“100 Days to Inspire Respect” Week 14: Fostering Civic Responsibility

Every Friday, the following week’s 100 Days to Inspire Respect educational resources will be previewed.

For the final week of “100 Days to Inspire Respect,” students will reflect on how they can turn what they’ve learned into positive action in their communities.

IWitness will make available a series of resources that engage students to consider the manifestations of leadership, to engage students in a reflection of personal responsibility and acts of everyday leadership, including countering genocide denial. Finally, IWitness offers students a call to action around stepping up and making change to inspire respect – which always begins with them.

On Monday, IWitness will publish a new selection of curated clips on the topic “Leadership.” The clips will illustrate how genocide survivors and witnesses showed leadership, or witnessed strong leadership in someone else.

Tuesday’s activity is called “The Lollipop Moment: Small Acts of Everyday Leadership.” In this activity, students will broaden their definitions of leadership by exploring the power of small actions. Exploring leadership through the lens described in Drew Dudley's "Everyday Leadership" TED Talk, students will reflect on the impacts of two small, but significant acts from the testimonies of two Holocaust survivors, as well as on an action taken by a pair of eighth graders in 2015. Using Dudley's concept of a "lollipop moment," students will construct and share short narratives about small acts which had substantial impacts in their own lives. 

Wednesday is a Mini Lesson called “Personal Views and Responsibility.” Students will hear from an Armenian genocide survivor who forgave the man who destroyed his family. Students will interrogate how personal experience informs one’s sense of responsibility.

On Thursday, the featured activity will be a Mini Quest “Antisemitism and the Bystander Effect.” In this activity, students will develop an understanding of what it means to be a bystander and its potential impact. Students will watch a number of testimonies from witnesses to and survivors and witnesses to historical and contemporary antisemitism who describe the consequences of the bystander effect in their own lives. Students will construct a social media message for the #BeginsWithMe campaign that describes their own plan to counter bystander behavior.

A familiar activity returns on Friday, but with a new twist. In “My Story Matters – Call to Action,” students will develop an understanding of what it means to be a bystander and its potential impact. Students will watch a number of testimonies from witnesses to and survivors and witnesses to historical and contemporary antisemitism who describe the consequences of the bystander effect in their own lives. Students will construct a social media message for the #BeginsWithMe campaign that describes their own plan to counter bystander behavior.

The very last activity of 100 Days to Inspire Respect, on Day 100, April 29, will be an inspiring graphic showcasing “101 Ways to Inspire Respect Through Testimony.” Featuring 101 ways students have been inspired to make a positive difference through the activities and educational resources of the past 100 days, the graphic hopefully will inspire others to follow their lead.