As Social Studies teachers, we strive to create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for our students. One powerful documentary that has consistently resonated with both middle and high school students is "One Survivor Remembers," recounting Gerda Weissman's harrowing story of survival during the Holocaust. For years, I have utilized teaching materials provided by Learning for Justice alongside this film. Last year I incorporated a historical thinking activity into the lesson. In this blog post, I will guide you through this activity, highlighting its effectiveness in promoting historical thinking skills.
Setting Up the Activity:
To begin, gather the necessary resources and materials for the activity:
- Primary source documents from Learning for Justice
- Holocaust Identity Cards from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Timeline from the Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Precut Hexagonal Thinking Cards (you can make your own cards or check out my premade cards here.)
- Station Signs
- Classroom set of recording sheets
Next, follow these steps for setting up the activity:
1. Place station signs at each of the eight stations, ensuring clear visibility for students.
2. Distribute primary source documents to the first four stations, providing one set of sources per station for students to analyze.
3. Affix the timeline, including historical events cards and laws/decrees cards, to your classroom wall or hallway.
4. At station 8, place a manilla envelope containing hexagonal cards. Depending on your class size and time constraints, you can adjust the number of sets you use.
5. Make copies of the recording sheets to distribute to students.
How the Activity Works:
1. Begin by introducing and explaining each station to your class. It's crucial to review each task beforehand, ensuring students understand the expectations.
2. If your students are unfamiliar with the 10 stages of Genocide, consider reviewing it with them or providing a visual reference for their timeline station.
3. Divide your students into groups of four or assign groups as you see fit.
4. Assign stations to students, emphasizing that they should work collaboratively as a team. Remind them that no group should proceed to the next station until all members have completed their assigned tasks and recorded their findings.
5. Once a group finishes, they can move to another station. The order in which they proceed is flexible, but it is ideal if they avoid starting at the hexagonal thinking station, if possible.
6. Allow sufficient time for students to complete the activity. Based on my experience, this activity typically spans two class periods of 44 minutes each. However, feel free to adapt the timeframe based on your specific class dynamics and scheduling.
Primary Source Analysis Stations
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