In high school, I was lucky enough to learn about the Armenian Genocide from one of the history teachers. He was Armenian himself, and told the story of his people. Upon learning this, I found out that it was a privilege to learn this information and it was not present in any standard curriculum, due to the United States not recognizing the Genocide. This event  happened towards the end of World War I, where the Ottoman wanted Muslim Turkish dominance in the regions of Central and Eastern Anatolia. So, they did this by eliminating the sizable Armenian presence there. This was the first instance of any mass orchestrated genocide the world had ever seen. This layed the groundwork for other genocides like the Holocaust, where it took heavy influcnece from the Armenian Genocide. Even still, modern day Turkey has not recognized the tragedy and denies it to this day. 

The purposes of these articles was to draw more attention upon the generational impact of the Armenian Genocide, and the struggles of teaching it in a country such as Turkey. As teachers, our job is to educate the history that affects us today. Every major event to happen in or affect our country should be expressed. For instance, African American students still suffer from the impact of slavery, which correlates to past events that have an impact on students, even generations later. The implication into the classroom comes when discussing topics that can have an effect on the mental wellbeing of students. Subjects like, slavery, the Holocuast, or in this case the armenian genecide. When the discussion of this and other topics come to conversation in the classroom, it is important to recognize the impact that these events have on students, and to respect as well as understand their lived experiences. Only then can we reach a degree of comfortability where everyone can share their mind in a safe environment. 

Although our country has just recently acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, many students still do not understand or even know anything about it. Although as teachers we are told to teach the curriculum, it is also our job and responsibility to challenge the students mentally and have them experience another perspective. The best way to go about teaching this to students is a combination of classroom based discussions and connecting lectures. The lectures are used to inform the students and the discussion to emphasize the ideas and topics covered further. In these lectures, a combination of information and visuals for the students will allow them to fully engage in the material. Some of the similar teaching practices for this lesson follow closely with the teaching of the Holocaust. The main driving point of these discussions is to answer the question “How did people let this happen?” Although books may be useful, I believe that articles, videos, and short text analysis for classwork or homework works well as a replacement. 

Work Cited:  Der Sarkissian, Alissa, and Jill D Sharkey. “Transgenerational Trauma and Mental Health Needs among Armenian Genocide Descendants.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health vol. 18,19 10554. 8 Oct. 2021, doi:10.3390/ijerph181910554