Echoes and Reflections

I am currently teaching the Holocaust in my 8^th grade Literature class. I am using the Echoes and Reflections curriculum with my students. This program is divided into ten lessons. Each lesson provides a historical context for the topic as well as survivor testimony and primary source material.

My students have finished the lessons on studying the Holocaust and antisemitism. They are now learning about Nazi Germany. This program offers them an opportunity to analyze photographs and propaganda material. I conclude each unit with a test over the material and an ending project.

In addition to Echoes and Reflections, my students also read a variety of Holocaust literature. Within their literature circle groups, they are reading The Diary of Anne Frank, A Coming Evil, the Boy Who Dared, Behind the Bedroom Wall, Torn Thread, Play to the Angels, Someone Named Eva, Yellow Star, I Have Lived a Thousand Years and All But My Life.

As a class they will be reading Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren. This memoir chronicles the experiences of local Holocaust survivor Jack Mandelbaum during his adolescent years in World War II Europe. There is an excellent teaching guide for this book on the MCHE website.

Since my class has not yet finished the unit on the Holocaust, I will be updating you as they work through the remaining lessons and the concluding activities and projects.

Note: The Echoes and Reflections curriculum was jointly produced by Yad Vashem, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute and the Anti-Defamation League. It is a comprehensive curriculum based on primary source material and survivor testimony. Copies of the curriculum are available for free loan from the MCHE Resource Center. Online components of the curriculum can be accessed by clicking the link below.

Resources:
Echoes and Reflections online
Jack Mandelbaum's recorded testimony is available at the MCHE Resource Center