Starter (pair share): What do you know about totalitarian/fascist regimes in human history and in the present? What happens there (or doesn't happen there?) How do you think these regimes come to power and maintain that power? How do you imagine the people living in these regimes feel about their government?
PAUSE: Take a deep breathe of beautiful democracy, kids! That we are having these critical learning experiences is a gift. Take it in.
"Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between [people], and their beliefs -- in religion, literature, colleges and schools -- democracy in all public and private life...."
-Walt Whitman
TODAY: SEMINAR PREP CONT'D
Possible extension to your seminar preparation: Do further research on totalitarian and/or fascist regimes. (Not because I told you to, but because you are curious...)
Here is a good overview of what you see if fascism:
The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism