The recent row over Bill Maher and Ben Affleck's heated discussion of Islam on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher strikes me as an opportunity for a civic lesson–one rooted not in debating who is right or wrong, or who is bigoted or not, but one, that, in true Facing History and Ourselves fashion, is rooted in history. At Facing History, we have learned that history often provides a needed distance from which we can illuminate the present and inform more productive civic dialogue.
Topics: Antisemitism, Choosing to Participate, Human Behavior, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, Religious Tolerance, News, Readings, Identity, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, History
What does it mean to face history in your own community? And how do you teach a history in a community where its legacies are still unfolding?
Topics: Classrooms, Teaching Strategies, Events, Facing History Resources, Safe Schools, Teaching, Schools, Identity, Facing History Together, Race and Membership, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Resources, Teachers, Civil Rights, History
Stories matter. The stories we tell have the power to effect history. By sharing stories with students, we help them to see themselves as part of the human story, as individuals who can change the narrative by making positive choices and contributing to their communities and the world.
Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Books, English Language Arts, Choosing to Participate, Facing History Resources, Immigration, Identity, Holocaust, Memoir, History, Reading, Reading List
Forty-one years ago this month, a violent military coup in Chile led by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically-elected government.
Topics: Classrooms, Art, English Language Arts, Teaching Strategies, Democracy, Memory, Choosing to Participate, Human Rights, Facing History Resources, New York, Teaching, Identity, Holocaust, Genocide/Collective Violence, Teaching Resources, History
I have been a teacher and assistant principal at Stuyvesant High School for 14 years.
Our school is located in lower Manhattan, just a few blocks north of the World Trade Center. We are one of New York City’s specialized high schools and draw students from all five boroughs. We have over 3,000 students in our 10-story building.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, my express bus dropped me at the Center's North Tower and I walked up a few blocks to school. I settled in for a busy day in the first week of classes.
Topics: Classrooms, September 11, Back-To-School, Memorials, Teaching Strategies, Memory, Choosing to Participate, New York, Teaching, Teaching Resources, History
Topics: Online Tools, Professional Development, Antisemitism, International, Human Behavior, Human Rights, Teaching, Holocaust, Teaching Resources, History, Facing Technology
Thursday marks the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington, at which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Teaching Strategies, Democracy, Human Rights, Readings, Identity, Teaching Resources, Video, History
Facing history is difficult. Facing ourselves may be more so.
Shot by Shot: The Holocaust in German-Occupied Soviet Territory, a new eBook from Facing History published this month, asks us to do both.
Topics: Antisemitism, Holocaust, Genocide/Collective Violence, History
In my senior year at Magnificat High School in Cleveland, I signed up to take a class on the Holocaust called “Dangers of Indifference.”
The class was unique in that three teachers taught it: a history teacher, an art teacher, and a religion teacher. Having these three perspectives helped me understand something I had not realized before – that hatred is not the largest problem we face, indifference is.
Topics: Cleveland, Student Voices, Choosing to Participate, Identity, Facing History Together, Holocaust, History
This week, 16 educators in the UK are participating in our core professional development seminar “Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behaviour.”
Topics: United Kingdom, Professional Development, Antisemitism, International, Human Behavior, Teaching, Identity, Holocaust, History