Teaching Strategies

In 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
Strategy Type: Visual Learning

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.
Strategy Type: Discussion

In this modified debate activity, students have a chance to literally take a stand on one side of an issue or another. Students will: Develop their discussion skills, particularly their ability to listen to one another Find a safe place to disagree respectfully and learn from one another Complicate their own thinking and explore the complexities of the issues raised Formulate and articulate their opinion on a particular issue Develop critical thinking skills
Strategy Type: Discussion

In this discussion strategy, students will: Slow down their own thinking process to let them consider the views of others Be encouraged to explore a topic/issue in an in-depth manner Honor silence in the classroom Create a visual record of their thoughts and emotions
Strategy Type: Discussion

This activity helps students articulate their thoughts about an individual. It also allows them to think more critically about a person's identity, personal traits, and character.
Strategy Type: Discussion

This activity will: Offer students an alternative way to process powerful and emotional content, particularly reactions to a testimony from a Holocaust survivor Engage students who are reticent to participate in group discussions Give students access to conversations in which they can communicate freely without verbal restrictions
Strategy Type: Art and Drama

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
Strategy Type: Discussion

Reading 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
Strategy Type: Literacy

The Internet has a vast array of resources available to both teachers and students. The question for teachers is how to effectively use the Internet with students. Evaluating web resources poses particular problems because students often lack the basic background knowledge necessary to judge the accuracy and authenticity of a source.
Strategy Type: Technology

These four brief assessment activities can be implemented at the end of any class period. These activities: Serve as a content review for students at the end of a daily lesson Enhance students' own meta-cognitive skills Provide teachers with an immediate assessment of the learning that takes place in a given class period Serve as a vehicle to continue to pique student interest in a particular topic or lesson
Strategy Type: Assessment

This activity is used as an ice-breaker to help students immediately connect their personal identities to larger concepts of history, membership, ethnicity, and nationalism. It is a prop-free activity that can be used to launch a diversity of discussion topics.
Strategy Type: Ice Breaker

In this activity: Students will develop analytical thinking skills Students will process the complexities of an argument Students will learn to structure and formulate their own perspectives When used as a pre-writing activity, students will develop organizational skills for producing an analytical or persuasive essay
Strategy Type: Discussion

In this discussion strategy students will: Slow down their thinking process to reflect on their own thoughts as well as the thoughts of others Be given the space and time to process emotional material in the classroom Honor silence in the classroom
Strategy Type: Discussion

This activity is a variation of the identity chart, as described in the Holocaust and Human Behavior resource book and in the lesson, Charting Identity: Building Community in the Classroom.
Strategy Type: Art and Drama

This pre-reading activity is an effective way to introduce students to the Facing History and Ourselves Resource book. This strategy will help students: Develop an interest in a given text. Practice pre-reading strategies.
Strategy Type: Literacy

In this reading/exploration strategy, students will: Become expert learners of a particular reading Develop group team skills and individual teaching skills Diffuse competition and develop cooperation among students Build skill and confidence in themselves as learners and teachers Develop cooperative interdependence which in turn breaks down stereotypes of each other
Strategy Type: Literacy

In this pre- and post-reading activity, students will: Clarify expectations and goals prior to a unit or lesson Develop a particular interest in a unit, lesson or topic Monitor the progress of their own learning Activate prior knowledge
Strategy Type: Discussion

This is a structure for a class discussion format that allows students to listen to one another before entering into a deeper discussion about a difficult topic. In this activity students will: Develop their discussion skills, particularly their ability to listen to one another Practice formulating their own thinking and thoughts prior to speaking them Find a safe place to disagree respectfully and learn from one another Complicate their own thinking and explore the complexity in the issues raised Develop critical thinking skills
Strategy Type: Discussion

This is a reading strategy which will enable students to develop and strengthen their literacy skills. This activity can be done both orally or in written form. The rationale of the activity is to increase the levels of the types of questions asked after a particular reading assignment in an effort to have students become more aware of the process involved in their own literacy.
Strategy Type: Literacy

This activity allows students to create an actual cognitive map of the process of becoming and arriving. It allows students to think more creatively about their life process, connecting sequences of events, decisions and inspirations which have contributed to the array of choices they have made, leading them eventually to the person they are today.
Strategy Type: Ice Breaker