The Hamas Israeli War

That sounds about right, John Vidoli  Sometimes working in a community where there is less at stake (in all kinds of ways - politically, economically, spiritually, emotionally) allows you to take a step back and really maybe try to unravel this thing. In my school community I think we're working more on just trying to preach holding humanity as the task of the day - not letting our emotions and anger get the best of us.  

I ended up getting a ton of mileage from Danger of a Single Story in my world history class.  The connection was made to DoaSS almost every unit and chapter.  It's much like how I refer to claim testers so often in BHP.  The situation in Gaza has me using the lesson from Danger and claim testers.  I do a lot of activities where kids find the sources and present to each other.  That takes me out of the presenter role, so it's not me bringing up the "facts".  Now the kids aren't set up to make them look like they're taking sides, I've trained them all to question everything.  However we're in rural Washington, so not many in our school have personal connections to either side of the conflict.  But because students present the issues, I can be a moderator and keep pressing them to look for the angles and motivation of the sources.  Have you heard of 1440 news btw?  A great starting point for kids to get evidence.

Facing History posted this lesson plan, Centering Humanity While Following News of the Israel-Hamas War. It may be a helpful resource in facilitating a class discussion.

Thanks for sharing, John. They always do such a great job with everything, I am looking forward to checking this out this weekend! ;-) TGIF

That just caught my eye too! I was especially intrigued by the mention of a “universe of obligation.” I wonder if that might echo some of the sentiments from the Responsibility and Compassion activity - https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/PDFs/AP-World-History/Unit7/Responsibility-and-Compassion 

Hi Christopher Barber I heard this piece on NPR this week and thought it was a great way to introduce what is happening in Taiwan to students. Additionally, there was also a piece on how pop music straddles the tension. Not sure if these articles would be useful, but I liked how they presented the two sides without emotion, finger-pointing, etc.  And, I really appreciated learning how to appropriately pronounce ChiangKai-shek!!.

Hi Curtis Greeley I am a bit late to the discussion, but am teaching "foreign Influence and Political Revolutions" unit right now and the Middle East and North Africa is a lesson in my TCI curriculum.  I have always used "Broken Promises" curriculum as a resource to highlight how post WW1 mandates and the French/British agreements with both the Arabs and Zionists help us understand the situation in the region today. The videos with the curriculum may or may not have a particular POV, but I always have a discussion with my students regarding the source of the videos before we watch them and I only use videos #1 and #2. I like their resources because I can use them for an inquiry lesson; however, I do heavily edit and re-work the material.

Since I'm teaching in China I can't discuss Taiwan at all unless I'm saying "Taiwan is and always has been part of China." It's actually illegal to present two sides. I've even had to rip out pages from books with maps that show Taiwan as separate.

Todd Nussen  John Vidoli  Bryan Dibble  Curtis Greeley  Adam Esrig   Planning for next semester, I found this resource that could also support the teaching of the historical precedents that contribute to today's violence and tension in the Middle East

Janet Mann , this looks great. Thanks for posting it.