The Holocaust: Are You an Upstander or a Bystander?
My students need books including Hitler Youth Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, The Librarian of Auschwitz, The Boy Who Dared, and several other books about the Holocaust for their independent reading time.
My students come from a small, rural community in the great state of Texas. They are kids who either have it all and had many life experiences to kids who have never even left the town in which they live. My students are kids who need to be inspired about reading and writing in world where technology has their undivided attention.
These kiddos may come from a small town, but they are capable of big time skills!
We work hard using books to become better readers, writers, thinkers, and most importantly: learners.
My focus as their Language Arts/Writing and Career teacher is to help guide them through their learning so that they can become masters of their craft. I am passionate about teaching and it's my job to help them become passionate about their education and learning!
My Project
My students and I will be reading the books Number the Stars (7th grade) and Night (8th grade) as read aloud to learn about the historical nonfiction genre and the Holocaust. The essential question deals with whether or not the students would have been an upstander, a person who takes a stand against an act of in justice, or a bystander, a person who just stands by and doesn't do anything.
The students will be given insight as to how many historical, social, religious, political, and economic factors came together to allow the Holocaust to occur.
To further their learning, work on their reading skills, and allow them to gather more evidence to answer the essential question, they will need access to novels, graphic novels, and other books to read. For example, The Librarian of Auschwitz, is about a 14 year old girl, an upstander, who kept the magic of books alive in a terrifying climate. Another book that the students will be able to choose from is Anne Frank The Graphic Novel, which tells the story of her time spent in hiding and in a concentration camp from her diary, but through pictures which will be great for my struggling readers.
This topic is especially important for the students to learn about for several reasons. First of all, the survivors will most likely pass away within the next 10 years and their stories must not be forgotten. Secondly, this topic touches on issues that my students face in their everyday lives- fairness, justice, individual identity, peer pressure conformity, indifference, and obedience. It is my hope that my students will gain the knowledge to decide that they will become an upstander for their fellow students in our school, and humans in their world.
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