New Lesson Plans

The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education is pleased to announce the addition of several new lesson plans to it's website at www.mchekc.org/lessonplans. Written by members of the Isak Federman Holocaust Teaching Cadre, these lessons explore relevant connections between the Holocaust and at least one other modern genocide. The lessons added to date are:

·         Bystanders in the Holocaust and Rwanda
This lesson explores testimony of bystanders to the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide. It encourages students to understand what it means to be a bystander and to refrain from being one in the future.

·         Document Based Question on Resistance in the Holocaust and Rwanda
This document based question explores resistance in both the Holocaust and Rwanda. It is designed to allow students to practice all the necessary DBQ skills while learning about the Holocaust. Approaches to deconstructing the DBQ and utilizing the documents in other settings are explored.

·         Children's Genocide Diaries - Bitton-Jackson and Zlata's Diaries
Utilizing the memoir I Have Lived A Thousand Years (Holocaust) and Zlata's Diary (Bosnia), this lesson plan allows students to analyze and explore the impact of genocide on children.

·         Children's Genocide Diaries - Sierakowiak and Zlata's Diaries
Utilizing The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak (Holocaust) and Zlata's Diary (Bosnia), this lesson plan allows students to analyze and explore the impact of genocide on children.

·         Children of Genocide: Communicating Through Art
This lesson plan helps students analyze art created by children during the Holocaust and the genocide in Darfur.

·         Connecting a Holocaust Memoir Study to Modern Genocides
This lesson plan helps students make relevant connections amongst genocides by utilizing first hand testimony of genocide survivors and witnesses at the conclusion of any Holocaust memoir study.

·         Propaganda in the Holocaust and Rwanda
This unit explores propaganda utilized by a variety of media outlets in both the Holocaust and Rwanda. It was specifically designed to help middle school students learn about the elements of propaganda and their effective use, but has wide applications in high school and history settings.

Meet the Cadre

Welcome to the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education's Educator Forum. MCHE is a Holocaust education center located in Overland Park, Kansas. Much of our work focuses on preparing classroom teachers and other educators to accurately and effectively share this history with their 7-12th grade students. We do this through professional education courses, student programs, and providing age-appropriate resources.

One of MCHE's longest running and most successful programs is the Isak Federman Holocaust Teaching Cadre. This is a group of 18 dedicated and highly trained classroom teachers who work with MCHE on a volunteer basis to create educational programming and teaching resources. The group takes an active part in writing lesson plans and curriculum units, serves as peer educators and mentors in MCHE professional development courses and as ambassadors of Holocaust education in the teaching community.

This forum offers the cadre an opportunity to reach out to other Holocaust educators and to share their experiences and expertise. Cadre members (and the periodic guest blogger) will be sharing their reflections on resources, survivor testimony, effective teaching methods, general pedagogy, and actual classroom experiences.

We encourage all interested educators to follow this blog, interact, ask questions, and make this a true forum where you can get and share new ideas. Please check back regularly!