For Teachers


Pre-Exhibit Lesson Plans

Roots of Resistance includes comprehensive pre-exhibit lesson plans for teachers. More information to come.

Learning Goals

  1. Students will learn how socioeconomic relationships factor into power dynamics by examining the contact between Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans.

  2. Students will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and the effects of genocide.

  3. Learners will recognize the agency of people who experience oppression.

  4. Learners will feel empathy towards the people in this story and will discuss the events with others.

  5. Learners will become more comfortable with challenging intolerance and will walk away with a curiosity to learn more about difficult histories.

North Carolina State Standards

Roots of Resistance is designed to meet the following North Carolina state standards:

World History Standards (9th – 10th Grades)

WH.H.8.1 Evaluate global wars and how they challenged political and economic power structures and how they gave birth to new and different balances of power. 

WH.H.1.3 Use historical analysis and interpretation to identify issues in the past. Learn to see multiple perspectives of various groups in the past; interpret cause and effect in regard to relationships and multiple forms of causation; evaluate the relevance and impact of past issues on current issues.

WH.H.1.1 Think chronologically to identify and understand historical narratives, interpret and create timelines. 


WH.H.7 Recognize how national, ethnic, regional interests have created conflict amongst groups and nations. 

WH.H.1.4 Use historical research to, for historical questions, gather historical facts and data from a multitude of sources, support claims with evidence, and write essays using historical evidence to support claims.

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Integration of Ideas and Analysis 

RI.9-10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums, determining which details are emphasized in each account.

RI.9-10.9 Analyze influential documents of historical and literary significance, including how they address related themes and concepts.

Craft and Structure

RI.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

RI.9-10.5 Analyze how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text.

RI.9-10.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.  

Range of Reading and Level of Complexity 

RI.9-10.10 By the end of grade 9, read and understand informational texts within the 9-10 text complexity band proficiently and independently for sustained periods of time. Connect prior knowledge and experiences to text. By the end of grade 10, read and understand informational texts at the high end of the 9-10 text complexity band proficiently and independently for sustained periods of time. Connect prior knowledge and experiences to text.