One person can make a difference

Outline Lesson Plan - KS3 Citizenship 

Aim:  To consider the idea that ‘One Person Can Make a Difference’, even in the face of terrible events.

Starter:   In rough, make some notes on one of the following:

1.                  Have you ever been in a situation where you changed someone’s point of view, or stopped someone doing something you thought to be wrong? Or

2.                  Think of one or two individuals, either in the past or today, who have done something which has made a positive difference to the lives of other people.

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Group work

In small groups, look at the profiles provided of the individuals who ‘made a difference’ during the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.  Some of them had jobs, or worked for voluntary (and sometimes secret) organisations.

What sort of organisation(s) did they work for?  Make a list.

How helpful were these organisations?

Were any of them helped by people in other countries?      

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Class discussion

What made these people act as they did, do you think?

What stopped other people from doing as they did?

Individual work

Choose one, or two, of these individual profiles. Write a short summary of their actions. 

How did their actions ‘make a difference’?

Why do you think people want to remember their courage today?

Is there anything we can learn ourselves from their story?

Extension work