A Mindful Classroom: Establishing a Safe Space for Sensitive Topics

Posted by Heidi Crowley on March 26, 2019

A Mindful Classroom: Establishing A Safe Space for Sensitive Topics

Many of us have seen the importance of mindfulness in our classrooms and personal lives. Being present and aware are integral to truly absorbing what is around you. How mindful are we of exactly what is around us in the classroom? The physical space we build for our students is often an afterthought to efficiency and more intangible metrics of behaviour and dynamics. This year, I made it my goal to be mindful of the materials within my classroom and how well they represent the values I hope we exercise within these walls.

Read More

Topics: Art, Student Work, Indigenous History, Social and Emotional Learning, Middle School, Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy, facing history pedagogy, Treaty, Facing Canada, cross curricular teaching and learning

Creating Engaging Social Studies Unit Culminating Ideas: A Zoom Conversation

Posted by Jasmine Wong on September 27, 2018

Join us on Monday, October 15, 3:30 - 4:15pm EST for a conversation with Facing History and Ourselves Program Associate Jasmine Wong about creating engaging curriculum based History, Anthropology/Sociology/Psychology, and Genocide Studies projects.

Read More

Topics: project, Middle School, Social Studies, culminating

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted by Alysha Groff on January 16, 2018

 

On January 27 - the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau - the United Nations General Assembly and its member states commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.   On this day, (indeed every day) we remember the victims of the Holocaust and remind ourselves of the importance of teaching and learning about the Holocaust for the prevention of future genocides.   Here are few blog posts that highlight a variety of approaches to teaching this important history.  We hope these will inspire and assist you as you prepare for this day of remembrance and learning.

Read More

Topics: Holocaust, Holocaust Education, Middle School, Holocaust and Human Behaviour, Inquiry, Grade 10 History, HSB, CHC, Anne Frank, international holocaust remembrance day

The Right Time

Posted by Amy Smith on January 16, 2016

As a middle school educator, I often find myself in the position of being unable to explore really rich resources with my class due to mature content. Several years ago I purchased 5 sets of the graphic novel MAUS, hoping to one day use it as an option for book talks.

Read More

Topics: Books, Antisemitism, Choosing to Participate, Facing History Resources, Holocaust, History, Canada, Holocaust Education, current events, Middle School, genocide, Lesson Ideas, Holocaust and Human Behaviour

Youth and Teachers Respond Collectively to Art Spiegelman's Maus Through Art and Inquiry: An Interview with Professor Rob Simon and Delta Senior Alternative School Teacher Sarah Evis

Posted by Rob Simon on December 21, 2015

In 2015, Dr. Rob Simon, Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE), and students from his teacher education course partnered with Sarah Evis, a teacher from Delta Senior Alternative School in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), and her grade 8 students, to study Art Spiegelman’s popular intergenerational Holocaust survivor memoir and graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.

Read More

Topics: Art, Books, Antisemitism, Choosing to Participate, Holocaust, Facing History and Ourselves, Innovative Classrooms, Holocaust Education, Middle School, Strategies, Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy, Night, genocide, Lesson Ideas, big paper, Inside a Genocide Classroom, Social Justice, Personal history

Building Community Through Curriculum: A Simple “Big Idea”

Posted by Amy Smith on October 1, 2015

Every year we ask our students to set goals. We teach students what it means to set reasonable or attainable goals. As teachers, we are also asked to consider “Big” questions, over-arching concepts that will guide our year and focus our teaching.

Read More

Topics: Middle School, Lesson Ideas

Confronting Bullying, Peer Pressure and Exclusion in a Middle School Classroom: Reflections on my First year Part II

Posted by Jonathan Temporal on July 7, 2015

Bullying. Ostracism. Peer pressure. Exclusion. Most teachers have faced these destructive forces at one point or another and struggled with how to address these issues in the classroom. This is how Facing History and Ourselves helped prepare me for confronting these issues in my classroom.

Read More

Topics: Safe Schools, Bullying, Middle School, Strategies, Lesson Ideas

Reflections on my First Year as a Facing History Teacher Part 1: “Healthy Tensions”

Posted by Jonathan Temporal on June 30, 2015

Early in my teaching career I came across Voltaire's aphorism, which states, “perfect is the enemy of good.”[1] As my fifth year as a middle school teacher, and my first year as a Facing History teacher comes to a close, I developed a new appreciation for this message.

Ten months ago, shortly after participating in the Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behaviour seminar, I wrote a blog post detailing my plans for my first year as a Facing History and Ourselves teacher. I strongly believe in the power that the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum offers students, and I wanted to make sure I lived up to what it meant to be a Facing History teacher. During the year, I found myself chasing the “perfect” lessons, which I hoped would chain together to create the “perfect” unit, and the “perfect” year. Here is what I have learned since then.

Read More

Topics: Identity, Holocaust Education, Middle School, Strategies, Lesson Ideas

A Classroom Project with Community Impact: The Regent Park Immigrant Memorial Project

Posted by Jasmine Wong on May 26, 2015

Earlier in May, Facing History and Ourselves announced the 2015 winners of our annual Margot Stern Strom Innovation Grants. Facing History selected nine projects, all of which focus on collaborative learning, and were selected from a pool of international applications for their potential to inspire students to make a difference.

Read More

Topics: Facing History Together, Canada, Innovative Classrooms, Margot Stern Strom Innovation Grants, Memorial, Middle School

5 Remembrance Day Lesson Ideas That Deepen Student Learning

Posted by Jasmine Wong on November 9, 2014

Remembrance is an act of humanity and it is about humanity. At Facing History and Ourselves, we often ask ourselves, How do we help students (and ourselves) to remember more than names, dates, and battles? How do we help students to connect to the humanity: the people behind the names, the lives, ideas, and cultures lost, and the legacies that extend beyond the signing of a treaty that signals the end of war?

Read More

Topics: Facing History Together, Facing History and Ourselves, History, Canada, Memorial, Middle School, Lesson Ideas, Literature

WELCOME

This is where Canadian Facing History and Ourselves teachers and community members meet to share reflections, scholarship and teaching practices that will inspire, challenge and improve teaching and student learning. Our stories provide a window into diverse Facing History classrooms in Canada, and invite you into the discussion.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all