Agency, Ethical Judgment, and Historical Significance
Students synthesize their learning from Two Roses and primary source testimonies to evaluate the complexity of agency and survival under oppression. Through structured discussion and reflection, students consider how we should interpret and judge survival decisions and why women’s labour camp experiences matter historically.
Lesson aim: Use ethical judgment to evaluate agency in survival decisions.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- explain how agency can exist within oppressive systems.
- apply historical perspective when evaluating survival decisions.
- support ethical judgments with evidence from Two Roses and primary sources.
- articulate the historical significance of women’s labour camp narratives.
Guiding Questions
- In what ways did women demonstrate agency within systems designed to remove freedom?
- How should we ethically evaluate survival decisions?
- Why is documenting women’s labour camp experiences historically significant?
Materials
- Two Roses (key decision and labour scenes)
- chart paper
- notebooks or lined paper
Preparation
Select 2–3 pivotal moments from Two Roses (decision to go to labour camps, moments of concealment, labour endurance).
Lesson Activities
Introduction
Begin by writing the word Agency on the board.
Ask students: What does it mean to have agency?
Collect responses. Then ask: Can someone still have agency when their choices are limited?
Explain that today’s lesson focuses on interpreting survival decisions through a historical perspective rather than modern judgment.
Evidence-Based Ethical Judgment
Divide students into small groups.
Provide each group with one prompt:
- Was volunteering for labour an act of survival, resistance, or both?
- Does hiding identity represent strength, fear, or strategic calculation?
- Were these decisions truly voluntary?
- How should we judge actions taken to survive?
Students must:
- take a position.
- use at least one example from Two Roses.
- consider historical context in their reasoning.
Have groups record their reasoning on chart paper.
Gallery Walk or Socratic Format
Have groups rotate to read other responses.
Students should add:
- one point of agreement
- one question or challenge
Facilitate a class discussion focused on:
- avoiding presentism (judging the past by modern standards).
- recognizing emotional and physical constraints.
- understanding survival decisions as complex rather than simple.
Layers of Survival
Have students create a half-page visual artifact that represents how identity and survival functioned in Two Roses (Extension: Have them also use the primary source testimonies from Lesson 3)
Artifacts must include:
1. External Identity (What Was Shown)
- A symbol representing how identity had to be performed or concealed.
2. Internal Reality (What Was Hidden)
- A symbol representing fear, exhaustion, or emotional strain.
3. Constraint vs. Agency
- One visual element showing constraint (e.g., barbed wire, shadow, scale, wall).
- One visual element showing agency (e.g., choice point, footstep, hands, layered mask).
Evidence Requirement – On the back of or attached to their artifact, students should write:
- one sentence referencing a specific moment from Two Roses.
- one sentence explaining the chosen symbol.
Discussion Component – After they have finished their artifacts, have students pair up and explain:
- how their symbols connect to their ideas.
- where they see complexity rather than simplicity.
- whether they see these decisions as survival, resistance, or something else.
Conclusion
Return to the unit’s central question:
- What does choice mean in a system designed to remove freedom?
Have students write a short reflective letter beginning with:
“When people in the future study this time, they need to understand that…”
