Conferences-Van+Hoose

Conference: October 15th – Writing For Social Justice I was really amazed at the unique ways of teaching the Holocaust that were presented at this conference. I loved that they had a book that had poems and drawings from children who were in concentration camps. It was heartbreaking to see them and I think these first hand experiences are what will truly get students thinking about social issues such as the Holocaust more. Too often we get too focused on Hitler and the Germans and fail to really address the people who went through the experiences.

I think the video also helped illustrate that point. I really think that binder of lesson plans could be extremely beneficial and a fantastic way to preserve the memory of those who went through those terrible experiences.

My favorite thing about this conference though was the lesson ideas. I loved the idea of taking historical experiences and making them the students own. For instance, the presenters said that they had students pretend to be a Jewish boy or girl with an authentic name writing a journal that took place before, during, and after the Holocaust. I think this method will really help students identify with the people who were directly affected by the Holocaust. Furthermore, I can see myself using this technique in other discussions as well. For instance, I am a Spanish major and I feel like this would be a great idea when I'm teaching about the thousands of people who disappeared during political unrest in Argentina during the 70s.

It amazes me still to think that there are so many resources out there for teachers to use that I had never considered before, and I'm grateful to have been introduced to them. I wish there was a giant wiki devoted to teacher resources.

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