Goals & Objectives
Goal:
Students will analyze global reactions to Hitler’s murdering of Jews.
Objective:
After engaging in a discussion about the United State’s reactions to Jewish refugees during World War II students will be able to formulate an opinion about the contemporary Syrian refugee crisis.
Students will analyze global reactions to Hitler’s murdering of Jews.
Objective:
After engaging in a discussion about the United State’s reactions to Jewish refugees during World War II students will be able to formulate an opinion about the contemporary Syrian refugee crisis.
California State Content Standards
10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
- Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 6. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.Literacy.WHST.10-12 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self- generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 6. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
CCSS.Literacy.RH.10-12. 9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.Literacy.WHST.10-12 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self- generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Driving Historical Question
Should Americans have taken in more Jewish refugees during World War II?
Should Americans accept more Syrian refugees now in 2015?
Should Americans accept more Syrian refugees now in 2015?
Lesson Introduction
Students will examine two political cartoons. The first cartoon is a critique of the United States for rejecting Jewish refugees in 1939. The second cartoon is a critique of the United States for rejecting Syrian refugees a few months ago in 2015. Teacher will assess the student’s prior knowledge on the rejection of Jewish refugees in 1939 by instructing the students to answer the questions about the first cartoon on the Refugee Discussion Worksheet. Teacher will assess the student’s background knowledge on the current Syrian refugee crisis by instructing the students to answer the questions about the second cartoon on the Refugee Discussion Worksheet. The students will share their answers aloud with their partners. The teacher will then randomly select students (from a deck of flashcards with the student’s name on it) to share their answers out loud for the whole class to hear. The teacher will scaffold the answers on his copy of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet by projecting the student’s responses on the LCD display using an ELMO projector.
Vocabulary
Students should know how to annotate primary and secondary sources at this point in the semester. Students are required to annotate any primary or secondary source given to them by the teacher. Students are always required to underline key concepts, circle the author’s main argument and highlight vocabulary that they don’t understand from a primary or secondary source. Then the students or the teacher change the highlighted word into a more comprehensible word. Therefore, for this lesson the students will develop the content language of the Refugee Documents Worksheet by themselves. The Refugee Documents worksheet is given to the students the day before this lesson. The students should be ready for discussion during this lesson. They have read and annotated the primary and secondary sources on their Refugee Documents Worksheet, and they have answered the questions that go along with the primary and secondary sources on their Refugee Documents Worksheet. With all this preparation, vocabulary should not be an issue in this lesson.
Content Delivery
The Method of Instruction for this lesson is a discussion (specifically, the Four Corners discussion strategy) of a historical and a current issue. The teacher will introduce the topic by having students analyze two political cartoons. The first cartoon is from June 6, 1939. The cartoon contains the Statue of Liberty with her face turned around holding a sign that says: Keep Out. The New Colossus poem is emphasized at the bottom and it says: “Give me your tired, your poor…send those, the hopeless, tempest-tossed to me…” Driving away from the Statue of Liberty is boat who is blowing out smoke that says Jewish Refugee Ship. The second cartoon is from September 15, 2015. The cartoon contains the Statue of Liberty with a label that says: Syrian Refugees. The Statue of Liberty is on a hook and is being exported by construction workers. The construction worker has a thought bubble that says: We’re moving it to Germany where they actually accept the tired and the poor. The teacher has ensured the necessary background knowledge for evaluating Syrian refugees by instructing students to read articles on the Syrian refugee crisis or watch the news segments dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis. For homework, the students have written in their journal entries all week about what they learned from the article that they read or the news segment that they watched. The students can use their journal entries and/or the articles they have read for the Four Corners discussion. The teacher has ensured the necessary background knowledge for evaluating Jewish refugees during World War II by assigning the students a homework assignment the day before the lesson. The assignment is called the Refugee Documents Worksheet. The worksheet contains two primary sources and two secondary sources dealing with different author’s opinions about Jewish refugees during WWII. The authors of the primary sources have opposing views and the authors of the secondary sources also have opposing views. After every document there are some questions that the students have to answer. At the end of the worksheet is has one last question. The question is: Based on the above documents, your reading of articles dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis and on the news segments you have watched dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis, do you think the U.S. should accept more Syrian refugees? The students are to bring this worksheet to class so that they can use it to guide their discussion. Finally, the teacher will verbally explain the Four Corners discussion strategy that the students are to use to discuss the topic.
Student Engagement
The discussion strategy used in this lesson is the Four Corners discussion strategy. In this strategy students are required to show their position on a specific statement. The positions are strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree, and the four corners of the room will be labeled by these four positions. The teacher will instruct students to go to the corner of the position they agree with based on the statement read out loud and written by the teacher. The teacher will also have the statement projected on the LCD display using a ELMO projector so the students can use as a visual reminder. The statements are:
- Look at the 1939 chart on your Refugee Discussion Worksheet. Based on this chart:
- The United States should have accepted more Jewish refugees during World War II
- I would have rejected the Wagner-Rogers bill if I were a congressman during 1939.
- If I were in the Roosevelt administration during 1939 I would have focused my attention on the staggering 20% unemployment rate instead of the Jewish refugees.
- The United States was right in not taking in more Jewish refugees during WWII because the polls showed that the majority of Americans were anti-Semitic during this time period.
- The United States is right in not taking in more Syrian refugees because the polls show that the majority of Americans are Islamophobic.
- Jewish refugees escaping from the Nazis are the same as Syrian refugees escaping from ISIS.
- I agree that the United State should accept more Syrian refugees.
Lesson Closure
As a closure, the teacher will instruct students to engage in a What, So what, Now what closing strategy. On a notecard, students will write what they learned from the lesson, explain the importance of what they learned and describe how they will use this information. Next, the students are to discuss their answers with their partners. The teacher will then engage in a whip around by rolling a die. The student’s chairs are numerically labeled. Therefore, whichever number the die lands on are the students who have to verbally share with the class their answers.
Assessments
I will assess student’s prior learning by instructing them to analyze two political cartoons. The students will answer the questions that follow the respective cartoons. The students will share their answers aloud with their partners. The teacher will then randomly select students (from a deck of flashcards with the student’s name on it) to share their answers out loud for the whole class to hear. The teacher will scaffold the answers on his copy of the Primary Source Inquiry Worksheet by projecting the student’s responses on the LCD display using an ELMO projector.
The teacher will assess student learning during the discussion by listening to the students’ responses during the discussion. The teacher will only serve as the facilitator in this discussion, because it is a student orientated discussion. If the students need help with taking a position then the teacher will refer them to the place in the documents they read where the author took a position and let the student choose which author he/she agrees with. If the students are not engaging in the discussion then the teacher will have to revisit the lesson and deliver the content in a different way.
If the teacher assesses that the students are learning during the Four Corners discussion then the teacher will close the lesson by using a What, So what, Now what closing strategy. This is the perfect summative assessment tool for this lesson, because with this strategy the students will demonstrate their learning by first writing what they learned, and then explaining why what they learning is important and how they will use the information. What they learned is really relevant to their lives since the Syrian refugee crisis is still taking place, and with this closing strategy the students will express why this lesson was important.
The teacher will assess student learning during the discussion by listening to the students’ responses during the discussion. The teacher will only serve as the facilitator in this discussion, because it is a student orientated discussion. If the students need help with taking a position then the teacher will refer them to the place in the documents they read where the author took a position and let the student choose which author he/she agrees with. If the students are not engaging in the discussion then the teacher will have to revisit the lesson and deliver the content in a different way.
If the teacher assesses that the students are learning during the Four Corners discussion then the teacher will close the lesson by using a What, So what, Now what closing strategy. This is the perfect summative assessment tool for this lesson, because with this strategy the students will demonstrate their learning by first writing what they learned, and then explaining why what they learning is important and how they will use the information. What they learned is really relevant to their lives since the Syrian refugee crisis is still taking place, and with this closing strategy the students will express why this lesson was important.
Accommodation
The teacher has strategically placed EL Learners, Striving Readers and students with special needs in partner groupings that include a high academically achieving student. The teacher will have students working with their strategic partners during the lesson introduction. When the teacher calls on the students with special needs he will provide extra response time. The teacher will also give English learners a separate worksheet that has the Refugee Documents questions in their native language. English learners, striving readers and students with special needs will benefit from the teacher’s scaffolding of the two political cartoons. Having a class discussion will give English learners the chance to hear spoken English from several native speakers. EL Learners, Striving Readers and students with special needs will benefit from the visuals provided by the teacher in this lesson. This lesson is a comparative study on Jewish refugees during World War II and modern day Syrian refugees. Therefore, EL Learners, Striving Readers and students with Special Needs will benefit from the political cartoons and the charts provided on their Refugee Documents that show this comparison. These comparative visuals will help all students, but especially EL Learners, Striving Readers and students with Special Needs, understand the main concepts of the lesson.
Resources
Refugee Documents Worksheet
Refugee Discussion Worksheet
LCD display
ELMO projector
Refugee Discussion Worksheet
LCD display
ELMO projector