Teaching the Holocaust With the Internet

George CassuttoSocial Studies Department Chair

Harmony Intermediate SchoolHamilton, VA USA

Overview

This presentation includes the following topics:• Rationale: Why use the Internet?• Themes: What topics lend themselves to the

medium?• Methods: Ideas to use in the secondary classroom• Technology: What will you need?• Problems and Issues• Resources: Sites and Books

Rationale: Why use the Internet?

• Allows for use of multi-media in teaching.• It is an interactive medium.The end-user decides

what to do and where to go.• The Internet contains primary documents, oral

histories, news sources and editorial commentaries.

• Students have a medium of self-expression and cultural exchange.

• Students must use critical thinking skills to evaluate information.

Anne Frank’s Stories and Events from the Annex.

Themes: What topics lend themselves to the medium?

• Chronology of the Holocaust including– Hitler’s early life and rise to power.– Development of Nazi Party and racial policy– Military expansion of Greater Germany and

incorporation of Eastern Europe into Nazi controlled territory.

– Conversion from de facto terrorism to genocide.

– Liberation and establishment of the state of Israel

Additional Topics for the Telecommunications Method

• Geography of Occupation and Camps• Progression of German military expansion.• The placement of slave labor, death, and

extermination camps.• Location and layout of uprisings and

resistance movements (ie., Warsaw Ghetto)• Biographical information on rescuers,

resistance leaders.

Geography of the Holocaust

More Topics For Internet Research

• 5 Million non-Jewish groups persecuted by the Nazi Party:– Gypsies– Homosexuals– Jehovah’s Witnesses– Mentally Disabled (T-4 program)– Communists– Christian Resistance workers.

Using the Internet for Contemporary Genocide Studies

• The Armenian Conflict of 1915

• “The Killing Fields” of Cambodia: late 1970s

• Rwanda: 1994• Bosnia-Herzegovina:

1995• Kosovo: 1999• Other human rights

abuses around the world.

A Student website on Kosovo

Methods: Ideas to use in the secondary classroom

• The Internet can be used to illustrate traditional lectures on the Holocaust.

• Students can conduct research to develop projects and papers on teacher-assigned topics.

• Students can develop their own web pages and PowerPoint presentations using the Internet.

A student-written short story

Project Tips• Students can work individually or

in groups of two or three. Four is the maximum.

• Provide a project calendar stating when elements are due.

• Have students create a storyboard or plan submitted to the teacher for approval.

• Reduce graphics file sizes either by file compression or file resize/resample to reduce download time and disk space.

More Project Tips• Set aside time to teach the

technology.• Provide links rather than

having students search.• Some websites may be

blocked due to graphic content.

• Preview incoming e-mail.• Review all outgoing mail

and pages.Town names at USHMM

Project Formats

• Photo Essay: Images of the Holocaust or of prejudice in today’s world.

• Artwork in oil, pencil, watercolor, or other medium.

• Interview with witness or expert.

• Recorded song, music or spoken word (poetry)

More Project Formats

• Video (requires video capture equipment and server to stream video content)

• Interactive Timeline• Movie review (Schindler’s List, Anne

Frank)• Formal Essay• Interactive Fact Game or Quiz • Email exchange (Keypals)

More Project Formats

• On-line newspaper, brochure, or magazine.

• Poetry with illustrations.• Web journal• Review of websites and

CD ROMs• Biographical Sketch• Fictional short story• PowerPoint Presentation

Tile from the USHMM

Adapting Projects for Students With Special Needs

• Use Inspiration software to help students create concept webs of challenging topics.

• Inspiration allows students to save their work as a web page (HTML).

• Use visual language and appeal to multiple intelligence to reach all learning styles.

• Cooperative learning: Each student has a role within the group: secretary, spokesperson, graphic artist, typist, etc.

Inspiration: Concept Webs

Evaluating Technology Projects• Create a rubric that assigns points for the

quality of work created by students.Go to http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

• Inform students regarding assessment guidelines: grades for content and product.

• Content:Historical accuracy and completeness.• Product: Originality, creativity, grammar and

cohesiveness.• Product: Consistent use of graphics, color, font,

images, symbols.

Technology: What Do You Need?

• Computers with Internet Access• A computer network is better than a

modem.• Internet Browser• Web publishing software (FrontPage 2000,

Dreamweaver, etc)• Graphics software (Adobe Photoshop, Paint

Shop Pro)

Technology: What Else Do You Need?

• Digital camera: Higher megapixels is good for resolution, bad for disk space/download time

• Scanner: To digitize student artwork.

• Digital video camera or video capture card.

• Software tools: Microsoft and Macromedia

• FTP: File Transfer Protocol

Sony’s Mavica Camera

Problems and Issues

“The Guide on the Side”

• Graphic nature of content makes presentation difficult.

• Careful teacher guidance needed on all projects

• Schools may block sensitive content.• Religion and academic content sometimes don’t mix.• Students must “unlearn” incorrect facts

• Emphasize understanding, courage, moral decisions rather than graphic violence, death, and destruction.•Schools may block sensitive content.•Religion and academic content sometimes don’t mix.•Teacher acts as “guide on the side” rather than “sage on the stage.”

More Problems and Issues

• Hate websites distort truth and cannot be used reliably as a source of information.

• Students need a good basis of knowledge before beginning a project.

• Copyright: Images and text must be in the public domain.

• Definitions: To whom does the term “Holocaust” belong?

Using the Internet to Promote Understanding

• Eliminate stereotypes through cultural expression.

• Have students exchange cultural data with other groups.

• Use current events to discuss political differences.

• Emphasize multicultural approaches to traditional curriculum. A student website

Electronic Resources• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

http://www.ushmm.org• Yad Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/• America and the Holocaust (PBS Video)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/html• Facing History and Ourselves http://www.facing.org• Classroom Connect: Teaching the Holocaust with the

Internet http://twi.classroom.com/holocaust• Simon Wiesenthal Center http://www.wiesenthal.com

More Electronic Resources

• Weisenthal: Multimedia Learning Center Online http://motlc.weisenthal.com

• The Nizkor Project http://www.nizkor.org• Cybrary of the Holocaust

http://www.remember.org/• CD: Lest We Forget, Endless Interactive, Logos

research Systems, Inc. 1996• CD: Survivors: Testimonies of the Holocaust,

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, 1999.

Print Resources

• Totten, Sam. Holocaust Education: Issues and Approaches, Allyn and Bacon, 2002.

• Berenbaum, Michael. The World Must Know:The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.

• Classroom Connect, Teaching the Holocaust With the Internet, 1998.

More Print Resources• Speigelman, Art, Maus,

A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Here My Troubles Began, Pantheon Books, 1993.

• Cassutto, Ernest, The Last Jew of Rotterdam, Pomegranate Press, 1974, 2000.

The Author’s Parents

From the Author

• Holocaust Journals http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/holocaust/holocaustjournals/opening.html

• The Cassutto Memorial Pages http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/memorial/dadmom.htm

The Cassutto Memorial Pages

More from the Author• Teaching the Holocaust from a Personal Perspective

http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/hololp.htm• How to Set Up A Website for Your School

http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/internet/howto/present.htm

• Civics Lesson Plans, Teachingpoint Publishers, 2003.

• Internet Pocket Guide for Teachers, Genium Publishers, 1999.