In my four years of being an English teacher I have yet to fully reach my goal of teaching my students about the Holocaust through moving pieces of literature. I teach three classes of eighth grade students in a high-need community public middle school in New York State. We are a new school that was opened in 2007 to better serve the community by offering a smaller school setting.
My students can only see what is inside of their community and fail to see beyond. The majority of my students, 80-90%, are receiving public assistance and can barely afford proper school materials. Students are still approaching state standings in both ELA and Math. What I want to do is open up their realm of consciousness about world events through the use of powerful pieces of literature.
In order to break through to students the magnitude of the horrifying nature of the Holocaust, I have chosen three books that I believe all students should read. The first, Night by Elie Wiesel, is a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of Wiesel's survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. The second, Mause: A Father's Tale Volume 1: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman, is a story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe told through a beautifully drawn graphic novel that will appeal to the more visual learner. The third is the classic Anne Frank: A Diary of A Young Girl, which gives a female perspective of the horrors of being persecuted for being Jewish. Each book lends itself to giving a more complete perspective of the event that shaped world history. My goal is for students to walk away with a social awareness and a firmer grip on what it means to be tolerant of others.
Your help will ensure that my students are given the chance to read books that will help them understand that the Holocaust was a horrific event in world history. Please give them this chance.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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