Monday, 12/7
2 hour class
The Cage and Farewell to M activities (student led)
Japanese-American Internment Camps
Tuesday, 12/8
Connections, the nature of evil
Wednesday, 12/9
Long class
Honors lead class based on books
Thursday, 12/10
Long class
Other genocides
Friday, 12/11
Darfur Film
This week is the end of the study of the Holocaust, proper, although we have lots left to talk about.
*Remember, you need to come to class on Monday, 11/30, having read The Cage (if you chose it) or Farewell to Manzanar (if you chose it).
Monday, 11/30
30 min to plan
The Cage
Tuesday, 12/1
Sunflower
America's Response
Wednesday, 12/2
Personal Responsibility
Thursday, 12/3
Lab for research
Friday, 12/4
Classroom (research)
You have now completed the viewing of "Escape from Sobibor". Please write a journal response to the following prompt:
Thank you so much for your improved attention and focus. And attitude. The past few weeks have been so much better for me.
Monday, 11/16
"Escape from Sobibor"
Tuesday, 11/17
Finish "Escape"
Wednesday, 11/18
Liberation
BOB
Thursday, 11/19
Liberation
Friday, 11/20
The Aftermath
I really appreciate your attention and focus over the last two weeks. You have taken our talk to heart and I can't tell you how much that means to me.
Monday, 11/9
Camps finished
The Children
Tuesday, 11/10
The Children
Wednesday, 11/11
Rescue
Thursday, 11/12
Finish rescue, resistance
Friday, 11/13
Resistance
Friends, I have not gotten one single proposed thesis statement and they were due TODAY. You can turn them in at the beginning of next week, but that's it.
Here is the list of topics (including, but not limited to these) (topics will need to be narrowed down by thesis statement):
Antisemitism
Perpetrators
Ghettos
Labor Camps
Pogroms
Propaganda
Particular Events
Emigration
Kindertransport
Adolf Hitler
Judaism
Lebensborn
Medical Experimentation (Ashlin)
Einsatzgruppen (Emma)
T-4 Euthanasia Program (Gabby)
Death Camps
(Auschwitz-Nathan)
Victim Groups
Hitler Youth (Logan)
Refugees
Rescue
Bystanders
Jewish Resistance
Non-Jewish Resistance
Liberation (Sophia)
Displaced Persons Camps
War Crimes Trials
(Original Nuremberg Trials- Peyton)
Modern Genocide
Holocaust Memorials
Denial (Nikki)
Another tough week, but we've got this.
Monday, 11/2
Watch "All But My Life"
Letter
(Mrs. Spears in here)
Tuesday, 11/3
Watch "Europa! Europa!"
Wednesday, 11/4
Finish "Europa! Europa!"
Thursday, 11/5
ABML Finished
Book Circles
Letter to Liberator
Friday, 11/6
Camps Lesson
This week is a tough one, I want to tell you that in advance. The topics covered now are the darkest and hardest of the entire course.
Monday, 10/26
SUB
ABML Reading Day
Tuesday, 10/27
Blending of information
Wednesday, 10/28
Mobile Killing Squads
Thursday, 10/29
T4 Euthanasia Program
Friday, 10/30
Camps E and R
Moving right along...
Monday, 10/19
Ghettoes
"To the Little Polish Boy"
Share quote visuals
Tuesday, 10/20
Evaluation
Wednesday, 10/21
Wannsee Conference
Thursday, 10/22
Deportations
Friday, 10/23
Finish Deportations
Ecphrastic poems due
Late, but putting it up for people with absences...
Monday, 10/12
Staff Development (OFF)
Tuesday, 10/13
"Sarah's Key"
Wednesday, 10/14
"Sarah's Key"
Memorial Final Plan
Thursday, 10/15
Ghettoes
Poetry
Journal 4 for homework
Friday, 10/16
Lodz Ghetto
Chaim Rumkowski
"Every dance is a protest against our oppressors" illustration for homework
OK, finally back on track. :)
Monday, 9/28
Presentations
Tuesday, 9/29
Book Thief
Wednesday, 9/30
Book Thief
Thursday, 10/1
Sarah's Key
Friday, 10/2
Sarah's Key
I can't wait to hear your presentations, to talk about Maus and The Book Thief, and for you to see "Swing Kids"! It's pretty much one of my favorite weeks in the curriculum!
Monday, 9/21
Presentations
Tuesday, 9/22
Maus Discussion
SP Chpt 6 Discussion
Wednesday, 9/23
The Book Thief
Thursday, 9/24
"Swing Kids"
Friday, 9/25
SUB
"Swing Kids"
Writing Assignment
I'm excited for you to delve into some specific topics of study in this early part, as well as to get to read Maus. I'm also really interested to see how our Memorial Projects pan out.
Monday, 9/14
Kristallnacht
Tuesday, 9/15
Library/Lab
Wednesday, 9/16
Library/Lab
Thursday, 9/17
Reading Day -Maus
Friday, 9/18
Reading Day- Maus
In 1821, Heinrich Heine wrote, "Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people." Consider what Heine meant by this statement. In your opinion, what is the danger of burning books? How, if at all, does burning books jeopardize human life?
[Note: Somewhat ironically, Heine was a noted German author who converted to Christianity from Judaism in the nineteenth century. According to the Nuremberg Laws, Heine would have been considered a Jew; therefore, his books were also burned and forbidden.]
Here is a link to some of the books/authors as well.
Dear Aylan,
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that I have been so preoccupied with my own silly, trivial life things that I somehow forgot that there are three year olds who are losing their lives in an attempt to save them.
I'm sorry that last Wednesday, I was caught up in news of an unimportant situation and didn't even see the pictures or hear your name until days after your death.
I'm sorry that, because it's easier to look away in this life, sometimes I choose that.
I'm sorry that I teach and preach empathy and often forget to exercise it myself.
I'm sorry that I have never lived in a place of danger, that I have never feared for the safety of my daughters, that I don't know what it's like to lose everything to try and gain something.
I'm sorry that because your reality isn't mine, sometimes I don't realize that your reality exists.
I'm just sorry.
But I am also hopeful, and I am awakened, and I am promising you that I will be vigilant with your memory. In the same way as another little boy, many years and many miles away, you have reminded me that just because it seems like the entire world is looking away doesn't actually mean they are. There will be those who stand beside, who reach out, who speak up. And I believe that we are raising up a generation who will be the standers, the reachers, and the speakers.
Time is flying by, now!
Monday, 9/7
LABOR DAY
Tuesday, 9/8
Propaganda
Wednesday, 9/9
Weimar Republic
Memorial Planning
Thursday, 9/10
Nazi Germany's Anti-Jewish Policy
Friday, 9/11
Kristallnacht Jigsaw
This week we will move quickly into the heart of the Holocaust, beginning with propaganda. Hitler would probably not have accomplished what he did (in an educated nation) were it not for the use of propaganda. Propaganda is probably more pervasive in your own life today than you even realize....
Monday, 8/31
Judaism Discussion
Memorial Planning
Tuesday, 9/1
Propaganda E and R
Wednesday, 9/2
Make Propaganda
Salvaged Page Reading Day
SUB
Thursday, 9/3
SP Activity
Book Thief Reading Day
Friday, 9/4
Watch "I'm Still Here"
SUB
This week, we are studying Judaism, both the history, the people, and the faith. I hope you discover all sorts of interesting things and also that it provides a foundation for a deeper understanding of the events of the Holocaust.
Monday, 8/24
Continue research
Tuesday, 8/25
Present research, photos
Wednesday, 8/26
Guest speaker - Coach Al Miller
Be on your BEST behavior
Thursday, 8/27
"Image Before My Eyes"
Possible stories
Friday, 8/28
Judaism discussion
Memorial Planning
In order to better understand what Jewish cultural and communal life was like in Europe prior to WWII, you will be finding photographs from that time period and analyzing them, as well as researching the town(s) where the photos were taken. Follow the assigments below in order, working at your own pace.
Sidenote: Spend a few minutes looking around the Holocaust Museum website. That link is here.
Assignment #1 Photo Collection
Think of two words that symbolize "everyday life". Ex: shopping, school, family time, sports, etc. Go to the USHMM Photo archives collection and type your word into the search engine. Don't pick the very first picture you find. Instead, browse the pictures. Spend some time looking at what is available and thinking about them. Your photo cannot be dated AFTER Nazi occupation, which varied by country. Below is a list of Nazi occupation dates:
Austria March 1938
Poland Sept 1939
Czech March 1939
Denmark 1944 but not really
Norway April 1940
Holland May 1940
Belgium, Luxembourg, France June 1940
Transylvania 1940
Greece April 1941
Yugoslavia April 1941
Russia June 1941
Hungary 1944
Slovakia, Romania 1940
Italy-->Albania April 1939
Sov Union -->Poland 1939
Sov U --> Finland 1940
Sov U --> Romania June 1940
Make certain that the photo you choose includes a location where it was taken.
The link to the archives is here.
Once you have found a photo for each key word that you really like, right click on it, copy it, and paste it into a word doc. Also copy and paste ONLY the date and location (city and country) (no other info like captions). Print it.
Photo requirements are that it must have people in it, cannot be what is classified as a portrait, and must be prior to German occupation.
Assignment #2 Photo Analysis
Using the following questions, analyze ONE of the photos. Write this on a separate piece of paper.
Describe what you see. · What do you notice first? · What people and objects are shown? · How
are they arranged? · What is the physical setting? · What, if any, words do you see? · What other details can you see?
Why do you think this image was made? · What’s happening in the image? · When do you think it was made? · Who do you think was the audience for this image? · What tools were used to create this?
· What can you learn from examining this image? · What’s missing from this image? · If someone made this today, what would be different? · What would be the same?
What do you wonder about...
who? · what? · when? · where? · why? · how?
Assignment #3 Photo Research-- type these paragraphs on a sheet of paper in the lab. You will present them tomorrow.
Look up each town from your two photographs. You need to write a well-researched paragraph for each in which you will note the following:
How large was the town/city's Jewish population and how long had Jews been living there?
What was the Jewish life/culture in that town/city like prior to the Nazi invasion?
Where is or was that town/city located?
When and how did the town/city come under Nazi rule?
What was the fate of this particular town's/city's Jews during the Holocaust? What about the country?
Assignment #4 Photo Reflection-- using one of the photos you selected from the archives and the photo you brought from home to "match" it, please answer the following questions, also in a typed paragraph:
Identify evidence that suggests that life was normal for Jews prior to the Nazis.
What did you discover as you looked through your own family's photos in comparison to those that you had researched?
Which photo of your family did you choose that relates and why?
How do the photos show similarities between you, your family, or your community to those in European Jewish life prior to WWII?
As Unit 1 wraps up with Monday's test, I want to tell you that I feel good about your class. You are very involved in discussion and willing to speak up, which is essential in this class. Most of you are very engaged and, although you might be itching to get to the details of the Holocaust, you were focused on the foundation that must be laid to fully understand the context of the travesty of the Holocaust.
Welcome to the class! I'm really excited about our time together and the fact that you care about and are interested in this topic.
Monday, 8/10
Stereotyping
Assign The Book Thief
Tuesday, 8/11
GATTACA
Wednesday, 8/12
GATTACA
Discussion
Thursday, 8/13
Racism
Friday, 8/14
Holocaust/Shoah, anti-Semitism, Genocide
Link to the TED Talk I mentioned in class Monday:
https://www.ted.com/talks/verna_myers_how_to_overcome_our_biases_walk_boldly_toward_them
I'm finally started to feel really, really drained. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. I'm on day 14 at this point of full days of learning a tough topic, meager food, lots of exertion, being away from my family, and getting very little sleep. Today I think I hit a wall. I'm hoping tomorrow is better. :)
Today (Tuesday) was very, very full. We started with a lecture on Jewish Leadership in the Shoah, had two lessons on ghettos, a lecture on cultural and spiritual resistance, and ended the time at Yad Vashem with a lesson on Holocaust Literature (yes, totally up my alley!).
Again today, I feel like there is just so many details, most of which I want to try and incorporate into my lessons later, that I don't have very much to say here. I want to end with a very powerful quote I heard and just leave it with you in a few minutes.
We ended the day at the Israeli Museum where I got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. If you're not familiar with the story of the discovery of that little piece of history, look it up. It's kind of amazing. It was so wild to look at them and know they are the earliest paper (parchment) documentation of the Bible. My other favorite part of that museum was the reconstructed model of Jersusalem's Old City. I am NOT a spatial person, so it was really really helpful to see how the ruins we saw and walked actually looked when they weren't... well... RUINS. :)
Here's the quote I'll leave with you:
"At the end of World War II, everyone sat down to count their dead. The Jews began to count their living."
Monday was an 8:30-5:30 classroom day. It should have been exhausting and draining, but instead it was exhilarating to gain as much as information as I did! I was like a vacuum cleaner, just sucking up every single detail. I'm not going to go into the specifics of the topics here because I want to save them for the classroom, but I'll list the topics below and one or two insights from some.
Nazi Racial Ideology and the Jewish Question
I have so many pages of notes from this session, but I'll just mention one thing here that I think is so worth considering... The T4 Euthanasia Program (the murder of over 200,000 mentally and physically handicapped people-- GERMANS) was ceased for one reason. It was an open protest by the Catholic Bishop of Munster, August von Galen. Imagine what could have happened to all other aspects of Nazi methodology if more people had been willing to speak out. In this case, it only took ONE to change the times.
Persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany (1933-1939)
Two points he made that were things I had not ever really thought of were that humiliation is as powerful a weapon as fear and the Germans used it almost as often in the very beginning a. He also pointed out the difference in the ... spirit(?) of German Jews versus Polish Jews. German Jews were much more patriotic and thus were so deeply hurt and humiliated by being denied citizenship, whereas the Poles had a huge spirit of survival and FIGHT in them.
Music of the Jews during the Holocaust
This session presented a lot of inspiration. I knew they had concerts in the ghettoes, but I did not know that they charged admission. The money raised was used on various social projects. She made several really powerful statements about these concerts after asking us, "You are dying of hunger. You are going to a concert when you don't even have money to spend on them, so what is so strong to bring you to the concerts?" She then shared a quote with us from Abraham Sutzkever, a partisan fighter who fought to save as many Jewish lives as possible by killing Germans after he heard a concert: "Today I heard a beauty for which it is worthwhile to fight." One can't live in error and horr all of his life; we need the beauty.
The Holocaust and Art
My biggest takeaway from this (that I want to share here instead of in class) is her ending: "There's no way to tell the story of the Holocaust, but there's a way to tell one story. And in telling one story, you tell the story of the Holocaust." WOW.
The last session was just trying out a teaching tool on their website, something that will be very useful.
After our day in class, we went to the Tower of David Sound and Lights Show, which was really pretty cool (and kind of cheesy too). They project the entire show on the walls of the Tower of David and it's basically the complete history of the Jerusalem (conquest after conquest). I left that show and last week's lectures saying that it's actually miraculous that there was ANYTHING left in this city to preserve. :)
So Shabbat started at sundown Friday and Saturday is the official Sabbath (until sundown). On Saturday, we had what I call our "Jesus Tour" because we went to Galilee. We started out in Nazareth at the Church of the Anunication, then continued to Tabagha (loaves and fishes), a meal in which I ate a fish with its head still on that looked at me the whole time, St Peter's Primacy (most beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee ever), dipped our feet in the Sea of Galilee, visited Capernaum, the site of the Sermon on the Mount, then took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (my favorite traveling activity maybe of all time). We drove back via the coastal road and saw just how close Jordan is. (During our time on Galilee, Syria was RIGHT. THERE. It's shocking to think how different life in this tiny country, surrounded by enemies, must be than our life in America.)
That night, we had gone to bed to write and read a while and we heard what sounded like singing outside our window. As we listened, we realized it wasn't singing, but rather a protest. We opened our window and watched a protest of 100 or so people go to the Prime Minister's house, which is beside our hotel. Pretty cool!
