Ladder of Prejudice Card Activity

I Created "Ladder of Prejudice" cards to use with my students when I introduce the Holocaust in my history courses. I use these cards at the beginning of the unit, as one of my first lessons. When I use the cards, I put my students in small groups of 3 or 4. I instruct students to arrange the cards in bold print vertically (As if on a ladder) with the top rung representing the worst form of prejudice and the bottom rung, the “least” worst form of prejudice. (Extermination is on the top rung, then physical attack, then discrimination, then avoidance, then speech.)

After we arrange our cards, we focus on categorizing our remaining cards. These cards include examples of each category/level of prejudice based on topics we've discussed in class over the course of the school year. I’ve also included some cards containing vocabulary and images from the Holocaust.

Once students have sorted their cards,  I ask them to share examples from their small group discussions. While students share their examples, I draw a "Ladder of Prejudice" on my whiteboard and record their examples on the board. We discuss each example, starting at the lowest rung on the ladder. My students always do a fantastic job making connections to other historical events, current events, books, movies, and their own lives!

This is one of my better lessons of the year. We always have an excellent class discussion. I end the lesson by reminding students why it is important to recognize the "red flags" of hate and to speak up/take action before it is too late. (This lesson was inspired by a lesson I read about several years ago in Teaching Tolerance Magazine.)

I use Eve Bunting’s “terrible things” as an introductory lesson in My holocaust unit as well. (Generally, We read "The Terrible Things" at the very beginning of the unit. I created some Task Cards I use with my high school students after we read this story. They are available for free in my store. 

Link to the story: https://www.sde.idaho.gov/academic/ela-literacy/files/exemplar/grade-08/holocaust/Holocaust-Allegory.pdf