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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides
 
Created in collaboration with the Holocaust & Human Rights Center, the NYS Education Department, and the NYS Archives Partnership Trust.

What are Human Rights?

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Activity Overview
The activity for middle school suggests that students will be able to identify the characteristics of what makes us human. They will be able to distinguish between what is necessary for survival and what may enhance that survival. They will be able to discuss why each person should be treated with dignity, learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and understand what it means to be an upstander. This activity may also be used in upper grades, specifically in psychology classes when discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This activity consists of two lessons.
Grade Level
6-8
ELA Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
RH1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
RH2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate, objective summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
RH7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Social Studies Framework
SS 10.10 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Since the Holocaust, human rights violations have generated worldwide attention and concern. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights has provided a set of principles to guide efforts to protect threatened groups and has served as a lens through which historical occurrences of oppression can be evaluated.
SEL Benchmarks
1A. Identify and understand their emotions and how emotions relate to their actions. Use understanding of emotions to inform actions.
2A. Recognize and build empathy for the feelings and perspectives of others.
2B. Recognize and affirm individual identities as well as individual and group similarities and differences, including those rooted in culture, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, ability, etc.
3A: Consider individual and collective social, emotional, and physical safety and well-being, as well as social context in making decisions.
Objectives
Students will be able to understand the role of human rights and dignity as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Students will be able to identify what it means to be an upstander.

Essential Question

What characteristics make us human? What is needed for a person to have a good life?

Materials

Outline of a person on a large poster/paper displayed in front of the classroom
Chart paper
Post-it notes and markers
Definition of human rights pre-written on a poster
Copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
Copy of Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote specified below

Key Vocabulary:
Bystander: A person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part, often observing passively without intervening.

Dignity:  The inherent worth and respect every individual deserves simply because they are human, often tied to self-respect, moral integrity, and recognition by others.

Inalienable: Rights or privileges that cannot be taken away, transferred, or denied, as they are inherent to a person.

Indivisible:  Unable to be divided or separated into parts; often used to signify unity or wholeness, particularly in the context of principles, rights, or values.

Interdependent:  Mutually reliant or dependent on one another, indicating that entities, individuals, or systems cannot function or thrive in isolation.

Universality:  A quality or principle that applies to all people, situations, or things without exception, often used in the context of fundamental rights or truths.

Upstander: An individual who takes action to support a cause, stand up for others, or challenge injustice, especially when the easier or safer choice is to remain passive.


Lesson 1: Human Rights

Part A: What does it mean to be human?

Students will begin by brainstorming and analyzing what it means to be “human.” This will be done in small groups.

1. The teacher should point to the outline of a human posted in the front of the room and ask students “Imagine this is you. What do you need to survive? What are your basic needs?” The students should write their ideas on post-it notes and place them INSIDE the outline. (Students will have to get up from their seats to do this.) Discuss.

2. Next, the teacher should ask, “What do you need to live your best life?” Students should place new post-it notes on the OUTSIDE of the human outline. Ask participants to explain their ideas.

3. On a piece of chart paper or a white/blackboard the teacher should write SURVIVAL, HUMAN DIGNITY, and CONVENIENCES AND LUXURIES and facilitate a discussion of the meaning of these terms.

Students should discuss each item from activities 1 and 2 above as necessary to fully develop human qualities under one of these headings. For example, is education necessary to survival? Is it necessary for human dignity? Is education a convenience or a luxury?

Wrap up: The teacher should explain that everything inside the human relates to human dignity, the wholeness of being human. Everything written around the outline represents what is necessary to human dignity. Human rights are based on these necessities.

Part B: What is a Right?

1. The teacher should write “Right” on the top of another sheet of chart paper, and instruct the students to brainstorm the many meanings "right" can have (e.g., correct, opposite of left, just.) They should consider common expressions like "We’re within our rights" or "You have no right to say that." The teacher should record these different meanings on chart paper or the board. What is the meaning of "right" when we speak of a human right?

2. In small groups (turn-and-talk pairs or three students together), the students should  brainstorm a definition for human rights and then share their ideas with the entire group. They should try to evolve a definition that everyone can agree upon and then write it on a chart paper by itself. (To make this easier, the teacher might list commonalities in all the definitions given).

3. The teacher should post this definition of human rights: (It should be on a piece of chart paper) 

Human rights belong to all people regardless of their sex, race, color, language, national origin, age, class, religion, or political beliefs. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent.

The teacher should ask the students:  What is meant by universality? By inalienable? By indivisible? By interdependent? Take time to discuss the definition and compare it to the ones the students wrote.

Distribute a copy of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to each student. You may choose to use this simplified version of the UDHR from Facing History and Ourselves. 
Ask them which rights they think are more important.             
Which rights would they keep? Which would they get rid of? Why?
(There will be a variety of answers; this shows how all of these rights are important).

4. Have the class look back at the list of qualities that define a human generated in Part A. Discuss.

5. The teacher should give the students a large sheet of paper and markers. In groups of 3/4 they should create a slogan or sign that celebrates human rights. These can be posted for a gallery walk or shared in some other way.


Lesson 2: Upstanders and Bystanders

Introduction: The students should follow along as the teacher reads out loud the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN Commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:

Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seek equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Great Question,” remarks delivered at the United Nations in New York on March 27, 1958

The teacher should call upon students to discuss the passage:

  1. What do you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "universal rights"?
  2. Do you agree or disagree with Eleanor Roosevelt?
  3. What would she think of your signs? Do your signs emphasize the same points she made?

Part A: "Make a Choice"

Instructions: For each scenario below, put signs around the room for each option listed below the scenario. Then have students:

  1. Make a Choice and go to one of the signs.
  2. Discuss their reasoning.
  3. If students change their mind, they can move to a new position.
  4. Relate to the Declaration of Human Rights. Is a human right being violated here?
  5. Discuss. Find a solution.

Scenario #1 

A brand-new travel lacrosse team has been formed in your county. You have tried out against very stiff competition and been accepted on the team. At the first meeting and practice of the team, the coach asks the team to come up with a team name and mascot. Since lacrosse was invented by indigenous Americans, the team votes by a majority to call the team the Indian Avengers and chooses as a mascot a Native American brave with a raised tomahawk. Some of the new team members are uncomfortable with the name and mascot. You have been asked to purchase uniforms and equipment with the name and logo on them. Make a Choice.

1. Put in your order for your uniform and equipment.

2. Question the final choice.

3. Criticize the group’s choice.

Scenario #2

Your soccer team is on the way home from a victorious State Championship. Spirits are high on the bus. The bus driver suggests stopping at a famous nearby bar-b-que restaurant that only serves all kinds of ribs and various sides. The team roars in support. You notice Peter, who is a vegetarian, is sitting silently and seems troubled. He does not eat meat. Make a choice.

1. Say nothing

2. Object to the choice of restaurant

3. Suggest another restaurant

 


Upstanders

The teacher should divide the class into four groups and distribute scenes. The students should discuss the scene and present it to the whole group mirroring the “Make a Choice” activity above. Students answer the challenge question: What should an upstander do?*

**Teachers should emphasize there is not one answer to this question.

Scene #1

You are standing in the school hallway waiting in line to get a drink of water at the water fountain.  Across the hall is the bulletin board for the drama teacher.  She has just posted the cast list for the 7th and 8th grade production of Peter Pan.  Students are gathering around the list to see who got what part. One male student jumps for joy and yells, “I’m Peter Pan!”  Just then a group of boys is walking past in the hall. One of the group yells at Peter Pan, “That’s so gay!” laughs, and keeps walking.

Scene #3

You are at recess, and a pick-up game of softball starts forming.  Two boys claim captain.  Teams start to get picked. The captains start choosing boys only at first.  Finally, one captain picks a girl.  The other boys on the team he has picked so far start whispering, “No! Don’t pick a girl. They can’t throw!”

Scene #2

You are sitting in the cafeteria at lunchtime at a table with several other students. One of the students is a new kid whose family arrived from Ukraine a few weeks ago. He has packed lunch from home. He opens a container that is filled with smoked herring (a very smelly canned fish) in sour cream. As he begins to eat, another student at the table says loudly, “Wow, that stuff stinks!  What in the world IS that?!”  The new student turns very red, stops eating, and puts the lid on his container.

Scene #4

You are with a group of friends sitting at a Starbucks having a drink and snack. A new girl who arrived at school last month walks in and goes up to the counter to order.  One of your friends says, “That’s Sarah.  She is in my class at Hebrew School.”  Another friend says, “Wow! She’s pretty, and she doesn’t look Jewish.”


Part B: Discussion of Upstanders/Closure

What responsibility do we each have to protect others’ rights and to enhance human dignity? What is the relationship between these?

Discussion Questions

  1. Do all human beings deserve respect? Why?
  2. How do you show respect for others who are different?
  3. Discuss the relationship between human dignity and human rights.
  4. What is dignity? Is your dignity hurt when others do not respect you? How does it feel to you?

Civics Extension

What actions could students take in their school/community/nation/world?

  • The teacher can model how to identify a problem; brainstorm solutions; select the best solution; identify how to begin taking actions.
  • Encourage students to share some ideas with the class or within a group.
  • Help students with action planning and provide time to work on their ideas