High School Teachers’ Guide for Comparative Genocide Study
The Broken Promise curriculum is designed to guide students to encounter the pain and resilience of others in the context of extreme human rights abuse yet inspired by those working for prevention and intervention.
Developed by Jim McGarry, a long-time Holocaust and genocide educator in the San Francisco Bay Area, this teachers’ guide adheres to the California Common Core, which is a set of academic standards for what every student is expected to learn in each grade level — from kindergarten through high school.
The film and curriculum are presented in three successive segments that can be modified depending on how much time the instructor can devote to this resource.
Teachers’ Guide
Download link
The Broken Promise documentary film links:
(Use password: promise)
Introduction & Chapter 1 — The Pattern (20:38)
https://vimeo.com/832467975
Chapter 2 — The Ripple Effect (22:33)
https://vimeo.com/832473860
Chapter 3 — Bending Toward Justice (15:38)
https://vimeo.com/832471604
These lessons revolve around the The Broken Promise documentary and feature a mix of recommendations on how to structure and context the film, prompts for in-class student discussions, ideas for reflective journaling, suggestions for analytical essays and extension activities.
While The Broken Promise looks at past genocides and crimes against humanity, including the enslavement of African Americans in the United States, the Armenian genocide, and the Holocaust, it also examines China’s ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs — Turkic Muslim people living in Xinjiang — and other current crimes against humanity.
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Editor’s note: The teachers’ guide notes that the intensity of studying genocide must be respected at all times and pacing the film and interweaving less catastrophic material within the subject of human rights and social justice as appropriate to one’s academic discipline may be a key way to do that.
The film’s producers may seek feedback from educators who use these materials. We also ask that any additional requests to use the film and materials should be made directly to The Broken Promise’s producer.
Feel free to contact us here. Thank you.
Student Reflections