Past Educator Workshops

Teaching About Genocide

July 29-August 2, 2019
This week-long educator workshop provided an introduction to the legal and social concepts of genocide, as well as historical and contemporary examples of genocide and mass violence, such as the genocides in Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia, and the Holocaust. Additional case studies examined the current genocide against Rohingya and the genocide of Indigenous peoples in North America. Participants built content and pedagogical knowledge to feel prepared and confident teaching about genocide in both middle and high school classrooms. Participants engaged in small group settings with experts, and spoke with survivors from the Holocaust and the local Armenian, Cambodian, and Native American communities about the legacies of genocide and memorialization efforts. Participants received classroom resources, lesson and unit plans, and continuing education credit. 

Tracing Minnesota's Forgotten History

June 28-29, 2019
This workshop brought educators to sites related to the 1862 US-Dakota War and introduced CHGS's curriculum based created with support from the Minnesota Historical Society. 

Gender and Genocide: Uncovering Absent Narratives in Mass Violence and Human Rights Education

June 25-28, 2018
Though pervasive, there is little understanding and discussion on the topic of sexualized violence as an aspect of genocide and mass violence. From the Holocaust to the current Yazidi Genocide crisis, sexual violence towards women and the LGBTQ2 community is ever present. In this workshop, experts introduced episodes of sexualized violence and provided access to resources and approaches for discussing these topics in the classroom. Thirty seven practicing and pre-service educators from around the Twin Cities, country, and world participated. Sponsored by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide, Institute for Global Studies, and the Human Rights Program.

Teaching the Holocaust through Art

May 9, 2017
This workshop included a special opportunity for educators to learn from Yehudit Shendar, retired Deputy Director and senior Art Curator at Yad Vashem, as part of our 20th Anniversary Holocaust Art series. Shendar introduced educators to the field of Holocaust art history and the integration of art in Holocaust education. Following Shendar, experienced high school educator, George Dalbo, and Jewish community educators, Demetrios Vital and Eva Cohen, presented curricular materials for teaching the Holocaust, genocides, and human rights in the classroom: one in a social sciences context, and the other in an art context. Attending educators received CEU credit, learned about educational resources, and toured the exhibition [Re]Telling at the Sabes JCC.

Comparative Genocide Studies and the Holocaust: Conflict and Convergence

April 6, 2017
The second day of CHGS’s 20th anniversary symposium, “Comparative Genocide Studies and the Holocaust” was devoted to teaching and commemorating the Holocaust and other genocides both globally and locally, and was offered as a workshop for Minnesota educators. Speakers and participants explored opportunities of Holocaust education and memorialization in their respective institutions and discussed the extent to which the Holocaust serves as a global reference point to raise awareness about other genocides and human rights abuses generally.

Teaching about Genocide in Africa: Rwanda and Darfur 

June 20-23, 2016
This institute took a comparative approach to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and the 2003 Darfur conflict. During the seminar participants gained content knowledge about the origin and legal ramifications of the term "genocide," the politics behind labeling a conflict as such, and questions of guild, reconciliation, and responsibility. Each session included activities that could be used in secondary and post-secondary classrooms. By the end of the seminar, participants had a collection of materials for their classrooms including resources, teaching methods, and teaching units. Organized by the Institute for Global Studies, sponsored by the African Studies Initiative.

Educator Presentations: Lessons, Resources, Experiences 

November 7, 2015
Six local educators presented teaching materials and techniques, including lesson planning and curriculum resources, on the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the Cambodian Genocide, the Dakota War, and the Holocaust.

Holocaust Education in a Global Context Teacher Workshop

June 15-18, 2015
The institute addressed the historical and sociological significance of the Holocaust in a comparative genocide framework (including Native American, Armenian, Cambodian, and Rwandan genocides). This workshop provided hands-on activities using survivor testimony, literature, art, and film designed to help educators create activities and lessons accessible to all learners that they can incorporate into their classrooms.

Educator Workshop to Commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

April 25, 2015
The workshop gave a historical overview of the beginning of World War I followed by breakout sessions on the wars in Africa and Asia, as well as the Armenian genocide.

Educator Workshop to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda

April 19, 2014
In this educator workshop, visiting scholar Samuel Totten discussed the origins, causes, and responses to genocide within the scope of human rights and international law. He gave an overview and summary of genocides perpetrated in Africa and beyond during the 1990s (the Nuba Mountains, Srebrenica, and Darfur) and examined in-depth the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Educator Workshop on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht: History, Memory, and Pedagogy

November 9, 2013
This one-day professional development workshop was a follow-up to the Holocaust in European Memory Summer Institute that took place on July 8-11, 2013 at the University of Minnesota.

2013 Summer Institute for Secondary Educators: The Holocaust in European Memory

July 8-11, 2013
The workshop examined questions such as how the Nazi murder of European Jews became "The Holocaust;" how the story is conveyed through public memorials, school curricula, art, literature, and film; how the Holocaust has been contextualized and rendered meaningful within the diversity of European nations and in the distant US; and what its implications are for teaching the Holocaust in the classroom.