A Tragedy Revisited

As library media specialists, we work with teachers to develop instructional units that support the curriculum and ensure that students become effective users of information. And sometimes, we're able to team with a colleague on a truly meaningful learning experience for our students. For me, it was an online unit on the Holocaust that I created along with social studies teacher Scott Durham at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, MI. Our site, World War II: Prelude, Conduct, and Aftermath of the War (academic.kellogg.cc.mi.us/k12lincolnm/intro.html), provides a wonderful lesson on locating, evaluating, and effectively using information. Now all 27 social studies classes in our school—not to mention all of the district's high schools—use the site.

When Durham and I were chosen as American Memory Fellows at the Library of Congress in 2000, we created a Web-based instructional unit on World War I, which now appears on the Learning Page of the Library of Congress (memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/00/lincolnm/intro.html). Similarly, our Holocaust Web site illustrates the importance of primary sources, but we've customized it for classroom use by dividing it into three main sections: the Teacher Page, the Student Page, and the Resources Page.

Educators who click the Teacher Page hyperlink will find a list of questions that are aligned with Michigan's social studies curriculum standards. Teachers are also supplied with lists of lecture and reading materials, primary and secondary source materials, as well as video presentations that include documentaries such as Holocaust on Trial. At the unit's end, students are graded on a written exam and an inquiry-based research project.

By following a sequence of six steps on the Student Page, teens learn to develop a subject-related question into a researchable topic, design a research strategy, and devise a coherent thesis. First, students are given examples of hypothetical questions (What might have happened if the Allies had bombed German railways leading to the concentration camps?), probing questions (What remnants of hope would a teenager in the Warsaw ghetto still have held on to?), and provocative questions (Should some Nazi war criminals have been spared the death penalty and forced to make amends, perhaps working for the betterment of the Jewish people?). Students are then asked to develop information-seeking strategies, locate and use information, and then organize and present their findings. Finally, classmates evaluate the projects.

The Resources Page lists dozens of recommended online, print, and audiovisual materials for students. They range from We Remember the Holocaust (Holt, 1995) by David A. Adler to online illustrated articles from the Holocaust Learning Center. The page also includes a chronology of the war, as well as a document analysis guide that lists important questions to help students evaluate these resources.

As an extension to the lesson, we helped organize a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibition in Battle Creek last year on Oskar Schindler, the German-Catholic industrialist and rescuer of many Jews during the Holocaust. Site visitors viewed photographs, documents, and the names of the people saved by Schindler.

To help launch the exhibition, supported by a Kellogg Foundation grant, Nesse Godin, a Holocaust survivor, spoke to a packed audience at the Battle Creek Federal Center. Godin also gave a memorable address to the students and staff at our high school and met individually with our social studies students. Afterwards, many spoke of gaining a heightened awareness of the tragedy and moral dilemmas posed by the Holocaust. Such a response only strengthens the commitment of librarians and teachers to work together in promoting these kinds of educational opportunities.