In June, Public Act 170 of 2016 was signed by Gov. Rick Snyder which requires students to be taught about genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, for no less than six hours of instruction between eighth and 12th grades. Hopefully for all history teachers there really is nothing to change other than maybe spending more time on the subject to meet the time requirement. The law also requires the Governor to create a 15 member genocide education panel. Other than that, there are no other requirements leaving a lot of flexibility for districts.

Over the course of the year more and more resources will be identified and shared to help teachers meet the requirement.

To get started in reviewing possible resources to use, be sure to check out iWitness by the USC Shoah Foundation. The program includes 1,500 video testimonies, multimedia activities , and digital resources. Hopefully, by next week we’ll know if local professional develop