Teaching the Holocaust

The Holocaust is such a touchy subject. I have always approached this topic with caution. I first begin by establishing ground rules and building background knowledge. With every year I add to my teaching experience, I find that my students are even further removed from the horrors that took place in Europe in 1930s and 1940s.

When my students enter my class on the first day of this unit, they walk in to find a display of related literature.

All around the room, the students see fiction and nonfiction books connected to the time period that we are about to delve into. This, right away sets something off in their brains. They know that we are about to create a experience.

On this day, we begin discussing what we THINK we know about the Holocaust. I like to have this discussion with the students before reading any materials because I like to see where their thinking is. It also allows them an opportunity to hear what their peers have to say and eventually it will lead to self assessment. I say eventually because during and after reading, students are either confirming, adjusting, or correcting what they originally thought and/or said. 

I like for my students to generate questions during this lesson. They first put them them on sticky notes. I then collect and tally them. The most common ones go to the class "Question Corner." This is a place in my room where the students can respond to a classmate's question. All they have to do is write their response on a sticky and stick it next to the question they are answering. I DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ON THIS BOARD. The students must find these themselves. Either they do the research or maybe it comes up in the materials that we are reading in class.

These are just two strategies that I utilize in my classroom. Below are some online resources that I have found very useful when teaching the Holocaust. 

from the Holocaust Museum: Resources for Educators

A Narrated PowerPoint: The Holocaust

WWII Project Idea:  Compare and Contrast Novels

The Literacy Menu

The Literacy Menu.

This is a place I have set up in my school's teacher workroom. To some, it's just a bulletin board. To others, it is a LIFE LINE!

This is how it works. The board has three menu options, Cooperative Learning, Foldable, and Technology Tools. Every month I post a new classroom strategy for each of the three categories. For example: this month the three menu options are cooperative learning group role cards (from a TPT contributor), a 4-square foldable, and an outline that gives ideas for how to use cell phones in the classroom.

The Literacy Menu also features a "take one" pocket. In this pocket teachers can find black line masters for one of the strategies displayed on the board. I always put the same number of copies in the pocket each month. At the end of month, before I change the board, I count the remaining copies. This tells me the number of teachers who are interested in the classroom strategies.

I have received so many nice comments from co-workers and I even have some who give me ideas for the upcoming boards. The Literacy Menu has really helped to develop healthy working relationships between teachers of all content areas at my school. Mr. G, the 6th grade Social Studies teacher on my hall, helps with the foldables and tech tools almost every month. We both will be receiving high marks for collaboration on the teacher evaluation tool ;-)

As teachers we draw inspiration from all sorts of places. Sometimes ideas rain down on us straight from heaven, but I have also had experiences where I couldn't think of what to do next. I wish I had a place to go to get just one or two ideas at a time. Not too overwhelming, something new that would be simple to implement. I started the Literacy Menu with the hopes of making at least one teacher's planning a little bit easier.