Bearing Witness
In this activity, the class will raise awareness of a current conflict through writing, art, and activism.
WAR & ACTIVISM LESSON 2:
CLASS ACTION
3-4 class periods (135-240 min) + written, audio/video, oral, musical, or visual assignments
VIDEO:
A Culture of War Video and Transcript (as needed)
HANDOUTS:
Unit Research
Handout 1 (as needed)
Handout 2 (as needed)
Handout 3 (as needed)
Handout 4 (as needed)
WORKSHEET:
Panel Discussion Worksheet (as needed)
Essay/Speech Worksheet (as needed)
Presentation Worksheet (as needed)
Fine Arts/Creative Writing Worksheet (as needed)
War & Activism Lesson 1 Worksheets (as needed)
Photography Lesson 5 Worksheets (as needed)
TEACHING PLAN:
- Art and Culture
Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
Subject Matter > Music
Subject Matter > Philosophy
- History and Social Studies
Place > Africa
Place > The Americas
Place > Asia
Place > Europe
Place > The Middle East
Themes > Civil Rights
Themes > Culture
Themes > Immigration/Migration
Themes > Politics and Citizenship
Themes > Religion
Themes > War and Foreign Policy
World > The Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Biography
Genre > Drama
Genre > Essay
Genre > Fables, Fairy tales and Folklore
Genre > Novels
Genre > Poetry
Genre > Short Stories
Place > American
Place > British
Place > Europe
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Compare and contrast
- Creative writing
- Critical analysis
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Data analysis
- Debate skills
- Discussion
- Evaluating arguments
- Expository writing
- Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information
- Historical analysis
- Internet skills
- Interpretation
- Investigating/journalistic writing
- Journal writing
- Letter writing
- Literary analysis
- Logical reasoning
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Map skills
- Media analysis
- Musical analysis
- Musical skills
- Online research
- Oral communication
- Oral presentation skills
- Painting
- Photography
- Persuasive writing and speaking
- Poetry analysis
- Poetry writing
- Report writing
- Representing ideas and information orally, graphically, and in writing
- Research
- Role-playing/Performance
- Summarizing
- Synthesis
- Technology
- Textual analysis
- Using primary sources
- Using secondary sources
- Visual art analysis
- Visual art skills
- Visual presentation skills
- Writing skills
- ELA Reading: 1, 5-7, 10
- ELA Writing: 1-10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-6
- HSS Reading: 1, 3, 5-10
- HSS Writing: 1-2, 4-10
LESSON 2 HANDOUTS
- Coordinate your class action with other classes or schools, or with specific social justice initiatives or actions related to this conflict your area (see our Information for Teachers). Consider inviting local community members to participate in exhibits, presentations, panels, or protests.
- Develop a strong online initiative to accompany your class action, and follow up with related posts of individual works, presentations, performances, and/or documentation of your action on a class blog, vlog, podcast, or web gallery. Discuss and respond to public comments as a class.