The Ukraine Crisis – Resources

I paused my lessons on trade in my 9th grade/Year 4 MYP Individuals and Societies (Social Studies) class this week to focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. My colleague, Matt, and I felt it was important to talk about this crisis which has not become a war. Students have been very engaged in the lessons and discussions. We first started with a discussion about why this should matter to us. Being so far from this region often makes students (and adults) think, “Why does this matter to me?” My colleague, Matt, shared some excellent resources from The Choices Program at Brown University that focused on building a historical understanding of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine (text and videos), along with an excellent lesson on analyzing political cartoons, something my students enjoyed doing last year. Students are curating their own resources and creating their own political cartoons. There is no shortage of news stories and video footage on the current events which change every day. There are a lot of real-world events that provide teachable moments and this is one of them.