Incorporating Holocaust concepts/content at the beginning of the school year

The beginning of the school year represents the “how to” phase for many teachers at both the middle school and high school level.  We are busy teaching students about the ways we want them to complete certain tasks that they will be doing throughout the year.  This creates an opportunity for us to use Holocaust concepts/content in a place and manner different from the traditional “Holocaust unit” that many people teach in the spring.  The following is a list of possible ways to bring in Holocaust material as you work on the “how to’s” of your classroom:

• Use Holocaust terms when teaching your students the steps/processes you want them to use with vocabulary they will encounter in your content area. 
•  Use a Holocaust excerpt to teach students how to mark the text for a Socratic Seminar.
• Use Holocaust excerpts when teaching your students the differences between non-fiction and fiction or diary vs. memoir. 
•  Use a Holocaust excerpt and history textbook reading on the Holocaust to show the differences in a primary source vs. a secondary source.
• Use Holocaust readings/videos to focus on a specific Common Core skill – example of possible skills listed here.

o    CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

o    CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.