Teaching the Holocaust/Meaningful Experiences

This year I wanted to try something different when teaching the obviously important lessons of the Holocaust. I have been feeling that students are not getting the full feeling of it, since they have been taught it for so long. I had been thinking that they are desensitized to it, because of all the violence they see on a regular basis. Most of all, I think they are detached from it, since it is history.

So, I decided to contact the Illinois Holocaust Muesum to find out about getting a speaker. Now, at my school, we are not allowed to have field trips-importance of state testing all of that-so I couldn't bring them to the museum. We also are "too close" to the museum for them to send a speaker out. Enter technology.

Today we Skyped with Max Epstein, a survivor. I cannot even begin to describe the impact of his talk to us. This man took two hours of his day to discuss with my two different classes his time in WWII. He discussed being at the camps, he was at 7 different ones, and his time in the ghettos. But what was most influential, was his discussion on the lessons he learned. He spoke to my students about a SS guard who was nice to him, and helped him, and from this he learned never to judge people by their affiliations. This was such a powerful message for my high school students. They live in a world that is all about judgement. They are living in a world where bullying is running rampant. To hear this man say those words truly impacted my life, and the student's lives.

It was an incredible day. After the class, one of my students stuck around. She wanted to thank me for bringing such a moving experience to the class. She said she was so excited that she would be able to tell her children in the future that she was able to speak to a Holocaust survivor. She wanted to tell me how important his words were to him. I almost cried.

The world can be brought into the classroom. There are no limitations that can't be overcome. We, as teachers, have the power to bring in meaningful experiences. The kind that make your former students say "why didn't we do that when I was in your class" because each year you get better as a teacher. Mostly because each year they deserve more. The students deserve our best.