Do you want to teach your students about Syria, but aren't sure how to get started?
Six Easy Steps for a Teacher-Friendly, Zero-Prep, 40-Minute Lesson Plan:
Recommended format that requires almost zero preparation time:
-Introduction (1 minute)
-Sign up for a free Prezi account and give your students background with the Syria the Basics PREZI. (5 minutes)
-Follow up with another PREZI about Youth Projects across America: Just press play! (3 minutes)
-Click through the POWERPOINT SLIDES and have your student fill out the accompanying fill-in-the-blank WORKSHEET (8 minutes)
-Pick a President and do the PRESIDENTIAL CABINET SIMULATION Exercise (20 min)
-Inform your Students about what they can do (2 minutes)
-Handout the COMMON CORE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT for Homework. (1 minute)
-Sign up for a free Prezi account and give your students background with the Syria the Basics PREZI. (5 minutes)
-Follow up with another PREZI about Youth Projects across America: Just press play! (3 minutes)
-Click through the POWERPOINT SLIDES and have your student fill out the accompanying fill-in-the-blank WORKSHEET (8 minutes)
-Pick a President and do the PRESIDENTIAL CABINET SIMULATION Exercise (20 min)
-Inform your Students about what they can do (2 minutes)
-Handout the COMMON CORE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT for Homework. (1 minute)
Step #1: Prepare by using our TEACHER'S GUIDE
Read our Teacher's Guide that explains our mission and what we hope to accomplish with this programming.
Step #2: Identify a Historical Connection in Your Curriculum (1 minute)
The Boson Massacre, 1770
Whether your students are studying the Boston Massacre in middle school, the Age of Absolutism in high school, or Holocaust and Genocide studies as an elective, there is always a way to link the Teach Syria materials into the arch of your curriculum. Including Teach Syria as a modern-day tie-in for what your teaching not only makes the past come to life, but allows your students to see history in action! There are so many natural connections to your curriculum, including: totalitarianism in government, different forms of government, reading "1984" in English class--to name just a few!
Step #3: Educate Your Students on the Syrian Conflict (16 minutes)
map of Syria
Modern media allows your class to access the world like never before. After briefly explaining the historical connection you chose for your class, play a short PREZI video created by Reporter and Founder of Syria Deeply Lara Setrakian, that clarifies the situation in Syria to your students; follow it up with the second PREZI video that shows student projects around the country; then use the POWERPOINT and corresponding fill-in-the-blank WORKSHEET in class. For AP Teachers and those wanting a more in-depth, up-to-the minute information source about Syria to share with their students, we strongly recommend you visit Syria Deeply, which contains an interactive Conflict Timeline and background information on: The Regime, The Opposition, and a video on The Global Players, perfect for classroom use.
Step #4: Turn your class into the President's Cabinet (20 minutes)
The Situation Room
Students love being actively involved in what they are learning. This 20-minute activity transports your class to the basement of the White House, turning your students into the President's National Security Team trying to decide on a foreign policy strategy for Syria. The team analyzes the evidence, decides whether the situation is of a high, medium, or low risk, then recommends options that the President can choose from. Compelling, real, and incredibly easy to use, choose a student from your class to be the president, then go to:
WWW.WARNINGSIGNSOFGENOCIDE.ORG to find the video, directions, and handouts.
WWW.WARNINGSIGNSOFGENOCIDE.ORG to find the video, directions, and handouts.
Step #5: Inform Your Students about What They Can Do (2 minutes)
www.iamsyria.org
While many of the materials in this lesson plan offer options for what students can do to help, discussing it with your students directly engages them with this global issue and the world at large while empowering them to raise awareness as well as feel that they are making a meaningful contribution in their community and the world. One easy follow-up to this lesson plan is to connect with the site www.iamsyria.org, which encourages students to make a video under the "I Am Syria" campaign, where they hold up signs or make green handprints and post the photos on Facebook. You can play the short inspirational video, connect them with the Facebook page, and get started! However, there are so many other things you can do with your students, and we would love to hear about them! If you have an event or a school-wide campaign, please let us know at the I am Syria Facebook page or the Teach Deeply Facebook page.
Step #6: Assign Common Core Friendly Homework (1 minute)
Enhance your students' literacy skills by providing a Common Core friendly homework assignment that involves a brief article and follow-up writing assignment and exposes them to rich, new vocabulary on this subject matter. Access the article and writing assignment here. A longer writing assignment is also available here.
Supplementary Enrichment Activities:
Advanced Placement Teachers: Access In-Depth Information on Syria Deeply
Syria Deeply is an independent digital media project led by journalists and technologists, whose mission is to significantly
improve the user experience of foreign news and complex issues, helping users grasp, engage, and
interact with what’s happening in a fast-changing world with the latest digital tools of the day. Syria Deeply contains a section called the Syria Files, which contains an interactive Conflict Timeline and background information on: The Regime, The Opposition, and a video on The Global Players. While incredibly useful for any teacher, advanced placement educators will find its content extremely useful for their students for an independent study or at your discretion.
Show Your Students the I Am Syria Video
With the help of Social Studies teachers Andrew Beiter and Joseph Karb in addition to our partners Ammar Abdulhamid and David Crane, we have created the I AM SYRIA VIDEO designed to help students get involved in this crisis. IAmSyria.org is a non-profit media based campaign that seeks to educate the world of the Syrian Conflict. This movement is dedicated to let the people of Syria know that the world, especially students, is supporting them through video, pictures, and media attention.
Make it Personal: Play a Video of a Syrian Student Living in the Refugee Camps
A Syrian child in a refugee camp
One of the more challenging and fundamental aspects of human rights education is to shrink the conflict to a more personal level that we as human beings can understand and process. By clicking on and playing the short video of a Syrian child in a refugee camp, you humanize Syria for your students, which in turn allows them to understand it in greater depth and relevance. Under five minutes in length from the Guardian, click here to play and get started.
Expand their Horizons: Play a 15 minute CBS CLIP on Syria: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED--GRAPHIC IMAGES
In October, CBS produced a portion of their 60 Minutes program on the Syrian conflict that serves as student-friendly background information. This information is perfect for a more in-depth look at the situation.
Hear Syrian Activists explain why speaking out matters:
Syrian activist Ammar Abdulhamid
Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian human rights activist who in 2003 founded the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that enlists local activists and citizen journalists to document conditions in Syria. In response to his activities, the Syrian government subjected Abdulhamid to repeat interrogation and threats. In September 2005, he and his family were forced into exile in the U.S. From his home in Maryland, Abdulhamid remains one of the leading commentators on events in Syria through the Syrian Revolution Digest. See a short video interview with him from the Freedom Collection describing why Syria matters and what the price of our silence actually is.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED: Graphic Information for Teacher Background and Preparation
Video of Breadline Massacre
Attacks on Playgrounds
"The World's Next Genocide", by Simon Adams
"The Men Are Vanishing Here", by Nicholas Kristof
Attacks on Playgrounds
"The World's Next Genocide", by Simon Adams
"The Men Are Vanishing Here", by Nicholas Kristof
