Students describe the importance of having access to historic sites such as Auschwitz and provide arguments to counter those who would close these historic sites.
Instructional Support
A number of possible tasks are provided in this suggested activity. It is not intended that you work through all of the tasks, but rather select those tasks and resources that will best meet the learning needs of your students. The focus should be on ensuring that students have the background and support to be successful with the skill that is the focus for assessment (support position).
Setting the Context for Learning
- Show students The Wave video.
- Engage students in a discussion that focuses on the following questions: Could the Holocaust happen again? Could it happen in our own context? How can we prevent genocide from occurring again?
Support Position
- Encourage students to consider how the scenario played out in The Wave could help them support their position within the Summative Assessment Task: Lessons from the Past
.
- Encourage students to examine the summative assessment task. Engage students in a class discussion to explore the reasons why they have not been given the choice of developing their own position for this task in regard to the importance of maintaining historic sites from the Holocaust. Are there some issues in our world that are non-negotiable?
- As students work toward completing the second part of the summative assessment task, support position, encourage them to consider what the global community would lose if it did not have sites such as Auschwitz as living examples of the horrors of genocide. Students may consider the following:
- How would future generations understand the impact of genocide?
- How would nations remember those who suffered and perished?
- Some students may benefit from a structured example of how to support a position. For example,
Historic sites such as Auschwitz are worth preserving because ___________________.
- Brainstorm with students the qualities that make up strong reasons and evidence to support a position. Students may suggest that the reasons and evidence are:
- focused on the position
- convincing
- specific
- supportive of the position
- accurate.
Formative Assessment
Throughout this suggested activity, you will support students in achieving the following skill that is the focus for assessment:
The following formative assessment opportunity is provided to help students unpack and develop the focus skill for assessment. Feedback prompts are also provided to help students enhance their demonstration of the focus skill for this activity. Formative assessment support is not intended to generate a grade or score.
Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning Opportunity
Support Position
Engage students in a self-reflection about the quality of support they provided for describing the importance of maintaining historic sites related to the Holocaust. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.
Feedback Prompts:
- Have I provided specific reasons that explain why maintaining historic sites such as Auschwitz is important?
- Do my reasons and evidence support the position?
- Are my reasons and evidence convincing?
These feedback prompts have been incorporated into the Support Position: Student Self-reflection , which can be copied or adapted for student use. Samples of tools created for a similar skill within a different formative assessment context may be found in the Social Studies 20-4 Formative Assessment Summary 
.
Linking to the Summative Assessment Task
- As students support their position through the suggested activity What Will It Take to Remember?, they will have completed the Summative Assessment Task: Lessons from the Past .
- Students should consult the assessment task and the assessment task rubric to ensure that they have provided the information required.
- Encourage students to use the feedback received during the formative assessment opportunity to make enhancements to their work in progress.
- If necessary, continue to use the feedback prompts from the formative assessment opportunity to coach students toward completion of a quality product.
- If student performance does not yet fall within the three levels described in the summative assessment task rubric, work with the student to formulate a plan to address the student's learning needs.
Suggested Supporting Resources
Textbook References
Student Basic Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
- Pages 130–147 Nationalism and Ultranationalism
- Pages 157–159 How Has Ultranationalism Caused Crimes Against Humanity?
- Pages 164–167 What Are Some Current Consequences of Ultranationalism?Show more
- Pages 160–161 Shoah—The Holocaust
Teaching Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
- Reproducible A Ten Steps to Preparing Research
- Reproducible L Venn Diagram
- Reproducible O Point-Proof-Comment Organizer Show more
- Reproducible Q Writing an Information Paragraph
Web Resources
Web Links for Online Sources:
Critical Challenges:
