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Human Rights Throughout History—Philanthropy and History of Human Rights Activists
Lesson 4:
From Unit Philanthropy and You
Purpose:
To recognize Human Rights and philanthropic values of historical figures fighting for Human Rights.
Duration:
Two to Four Forty-Five Minute Class Periods as introduction, approximately one week for research
Objectives:
- Given a scenario students will identify the need.
- Students will be able to identify an action designed to remediate a need.
- Given a scenario students will identify the talent or treasure that was shared in response to a need.
Materials:
- Social Studies text or reference material pertaining to Bartolomé de Las Casas and other Human Rights activists
- How Would You Feel? sheet (see Attachment One)
- Character Web for Human Rights Poster based on lives of Human Rights activists (see Attachment Two).
- The 20th Century 1997 Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
- Web sites
http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/
Americas/DelasCasas.html
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/undocs.html
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
As students study about Explorers coming to American, focus on Bartolomé de Las Casas as a human rights activist for the Native Americans. He fought for the rights of Native Americans to be treated humanely by Spanish soldiers. http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/
Americas/DelasCasas.html
- As a class, brainstorm the term Human Rights. What does this term mean? Determine the definition.
- Briefly give examples of possible mistreatment of humans in history and currently. Example (enslaved Africans, Jewish citizens in WWII Germany, women in corporate America, Japanese-Americans in internment camps).
- Begin study of explorers coming to the Americas with social studies text or other instructional materials.
- Discuss the problems faced by Native Americans, Bartolomé de Las Casas' cause, the affect of his actions, and the future results of his efforts. Introduce the term Human Rights.
- In small groups have students complete the sheet How Would You Feel? (See Attachment One.)
- Have each group report to the class their reactions to each of the scenarios. Record each group's reactions and discuss with class. Discuss their feelings, and talk about what actions they could take.
- Students read short narratives of important human rights figures. Groups of students create a character-web of a philanthropic person and his/her contributions to human rights. See Character Web for Human Rights Poster (Attachment Two). Examples could include Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Abe Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Mother Theresa, or a third-sector philanthropy organization like Amnesty International. Students should present their findings in the form of a poster. The poster should include: the problem or the injustice against a group of people, the activist's action, the implication for the future and the degree of his/her success, and state some of the core democratic values or constitutional rights that were violated. A rubric is provided for the Human Rights Poster (see Assessment) and an Informative Writing Rubric is included as Attachment Three.
Resources:
- Ask the media specialist pull books for research pertaining to Human Rights activists.
- Web searches on the Internet using key words like human rights, the activist's name, the name of rights movements
- Encyclopedias
- Magazine articles
- Discuss with class the actions a citizen could do if he/she feels someone's human rights are being violated.
- Use the following eight philanthropic questions to guide the discussion.
- What is the need?
- Who has the need?
- Who is in the community?
- Who fills the need?
- What talent or treasure was given or shared?
- What goodness does the community experience from that giving or sharing?
- What is the reward for the one who shared?
- What would have happened if the need weren't met?
Assessment:
- Teacher observation of student participation.
- Student-created posters.
4 Point Rubric: Human Rights Poster
4 Points: A Human Rights activist is identified. An injustice to humanity is stated. A description of the activist's action is given. Statements are given about how the action has affected the future and the degree of the activist's success. Core Democratic Values or Constitutional Rights addressed.
3 Points: Three of the four philanthropic requirements are given.
2 Points: Two of the four philanthropic requirements are given.
1 Point: One of the four philanthropic requirements is given, shows a lack of philanthropic understanding.
Bibliographical References:
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Christel HomrichForest Hills Public Schools
Thornapple Elementary School
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
How Would You Feel?
Think about the following questions as you read each scenario. Be ready to defend your position on each scenario.
How would you feel if you were treated unfairly?
How would you feel if someone else were treated unfairly?
As a citizen, what action could you take to help the people in need?
Scenario 1: Every classroom in your school gets a 20-minute recess except your class. Day in and day out your class has to work while other students are outside enjoying themselves.
Reaction:
Scenario 2: Only the boys have homework. The girls never have extra work at night. The girls enjoy their evenings by reading, playing games, having friends over, and participating in sports.
Reaction:
Scenario 3: Your favorite thing to do after a sporting or school event is to go to your neighborhood Quick Mart to buy a slushy drink. The owners of the store will not allow kids younger than 9½ years-old buy slushy drinks.
Reaction:
Scenario 4: If your last name begins between the letters A-M, you may quietly work wherever you want in the room. You may work with a partner and decide what work you want to do for the day. If your last name begins between the letters N-Z, you must work at your desk alone and do all the assigned worked or face the consequence of scrubbing the lunchroom floor.
Reaction:
Handout 2Print Handout 2
Character Web for Human Rights Poster
The Action of the activist
The Implications for the future and the degree of success
The Core Democratic Values / Constitutional Rights violated
Handout 3Print Handout 3
Informative Writing Rubric
Assignment:Name:
Rate each statement about the informative writing according to this scale:
4=Excellent
| You show an understanding of the philanthropy of a human right's activist. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Total points:
| 1. Your writing fits the purpose and the audience | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2. You stated your main idea clearly | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 3. All your information fits the main idea. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 4. You gathered and presented enough information to explain the idea. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 5. You arranged your details in a way that makes sense and kept to your main point. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 6. Your visual aids are clear and helpful. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 7. You helped the reader by using correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Total points out of 28=
Overall Evaluation
- The best part of your work is:
- The part that could be improved is:
Unit Contents:
Overview:Philanthropy and You Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Introduction to Philanthropy—Recognizing Good Citizenship and Philanthropy in Our Community
- 2.
- Introduction to Philanthropic Beliefs of Native Americans
- 3.
- Recognizing Philanthropy in a Legend and in Modern Society-Examples of Sharing as Told Through a Native American Legend
- 4.
- Human Rights Throughout History—Philanthropy and History of Human Rights Activists
- 5.
- Squanto Helps New Arrivals—Squanto and His Philanthropic Contributions
- 6.
- Ben Franklin, The Good Citizen—Benjamin Franklin's Contributions to Philadelphia
- 7.
- I Do My Part
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Comments
The scenarios were easy for the students to relate to. They brought the idea of being a human rights activist to their abilities and their worlds.
(This Lesson) was a great extension to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.