array of resources available to both teachers and students. The question for teachers is how to effectively use these resources with students. It is critical for students to Finding evidence,Reading

All terms evaluate the accuracy and bias of all media, and this is especially true regarding resources found on the Internet where there are no standards imposed on posted information. Media Literacy: Analyzing Visual ImagesMedia literacy is the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day. It's the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media from music videos and Web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on NHL hockey boards. It's about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions the motives, the money, the values and the ownership and to be aware of how these factors influence content. Media Awareness Network The following five-step DescribeIdentify-Interpret-Evaluate-Reflect process can help students: Understand and interpret the visual images they see in the world around them Develop critical thinking skills, particularly in regards to visual images Enhance their observation and interpretive skills Develop conceptual learning techniques It can be used to guide students analysis of any visual image, including visual art, photographs, political cartoons, propaganda posters, video clips, and films. This process can also be adapted to help students interpret text images. Online Discussion ForumOnline discussions provide a way for students to communicate with students from other classrooms, and with people from around the world. They can also be a forum for students to communicate with each other outside of class time. One benefit of online discussions is that they provide a space for all students to be heard without

Assessment,Discussion,Finding evidence,Graphic organizer,Media

Digital,Media,Perspective taking,Sharing ideas

All terms being interrupted. They also provide a record of the conversation that can be referred to later and used as a way to evaluate student learning. People Bingo - Examining Personal Identity and Building CommunityWhen students feel known by their classmates and teachers, they are more likely to take risks and engage in honest dialogue. People Bingo is a strategy that helps build a cohesive classroom community by providing a structured, safe way for them to get to know each other and discover similarities that they might share with their classmates. Post-it note PartnersThis activity provides a structured way for students to get to know each other and share information. It can be used exclusively for community building purposes, especially at the beginning of the school year. It can also be used as a way to have students partner up to discuss class material. The activity can be as brief as 10 minutes or as long as a whole class period, depending on how much time you allow for discussion. You can also repeat the steps below, having students find new partners and discuss a different prompt. Question Formulation TechniqueThe Question Formulation Technique helps students articulate, refine and prioritize questions they have about ideas raised in a text, a problem they hope to solve, or any topic they are studying. This strategy was designed by the Right Question Project (www.rightquestion.org). This simple strategy can be easily integrated into the classroom. It can be used as a brainstorming technique at the beginning of a unit or as a synthesis activity at the end of the unit, or any where in between. As students get better at formulating

Assessment,Discussion,Finding evidence,Perspective taking,Research,Writing

All terms questions, they not only have a tool to help them better understand class material, but a tool that can serve them well as citizens in a democracy. Read AloudFor many students, ideas on the page come alive when they are spoken. Reading text aloud provides a way to help all students access the material and develops students skills as active listeners. Listening to proficient readers provides a model for fluent reading and can help students, especially ELL students, recognize how to pronounce unfamiliar words. By inviting students to read, this strategy encourages class participation and takes the focus off of the teacher as the only source of information. Reader's TheaterReaders theater is an effective way to help students process dilemmas experienced by characters in a text. In this activity, groups of students are assigned a small portion of the text to present to their peers. As opposed to presenting skits of the plot, readers theater asks students to create a performance that reveals a message, theme, or conflict represented by the text. The more familiarity students have with readers theater, the more proficient they become at using the words of the text to depict concepts and ideas. Save the Last Word for MeSave the Last Word for Me is a discussion strategy that requires all students to participate as active speakers and listeners. Its clearly defined structure helps shy students share their ideas and ensures that frequent speakers practice being quiet. It is often used as a way to help students debrief a reading or film. Socratic SeminarThe goal of a Socratic

All terms seminar is for students to help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a specific text. Students are responsible for facilitating a discussion around ideas in the text rather than asserting opinions. Through a process of listening, making meaning, and finding common ground students work toward shared understanding rather than trying to prove a particular argument. A Socratic seminar is not used for the purpose of debate, persuasion, or personal reflection, as the focus is on developing shared meaning of a text. SPAR (Spontaneous Argumentation)SPAR is an event in forensic competitions around the country. In this structured debate, students have to frame an argument in one minute and then react quickly to their opponents ideas. This strategy helps students practice using evidence and examples to defend a position. Because students are not given much preparation time, SPAR is most effective when students already have background information about the topic. With practice, students become increasingly comfortable and proficient using this method to unearth the pro and con sides of controversial topics. Stand and Decide: The 4 Corners DebateThis teaching strategy helps students develop opinions about a novel or historical time period, in preparation for an expository writing assignment. Storyboard Teaching StrategyThe storyboard teaching strategy helps students keep track of main ideas and supporting details in a narrative by having them illustrate important scenes in a story. Storyboarding can be used when texts are read aloud, or it can be used to help students summarize and retain main

Assessment,Developing a thesis,Discussion,Finding evidence,Graphic organizer,Literacy,Reading,Research,Sharing ideas,Writing

All terms ideas of a story they have read to themselves. Checking the thoroughness and accuracy of students storyboards is an effective way to evaluate reading comprehension before moving on to more analytic tasks. Strategic Ways to Use a Facing History Journal Journals serve multiple purposes in the classroom. Below are just a few outcomes from using journals with students: Develops writing skills Connects content to students' personal experiences Asks students to formulate their own opinions before the class discussion Allows students to document how their thinking changes over time Provides a conversation between teacher and student that is private and often unspoken Empowers students by allowing each individual his/her own opinion Encourages metacognition (thinking about thinking) Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-toWorldReading comes alive when we make recognize how the ideas in the text connect to our experiences and beliefs, events happening in the larger world, our understanding of history, and our knowledge of other texts. Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World is a strategy that helps students develop the habit of making these connections. By giving a purpose to students reading (i.e. focusing students on paying close attention to text to find connections), this strategy helps students comprehend and make meaning of the ideas in the text. This strategy can be used when reading any text historical or literary and it can also be used with other media as well, including films. It can be used at the beginning, middle or end of the reading process to get students engaged with a text, to help students understand the text more deeply or to evaluate students understanding of the

Assessment,Reading,Sharing ideas

All terms text. The Iceberg - Exploring and Analyzing Local Intolerance Issues Students will: explore the roots of an incident of intolerance reported in local news media research the historical influences leading to the incident and make predictions on types of futures based on imagined conditions create a personal action plan Think, Pair, Share - Facilitating Discussions in Small and Large GroupsThis discussion technique gives students the opportunity to thoughtfully respond to questions in written form and to engage in meaningful dialogues with other students around these issues. Asking students to write and discuss ideas with a partner before sharing with the larger group gives students more time to compose their ideas. This format helps students build confidence, encourages greater participation and often results in more thoughtful discussions. Toolbox ProjectMany Facing History educators, as well as scholars and activists, refer to the tools that individuals, groups and institutions use to create change - to further civil rights or prevent genocide, for example. These tools might be political, economic, social or psychological in nature, and we often study how people have used them to create positive and negative change. For example, marches and rallies were used by the Nazis to garner support and loyalty. Yet, leaders of the civil rights movements also used marches, such as the March on Washington, to attract attention to their cause. The scholar Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell: America & the Age of Genocide, has suggested that, in dealing with foreign policy and, in

Assessment,Community building,Finding evidence,Graphic organizer,Perspective taking,Research,Sharing ideas

All terms particular, genocide, governments imagine a toolbox at their disposal. Each tool in this toolbox would represent a different kind of intervention at the disposal of that government: economic sanctions, condemnation of the genocidaires, military intervention, etc. The problem has been, however, that too often governments and international bodies fail to open these toolboxes. According to Power, the systems, or toolboxes, that may have been designed to prevent genocide far too often "shut down" at precisely the moment when they need to operate. For Power, You would think that the bigger the crime, you know, the more you would move along this continuum towards the more robust options. But it's almost as though (it's very human in fact, sort of anthropomorphized at the governmental level), it's almost as though the worse the crime, the more likely we are to say, 'Ugh, who can even begin to go there,' and begin to think about making a difference when you have, you know, 8,000 people being murdered a day and bodies, like piling up around the US embassy and other outposts. So if the toolbox--if you think of foreign policy as a toolbox, where you've got all these instruments that you use at difference circumstances, different times, and it's not all or nothing--the toolbox stays shut again and again in the face of genocide. According to one Facing History teacher, the "image of a toolbox makes real the choices that governments have in dealing with these seemingly overwhelming atrocities and suggests that by carrying a toolbox, we are required to use the tools at our disposal." The toolbox metaphor can be used to represent the resources institutions, governments, communities and/or individuals, including themselves, have to make a difference in society. There are many ways to incorporate toolboxes in the classroom. Students can build toolboxes as a

All terms brainstorming activity, providing a stepping-stone to an essay or class discussion. Students can actually construct 3-dimensional toolboxes as well. Toolbox projects can be based on content covered in class and/or additional research. When students are asked to explain, using evidence, how particular tools can help achieve specific goals (e.g. preventing genocide, nurturing citizenship, strengthening democracy, advancing civil rights, etc.), Toolbox Projects provide an effective way to evaluate student learning at the end of a Facing History unit or course. Town Hall CircleThe purpose of town hall meetings is to provide a space for community members to share their perspective on a topic of concern. In this format, different perspectives are often shared as people from different backgrounds and experiences take the floor. This teaching strategy mimics the process of a town hall meeting by providing a structure for different perspectives on a topic to be heard. Students often come away from this experience with a greater appreciation for how our perspective can limit the facts we have at our disposal and the opinions we hold. By listening to others ideas, we broaden our understanding of the world in which we live. Two-Column Note TakingTwo-column note-taking encourages students to identify important information in a lecture, film or reading and to respond to this material. These notes prepare students to participate in a discussion or begin a writing activity. They can also be used to recognize students misconceptions and questions, and to evaluate students understanding of material.

All terms Using Names to Understand Each OtherIn most cultures, names have tremendous significance in terms of identifying where a person is from, who his/her ancestors are, and what type of qualities the family hopes that child will possess. Names, including nicknames, often reveal aspects of our identity. The activities outlined below ask students to think about what their names reveal about their own identity. They can be used as part of a unit on identity or as a community-building activity. Implementing all of these steps would take an entire class period. It is possible to use any of these steps on their own as a warm-up or team-building activity. Word Wall - Building Vocabulary and Identifying Multiple MeaningsA word wall is a large display in the classroom where the meanings of important ideas are displayed, using words and pictures. When vocabulary may be unfamiliar to students, creating a word wall is one way to help them comprehend and interpret ideas in a text or keep track of new terms from a unit of study. Wraparound (Whiparound)This strategy provides an efficient way for all students in a classroom to share their ideas about a question, topic or text. Wraparounds can be provocative discussion-starters as well. Where Im from? PoemsWho am I? is a question on the minds of many adolescents. Where Im from poems get beyond aspects of identity that are often more obvious and familiar (such as ethnicity, gender and age), by focusing on other factors that shape our identities such as experiences, relationships, hopes and interests. Writing Where Im from poems helps students clarify important elements of their identity. When these

All terms poems are shared they can help build peer relationships and foster a cohesive classroom community. Where Im from poems can also provide a creative way for students to demonstrate what they know about historical or literary figures.