PROJECT OVERVIEW page 1



| Project Overview page 1 |

|Name of Project: |The Triumph of Evil? |Duration: |8 weeks |

|Subject/Course: |World Studies | Teacher(s): Prather, Jaynes |Grade Level: |10 |

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|Project Idea | |

|Summary of the issue, challenge, |Historical context: In 1994 nearly one million Rwandans became victims of a genocide that lasted a mere 100 days. Large populations of ethnic Tutsis and moderate |

|investigation, scenario, or problem: |Hutus were exterminated in a wave of street violence orchestrated by extremists and carried out by ordinary people. Meanwhile, the rest of the world turned aside. |

| |Now 20 years later many of the convicted killers are being released back into Rwandan society, and the country is confronted with a critical question: How do we move |

| |forward? Beyond Rwanda the rest of us confront a similar question: How should we act in the face of Evil, and how should we act in its wake? |

| | |

| |Team Challenge: Teams of 7-8 will be required to create multiple products (differentiated according to student interest). |

| |Analytical Task, part I: Produce a diagram presenting the requisite conditions that must be in place in order for a genocide to succeed. (Conditions are based on your |

| |case study of the Rwandan genocide.) |

| |Analytical Task, part II: Study Genocide Watch President Gregory Stanton’s list of the “10 Stages of Genocide.” Then complete a graphic organizer that discusses each |

| |stage of the Rwandan genocide: Classification; symbolization; discrimination; dehumanization; organization; polarization; preparation; persecution; extermination; and |

| |denial. |

| |Practical Task: Considering acts of harm, injustice and misunderstanding that commonly arise among members of a high school community, produce a pamphlet that 1) |

| |identifies and explains how particular components of the Stanton list are enacted in contemporary high schools; 2) evaluates the effectiveness of retributive action, |

| |restorative action and passive inaction in response to brokenness; and 2) explains the role that tacit approval plays in the breakdown of community. |

| |Creative Task: Each team will be assigned a different genocide – Armenia, Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia or Darfur – and must devise a creative way to demonstrate |

| |understanding of the genocide (causation, context, casualties). The Wu Tang Clan’s “Never Again” will be presented as an example. |

| | |

| |Individual Challenge Produce multiple pieces of sustained writing. |

| |Write an argumentative essay that explores the question of blame. State a claim that firmly identifies the most culpable groups associated with the Rwandan genocide. |

| |Acknowledge the counterclaims that identify other groups as blameworthy, but explain why the culpability of those groups is mitigated. Then present valid, relevant and |

| |sufficient evidence of aggravated guilt in order to support your claim. |

|Driving Question | When does Evil win? |

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| Project Overview page 2 |

|CCSS – taught, assessed |Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. |

| |Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), |

| |counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. |

| |Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s|

| |knowledge level and concerns. |

| |Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and |

| |evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. |

| |Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. |

| |Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. |

|Additional Standards to be taught and |Analyze a text: Determine its central idea; trace the development of its argument (through consideration of tone, text structure, and methods of clarification – e.g. use |

|assessed: |of figurative language, repetition, direct address, etc); establish authorial purposes throughout the text; construct the meaning of words and phrases from context clues; |

| |cite evidence of inferences; and write objective summaries. |

| |

|21st Century Competencies to be taught |Collaboration |

|and assessed: |Student teams of 7-8 will establish ownership over the learning targets by electing a team CEO and by establishing norms for productivity and professionalism. Protocols |

| |for the dismissal of noncompliant team members will be provided. [Dismissed students will be responsible for multiple components of the project – to be determined by the |

| |teacher.] |

| |Communication (Oral Presentation) |

| |Student teams will present their creative component showcasing the supplemental genocides they have been assigned. |

| |Critical Thinking |

| |Students must analyze the Rwandan genocide via distinct stages, demonstrating an ability to break a whole subject down into component parts. Students must also be able to|

| |use the context and course of a particular genocide (Rwanda) to think more broadly about the preconditions that gives rise to genocide. Finally, students must exhibit the|

| |ability to relate a major humanitarian crisis to more local day-to-day happenings in an American high school, transferring ideas about evil and justice from a historical |

| |standpoint to a local one. |

| |Creativity & Innovation |

| |Students must be able to isolate the core details of a genocide and then creatively present those details to benefit the understanding of classmates whose studies did not |

| |include the particular genocide in question. |

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| Project Overview page 3 |

|Major Products & |Group: |Team presentations (as described above in the Project Idea and 21st c. Skills sections) |Presentation Audience |

|Performances | | | |

| | | |x |Classmates |

| |Individual: |Argumentative essay (as described above in the Project Idea section) |x |Administrators, coaches |

| |

|JANUARY 21. |Concept-Inquiry. Two images are presented. One is a picture of the main gate of the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. The other is the Catholic Church in Nyarubuye, Rwanda, | |x |Practice Presentations |

|Entry Event to |where 20,000 Tutsis were massacred in April 1994. Students must discern the common link between the two structures [sites of extermination]. To do so they must construct | | | |

|launch inquiry |understanding by posing investigative questions to the teacher. The questions may only return a YES or NO answer. | | | |

|and engage students: | | | | |

| |Pre-writing: Students respond to one of two prompts: a) “What is Evil, and how/when does Evil win?” or b) “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed along with our | | | |

| |families.” | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Music lyrics. Student view lyrics from the song “Never Again” by the hip-hop artist Remedy of the Wu-Tang Clan. Using context clues in the poetry, students must construct a | | | |

| |definition of the term “liquidation.” | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Primary source images. The word “Genocide” is written on the board. A definition is provided on a PPT slide. The definition links to a series of primary source Holocaust/WWII | | | |

| |photographs published by The Atlantic as part of a retrospective on WWII in 2011. The class views and discusses specific images, focusing largely on the “systematic” part of | | | |

| |“systematic extermination” in the genocide definition. The class as a whole also constructs a meaning for the phrase “ethnic cleansing.” | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Team discussion. Student teams respond (in writing) to the following prompt: “We think genocide is made possible when…” Answers should present the conditions that teams believe are| | | |

| |necessary for genocide to take place. Responses are shared out. | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Video interpretation. Students view a montage of images from genocides of the past 100 years. The montage is accompanied by the complete playing of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Never Again.” | | | |

| |In whole-class discussion, students must interpret the meaning of the “never again” motif. They must also use context clues present in the montage to establish an introductory | | | |

| |answer to our essential question: Are we who we were? [Yes… we’re still enacting genocides despite the pledges of so many nations to allow genocide “never again.”]. | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Introduction of focus crisis. Students are introduced to the Rwandan genocide first through a simple expository statement: “Over the course of 100 days in the Spring and Summer of | | | |

| |1994, extremist members of Rwanda’s ethnic majority Hutu population began a genocide to cleanse the country of the ethnic minority Tutsi population.” Students then view a brief clip| | | |

| |from the Frontline documentary film “Ghosts of Rwanda.” [clip: scene 10] | | | |

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| Project Overview page 4 |

|Assessments |Formative Assessments |Skill practice (assessment format) |x |Checklists |x |

| |(During Project) | | | | |

| | |Rough drafts – argumentative essays |x |Team and Individual Graphic organizers |x |

| |Summative Assessments |Argumentative essay: |x |Historical validity assessments |x |

| |(End of Project) | | | | |

| |

|Resources Needed |Materials |Presentation boards and materials (colored paper, writing utencils); library resources (genocides) |

| |Equipment: |iPADS (for internet research) |

| | | | |Focus Group (w/Caster?) |

|Reflection Methods |(Individual, Group, |Skill-specific learning Logs |x |Fishbowl Discussion | |

| |and/or Whole Class) | | | | |

| | |Whole-Class Discussion |x |Other: | |

| | |Ongoing surveys |x | | |

| PROJECT CALENDAR page 1 |

|The triumph of evil? |Time Frame: 1.21 - |

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|MONDAY |TUESDAY |WEDNESDAY |THURSDAY |FRIDAY |

|PRE-PROJECT WEEK |

|1.13 |1.14 |1.15 |1.16 |1.17 |

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|PROJECT WEEK 1 |

|1.20 |1.21 |1.22 |1.23 |1.24 |

| | | | | |

|PROJECT WEEK 2 |

|1.27 |1.28 |1.29 |1.30 |1.31 |

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| PROJECT CALENDAR page 2 |

|MONDAY |TUESDAY |WEDNESDAY |THURSDAY |FRIDAY |

|PROJECT WEEK 3 |

|2.3 |2.4 |2.5 |2.6 |2.7 |

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|PROJECT WEEK 4 |

|2.10 |2.11 |2.12 |2.13 |2.14 |

| | | | | |

|PROJECT WEEK 5 |

|2.17 |2.18 |2.19 |2.20 |2.21 |

|PROJECT WEEK 6-8 |

|2.24, 3.3, 3.10 |2.25, 3.4, 3.11 |2.26, 3.5, 3.12 |2.27, 3.6, 3.13 |2.28, 3.7, 3.14 |

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Students study the motives and effects of European imperialism in Africa and then become foreign policy advisors in the Bush Administration, confronting the humanitarian crisis the unfolded in Somalia from 1991-1993. Students must decide whether they would recommend an isolationist or interventionist approach by the US government. Ultimately, students will understand the impact that the Somalia mission had on America’s perceptions of humanitarian crises in Africa (leading up to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda).

Students will launch the project first by constructing an understanding of genocide and then by experiencing the words and images of the Rwandan atrocities (via primary source writings and news footage). Content-wise, the bulk of this week’s work will be spent establishing a chronology of the history between Hutus and Tutsis. Literacy skill-practice will be integrated into the lessons of the week, with students focusing on the development of central ideas.

Having established a sequence of major events related to the history of Hutus and Tutsis (since the colonial era), student teams will focus this week on the events of the early 1990s, sequencing the development of the eventual genocide into distinct stages (as provided by Gregory Stanton, president of the group Genocide Watch). Literacy skill-practice will continue to focus on the development of central ideas through text.

Students will zoom in on the current state of Rwanda in the wake of the brokenness left behind by the genocide. Questions and discussions about justice and forward-movement will feature heavily as materials present the reality that Rwandans are now confronting – the release of many murderers back into society. Terms in focus this week will include retributive justice, restorative justice, and tacit approval. Literacy skill-practice will continue to focus on the development of central ideas through text. Teams will use PBL time to work on the creation of their brokenness/justice pamphlets.

With the history of the genocide completely studied, the emphasis of Week 4 will be on culpability. Students will explore and debate the degree to which different groups associated with the genocide bear culpability for the atrocities and deaths of nearly one million people. Teams will need to distinguish “significant guilt” from “moderate guilt” and “limited guilt” by addressing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances attached to each group in question. The literacy work in class this week will focus on the development of an argumentative essay, with emphasis on the distinction between claim and counterclaim and the provision of evidence that is valid, relevant and sufficient.

Writing workshops this week will continue to help students build and revise their essays. Content-wise, groups will reflect on the Rwandan genocide by zooming outward and establishing a list of the pre-requisite conditions that appear to be necessary in order for a genocide to be successful.

Over the course of the final 3 weeks of the marking period, students will submit their culpability essays, and teams will work to finalize their “Rwandan Genocide” presentation boards. Teams will also research the *new* genocide they have been assigned and devise a creative product that can be presented to the class showcasing that genocide.

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