Anne Frank: What Happened?

Overview

The purpose of this Unit of Practice is to stimulate creative thinking within each student to evaluate the persecution and execution of the millions of Jews under the orders of Adolf Hitler. The students will then take the knowledge from Anne Frank’s diary and investigate whether or not racism could ever be repeated to the same extremes by completing one project from the options listed below to be completed by the end of the unit (approximately two weeks).

Essential Question:
· How can racism be overcome so that no one ever has to live in hiding for fear of his life?

Subsidiary Questions for student investigation:
· Should America police other countries to avoid racism?
· What steps can be taken to ensure that “Anne Frank” never occurs in America?
· What examples of racism can be found in America today?
· What examples of racism can be found in other countries today?
· What examples of racism can be found in my school today?
· What are some of the dangers that can be caused by racial prejudice?
· What are the best ways to combat prejudice?
· What would it be like to live in fear for your life?
· How would living in fear affect one’s life?

Final Projects:
· Students create a web page that demonstrates research of 3-5 of the subsidiary questions.
· Students write a script about racism in one of the following: racism in other countries, racism in America, racism in public schools and then present it to class as a newscast.
· Using Inspiration software, students create a cluster that answers 3-5 of the subsidiary questions.
· Students create a web page that covers 3-5 of the subsidiary questions.
 

Materials:
· Computers
· Web browser
· Inspiration software
· PowerPoint software
· Word processing software
· Web authoring software
· Printer
· The Diary of Anne Frank video
· The Diary of Anne Frank (text)

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