During our Holocaust unit, students often have a hard time understanding how such terrible acts are perpetrated on a mass scale. They often say, "I would just refuse to go..." or "why didn't someone tell them, 'no, I'm not doing that." To help students get a better understanding, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. King and Mr. Benton collaborated lessons with me; my 8th students learned the brain science that is involved in manipulating and the killing of millions. Mrs. Miller created a victim 'passport' for each student and each week, they would read what their REAL victim did before the war, during and after. We then saw how many of our real victims survived. We read the book, "The Butterfly" by Patricia Polacco, and created our own symbolic butterfly of our victim that are now hanging in the 8th grade hallway. Along with the passports, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. King and Mr. Benton did experiential learning activities with the students to show how easy our brain can be tricked or what we see may not be reality. These activities helped students not only learn the ELA lessons and the history, but also, helped them understand and be able to empathize. Students loved the collaboration and looked forward to it each week! I just regret that I was so involved in the activities as well that I failed to take any pictures. 😏
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To finalize our Holocaust Unit, students wrote a poem taking the point of view of someone from that time...victim, bystander, or Nazi soldier. They had to have understanding of the events to be able to use this higher order cognitive ability, to empathize and understand how someone might feel, do or say. I'm proud to share one of their poems.
Soldier Condemned is my past, For all the terror I brought. The nightmares won't go away No matter how hard I've fought. I think about my past, My thoughts running at full speed. Terrible things, we the soldiers, have done Not caring for others' needs. We just did what we were told. Getting paid, giving no care, Following our orders, For helping the Jews was dangerous and rare. It wasn't as bad at first, then Their buildings getting pillaged and burned It was awful still More evil gears started to turn. The things I have done My heart is filled with regret. I can't go back in time; I can never repay the owed debt. I told myself I did what I had to To feed my family...my kids, my wife, But I could have fed them another ways. I didn't have to end someone's life. All the other solders were filled, Filled with anger just so great. I always really wondered why, Why I was the only one who didn't hate. I couldn't stand the way things were; I wanted it all to change. But my rank was so low Changing was so out of my range. The worst things was obvious The Jewish getting killed for their religion and race. Hitler was evil and wrong Bringing Germany such disgrace. Again, I tell you so That is my past, my story, my life My heart is so filled with sadness, Unwanted grief, unwanted strife. I wish it never happened, The past has taken its toll. For this was said, By my heart and written by my soul. -GG I've used Edpuzzle for years in the classroom. I spent the time to go through the training course to become Edpuzzle Coach certified to show, by example, of always learning, improving and striving for goals. #alwaysalearner #edtech
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