How Educators Around the World Are Teaching the Russia-Ukraine War

Lesson Overview

As Russia wages war with Ukraine — and millions of Ukrainians become refugees in neighboring nations that fear they could be attacked next — schooling across the European continent has continued on.

In this lesson, students choose between three recent articles that look at “a war so close to home” from the points of view of teachers, students and parents in Poland, Germany, Denmark, England and other European countries. After the class jigsaws to discuss what they have learned, they reconvene to discuss the importance of education in society in general, even — or perhaps especially — during wartime.

Then, in an extensive Going Further section, we have rounded up many contributions from teachers in the United States across subjects and levels who describe ways they are helping their students understand this conflict and its roots and effects.

We hope that no matter what you teach, there is something here you can use.

Warm-Up

A recent Times article shared the story of Inna Pasichnyk, 29, who escaped with her 11-year-old son, Volodymyr, to the Czech Republic from their home in the Donetsk region of Ukraine:

When the war began, they fled their home in a rush, and Ms. Pasichnyk said she did not even remember how she packed her bag or what was in it.

“But Volodymyr even managed to take a pencil case and a notebook,” she said of her son. After they relocated and got settled, he restarted his education over video call.

Invite your students to reflect on this passage and the following questions by writing in a journal or discussing with their classmates in small groups:

Do Volodymyr’s actions surprise you? Why do you think The Times might have included this specific detail of this family’s story? What do you think it says about the power and importance of education, and the role it plays in young people’s lives, even amidst an ongoing war?
What purpose do you think schools can serve in a time like this, whether for students in Ukraine who are directly affected by the war, for those in Europe who are feeling the shock waves of it, or even for those far away, like students in the United States?
Have your own teachers discussed the war in Ukraine in your classes? Would you like them to? If , what do you want to know more about? How to Start the Conversation: from Mark Gozonsky, high school English language arts, Los Angeles Unified School DistrictThe first step in teaching the Russian invasion of Ukraine is noticing that your students need to talk about it. I realized this during 4th period on Thursday, February 24, when my 10th graders were more glum than usual. They’re usually very glum, due to being 15 years old and their transition between middle and high school having been ruined by Covid. They express this glumness by frowning and sighing and not turning in any work. Thursday’s glumness was characterized by even more frowning and sighing, as well as something new, a look of suppressed panic, as if many kids were about to scream. What’s all this about, I wondered, until an exceptionally cordial student asked me, “So what’s your opinion about World War III?”

That’s how I realized that my students needed to talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, I took the following steps the next day, with positive results.
1. Find an informative article for students to read in class. My students liked this New York Times explainer.

2. Have students discuss the article amongst themselves. We use the Partner A - Partner B protocol, which basically means talking to the person across from you. The interest level on the Russian invasion of Ukraine was high. Everybody was talking and leaning in.

3. Hold a Community Circle. You could just call on kids in their seats, but for a topic this important, it’s worth telling them to move their seats into a circle or at least a blob where no one has their back to anyone and everyone can see everyone else’s face.

That day, my students’ remarks on the Russian invasion of Ukraine fit into five categories: empathy for the people of Ukraine, fear of World War III, criticism of Putin, criticism of memes that treat the invasion as a joke, and geopolitical curiosity.