Language Arts, History—High School
Prepared by: Desiree Viggiano, B.S.
Interactive Lesson on the Holocaust
Project Goals:
Students will use online databases to "experience" the holocaust through the eyes of the survivors.
Description:
Students will visit websites containing photographs, paintings, personal accounts, interactive maps, virtual tours through death camps, poetry, and an interactive quiz, where the choices the students make determines whether or not they would have lived if they were a Jew during the Holocaust.
Standards:
Cross Content Standards 2.2. 2.5, 2.7, 2.9
Language Arts Content Standards 3.1.2, 3.1.6, 3.1.8, 3.1.15
Activities:
Holocaust Worksheet: using specified websites, students will answer questions pertaining to those websites.
In groups of three, students will create a PowerPoint presentation on what they feel is important to communicate about the holocaust.
Assessments:
Students will be graded on responses to worksheet
For PowerPoint presentation, students will be graded on content of slides, neatness, articulation, eye contact, and courtesy during their peers’ presentations. For grading rubric, link to http://school.discovery.com/schockguide/assess.html
Project Timeline: One Week
Technology Checklist:
Computer time scheduled
Computer disks and printers available
Projector reserved for presentations
Computer Rules:
Internet Connectivity
PowerPoint
Methodology:
Link onto http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~der2849/Holohtml.html
I. Click on "History" and answer the following questions.
1. What is the time period of the Holocaust?
2. How many Jews were murdered during the Holocaust?
3. How many of those murdered were children?
4. What is the "Final Solution"?
5. What happened to those who opposed the Nazi party?
6. Why did Hitler hate the Jews? (Hint: what did the Jews have that Hitler hated)
7. How did Hitler restrict the Jews?
8. What happened on Kristallnacht?
9. Describe the ghettos in which the Jews were forced to live.
10. What happened during the Wannsee Conference?
11. What are the names of the six camps in Poland?
12. What was the purpose of these camps?
13. How were people identified as being Jewish?
14. View the numbers of Jews killed in each country. Which country had the most number of Jews killed? Which country had the least number of Jews killed?
*Feel free to view the other links found on this page.
II. Visit the Holocaust Lifechance Exhibit and see if you will survive.
III. Go to http://www.remember.org/
1. View the paintings and drawings by Jan Komski and read the blurbs underneath.
a. What picture did you find to be the most horrific?
b. What was your reaction as you viewed the images of Nazi prisoners?
2. Read Komski’s story.
a. What events allowed Komski to survive through the concentration camps?
b. What is Komski doing in present day?
3. Go to "The Camps" located on the homepage of remember.org
a. Click on Auschwitz and view the pictures of the death camp
b. Click on Mathausen and view the pictures of this camp
4. On the left-hand side of the homepage, click on "Witnesses," then click on "Virtual Tour of Auschwitz" and view the camp through the eyes of a Jewish child.
IV. Go to http://www.fmv.ulg.ac.be/schmitz/holocaust.html and view the posters. Warning: Some of these pictures are graphic and disturbing.
a. What were you feeling as you clicked through these posters?
b. What picture(s) was the most horrific?
c. What picture(s) was the least horrific?
V. Poetry: Go to http://www.remember.org/imagine/rome.html and read the poems by Jeremy Hobbs.
a. Why does Hobbs use Rome as his setting?
b. What are some of the images that are redundant in his poems?
c. Choose one poem and compare it to a Jew trying to survive the Holocaust. Be specific in comparing the images
VI. PowerPoint Presentation:
Now that you have learned about the Holocaust, it is your turn to create a lesson. Using PowerPoint, create a 10-15-slide presentation of what you feel is important to convey about this time period. You may download images from these or other internet sites, vary your slides by using different colors, fonts, use scrolls, etc. Your presentation must follow a logical order and be easy to follow.
Please e-mail comments or suggestions to dviggiano@wmtps.org