In high school English, some topics carry a ton of weight and need to be handled with care. Genocide definitely falls into that heavy category. As teachers, our job is about way more than just dumping info on our students. We’ve got to help them develop empathy, think critically, and wrap their heads around the big, messy complexities of life. So, let me introduce you to the World Genocide Research Project. 

With a World Genocide Research Project, students will choose a historical genocide to research. Most students are familiar with the Holocaust, but this project shows students that, sadly, genocide wasn’t a one-time thing. It will open their eyes to atrocities around the world and throughout history.

It will also show students that human rights aren’t just given. People have fought for them throughout world history and the world today.

In this post, I’ll walk you through conducting your own World Genocide Research Project. But, if you’d like to make things really easy, you can grab my done-for-you World Genocide Research Project right here. Included are detailed instructions, student worksheets, a project template, and more!

You can also find more World Literature activities in this post!

Why Teach About Genocide in English Class?

At first glance, one might question the relevance of studying genocide within the context of an English Language Arts class. 

However, literature serves as a powerful lens through which we can examine and comprehend complex human experiences. Genocide, with its profound impact on individuals and societies, has been a recurring theme in literature across cultures and epochs.

Chances are, you have a World War II or Holocaust unit somewhere in your English curriculum. (You might even have Holocaust education as a state requirement for your curriculum–check!)

The World Genocide Research Project fits in perfectly with any Holocaust unit. (And if you don’t, you can make the World Genocide Research Project work with any World Literature course.)

With the World Genocide Research Project, you will:

1. Promote Empathy: Literature has the unparalleled ability to humanize the victims of genocide, allowing students to empathize with their experiences and understand the far-reaching consequences of such atrocities.
2. Encourage Critical Thinking: Analyzing literary works that tackle genocide requires students to grapple with moral dilemmas, historical context, and the complexities of human nature, fostering critical thinking skills essential for informed citizenship.
3. Facilitate Cross-Curricular Learning: The study of genocide naturally intersects with various disciplines, including global history, social studies, political science, and ethics. Integrating these perspectives within English class promotes interdisciplinary learning and a holistic understanding of complex issues.

It’s helpful before starting this project to provide some background information.

If you want to explore the topic of genocide more broadly with your students before this project, check out this Stages of Genocide Graphic Organizer Worksheet. I like to use Holocaust history as an example of genocide since most students will already know about it.

The best genocide prevention is learning about past genocides. If the next generation knows what to watch for, they can help in the prevention of genocide.

What Skills Will Students Practice?

The World Genocide Research Project is also a very practical assessment. Students will practice a ton of skills that they might not otherwise use if they’re writing traditional analytical essays. 

Students will: 

1. Practice Research Skills: Students must read informational texts, take notes, and discern important from unnecessary information. These skills are not easy for students to master in the world of TikTok! (This Research Lesson gives students an overview of the research process.)
2. Synthesize Information: Taking notes is one thing, but organizing and distilling them is another. Students must use their research to create a presentation that teaches their peers about their chosen genocide. 
3. Gather and Cite Sources: Keeping track and citing sources in a presentation is even harder than doing it in an essay because presentations are less formulaic. This project will truly show if students “get” citing sources.
4. Use Technology and Multimedia: Sure, students can consume media, but can they use it to inform others? Creating a presentation allows students to play with using images and videos to enhance a message. 
5. Practice Speaking and Listening Skills: Students’ speaking skills will be challenged during their presentations, and their ability to sit still and listen to others will be graded while they watch their peers’ presentations. 

World Genocide Project Step #1: Establish Clear Learning Objectives

Begin by defining the learning objectives of the project. 

What do you want your students to understand, empathize with, and critically analyze? What do you expect their final presentations to include, look like, or cover?

In my World Genocide Project, I laid out a list of requirements for students: 

• Deep and thorough research on the chosen genocide
• Answer at least five basic questions: when and where did the genocide occur, what were the major causes and events of the chosen genocide, who were the perpetrators, who were the victims, and what were the long-term consequences/ramifications of this genocide?
• Clear and effective presentation
• At least 5 credible sources (preferably with some eyewitness accounts or primary sources)
• Each fact, image, video, etc. is correctly cited throughout the presentation
• A final Works Cited slide
• Engagement with questions and feedback during one’s own presentation and the presentations of others
• Overall presentation quality, including organization, visuals, and communication skills.

Skillswise, I really wanted students to focus on research, evaluating and citing sources, and creating an effective presentation. 

Decide what skills and objectives are important to you and your syllabus. Then, craft the assignment, requirements, and rubric to align with those skills. (The presentation can be anything–a PowerPoint presentation, a speech, a poster, etc.)

(If you use my World Genocide Project, all of the documents include an editable version. This way, you can tweak my requirements and make them yours instead.)

World Genocide Project Step #2: Break Down The Project Into Steps for Your Students

You know that if you were going to do a project like this, you would need to select a topic, do research, and put a presentation together. You’d probably track your sources automatically and make sure you choose images that enhance your presentation without being distracting. 

Unfortunately, this logical flow won’t come naturally to your students. Instead, break it down for them. 

Give students time specifically to look into different genocides and choose one to focus on. I recommend giving them a list of specific genocides and well-known genocides. (Offer suggestions like the Armenian genocide or Rwanda genocide.)

You could let them peruse sources like the digital archive of Cambodian Holocaust survivors, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, or even the United Nations genocide watch website to start their research.

Then, make sure students have time and scaffolds for research. If your students have done research projects before, great! But if not, you may need to teach them how to research, how to take notes, how to cite sources, etc. This Research Lesson can help you do all of that!

When students are ready to create a presentation, some will be more familiar with slideshow creation than others. 

Some students will be able to hit the ground running and create flawless slides in Canva, Google Slides, or PowerPoint. Others will spend half an hour struggling to figure out how to insert a textbox.

Don’t take for granted that any part of this project will be “easy.” Instead, give each step lots of time, build in scaffolds, and provide lots of modeling and review for each necessary skill.

If possible, I recommend bringing in some support staff to help. Having a tech teacher or librarian review some skills can save you some prep time and energy!

World Genocide Project Step #3: Provide Scaffolds and Supports

Piggybacking off of the previous step, make sure you provide lots of scaffolding and support for your students as they work. 

Graphic organizers and student handouts for note-taking are an easy way to do this. 

In my World Genocide Project, I provide Note-taking Worksheets that guide students through citing sources if students are taking notes with pencil and paper. For students taking notes digitally, I provide directions for using the citations tool in Google Docs.

Consider providing checkpoints or checklists periodically. Did students consider the final requirements when they chose their topic? Did they make sure to have enough sources and information before declaring their research “done?”

You can also provide online tools to help students. I already mentioned the citations tool in Google Docs, but citationmachine.net and EasyBib.com are other citation classics. You can use the talk-to-text tool for students taking notes who struggle to type. Mute students or those with extreme stage fright can choose to record their presentations instead. 

Be sure to give them time for independent work in class. If you’re having students complete their projects in a small group, you might want to have students determine roles as well. Having them form groups of 2-4 students could also help your more shy presenters.

Remember that student choice is also a scaffold. Some students might not have any interest in learning about the grisly history of the Ottoman Empire, the Khmer Rouge Regime, or Sri Lanka. However, if you offer up the American genocides of Black people or Native Americans, they might be interested.

Some students will soar through this project and need little guidance. Others will need lots of review and reassurance. Be prepared for both situations. 

World Genocide Project Step #4: Grade Everything

Ok, I know this annoying. The last thing we need is more paperwork, right?

But I really recommend grading every step. 

Students chose a topic? 5 points. 

Research is complete? 10 points. 

Slideshow is done and waiting to be presented? 20 points. 

Completion points here are totally fine! The goal isn’t to provide tons of feedback or inflate students’ grades. The goal is to make sure they stay on track.

If there’s a big “MISSING” next to topic selections in the gradebook, you’ll easily be able to see who’s already behind. Better yet, the students and their parents can see who is already slipping on this project. 

My gradebook was always set up to weigh summative assessments much more heavily than formative assessments. The completion points would help–until the actual, big, summative assessment went in. Then, they would essentially disappear under the weight of the final project. 

It worked perfectly to keep a few more students on track, remind myself who was behind, and help show parents why their student did so poorly on a project. Grading everything–while annoying–is more likely to result in a completed project.

World Genocide Project Step #5: Set Students Up for Success

Presentation day is going to be full of nerves and anxiety. Don’t be surprised if some students simply skip that day. Kids will absolutely hate this part. 

So don’t make it any harder than it has to be. 

Remind students constantly that they will need to present. Give every student a date that they know they will be presenting. This will help eliminate some of the anxiety of the unknown. 

If possible with your time constraints, give students time to practice with a peer. 

And don’t be afraid to scaffold and differentiate this step for individual students. If all of your students are terrified, maybe have students present in small groups instead of the whole class. Let scared students present in front of a few trusted staff members instead of all of their peers. 

The goal of presenting isn’t for students to deliver president-level speeches in the first go. Instead, it’s to provide them some real experience public speaking before they have to do it in the real world. 

We want to build students’ confidence–not shake it. 

So be prepared to meet students where they are. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing a World Genocide Project with students requires careful planning, sensitivity, and a commitment to fostering empathy, critical thinking, and ethical reflection. 

By providing students with the opportunity to engage deeply with this challenging subject matter, we empower them to become informed global citizens who are equipped to confront injustice and advocate for a more compassionate and inclusive world.

We also check off a lot of skills and learning targets on our curriculum. 

Make your life easier by grabbing my World Genocide Project. Everything is editable, so you can customize this project to better suit your class. Plus, the included teacher’s guide offers scaffolding tips and additional resources to make this project a success for you and all of your students.