Orange County Register Story: US Holocaust Memorial Museum CA Teacher Forum

While I was participating in the Southern California Education Forum on Holocaust Education, Cameron Andrews, a writer for the Education section of the OC Register wanted to ask me questions for his upcoming article.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum California Teacher Forum / Orange County Register Story Questions

What grade(s) do you teach?
I currently hold a single-subject credential in the Social Sciences as well as a supplemental in English-Language Arts. Being a substitute teacher at the moment, I prefer to substitute at the middle or high school level.

What school do you teach at in the Irvine Unified School District (optional)?

N/A

Why are you attending the California Teacher Forum?

I am attending the California Teacher Forum on how to teach the Holocaust because I am hoping to be provided with a variety of great resources and presentations on how to approach teaching the Holocaust to students in this present day and age. Not only that, but the Forum provides lectures and information sessions from professionals whose expertise is in this delicate subject matter. Other than presentations from experts, attending the Forum will also allow me to collaborate with other teachers as well as any organizations that concentrate on Holocaust education (i.e. USC Shoah Institute for Visual History and Education, Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, to name a few). As you can see, the California Teacher Forum offers educators, such as myself, a vital outlet of sources to share and learn from, which will benefit everyone in the long run, especially the students for whom we teach.

What are your expectations?
Since it is my first attendance in a California Teacher Forum, my expectations are mainly geared towards the question of how will I be able to teach the Holocaust to students, especially considering the many challenges educators face nowadays (which will be explained in one of the later questions). If I walk out of this event at the end of this 3-day forum knowing more about Holocaust education than when I first stepped in, then the California Teacher Forum has met my expectations. Once the Forum began on the first day, within the first few seconds of hearing Peter Fredlake, the representative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, speak his welcoming remarks, I immediately knew that this educational forum would meet my expectations and much more.

Have you attended the California Teacher Forum before? If so, what did you like best about the experience?

No, I have never attended the California Teacher Forum before, so this was definitely an exciting experience for me. I have always been fascinated about the Holocaust (when I was a student myself and now even when I am the educator) and I know students share the same fascination. Why? Because the Holocaust is considered one of the most significant examples throughout history where we doubt humanity's love and respect for our fellow human beings and ask questions as to why we let such an atrocity occur. As for what I love best about the experience, it was definitely learning about all the available resources out there, resources I never knew existed, that would assist me when teaching about the Holocaust. These resources are not just loaded with facts and data or primary sources, but they also offer sample lesson plans and curriculum to model off of or to adapt to students. The sample lesson plans/curriculum are designed to help students improve or develop their critical thinking skills. A great example would be the testimonials by partisans, armed resistance fighters, available on the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. This resource enforces one of the most vital aspects about teaching history--introducing multiple perspectives. Who knew there existed Jews as well as non-Jews who resisted the German forces?

What’s the biggest challenge in teaching the Holocaust to today’s students?

There are many challenges today when it comes to teaching the Holocaust to students. I believe the biggest challenge would be related to what students take from this learning experience and whether or not they took the knowledge they learned and applied it to the ethical/moral choices they make in life. This proves difficult because educators have to find a way for students to emotionally connect to the Holocaust rather than believe that it is just an event that occurred in the past full of statistical data and information to memorize and regurgitate. Students have to realize that the Holocaust is much more than that, and that is where most educators, such as myself, may come across roadblocks. We may have students from inner-city communities who have their own challenges in life and have no interest with what occurred in the past to people they never meant on the other side of the world, students from affluent communities who have trouble understanding since it is so vitally different from the environment they grew up in, or we may have a mixture of students with different backgrounds who just can not relate. They need that emotional connection to really benefit from learning about the Holocaust. How do we take Holocaust statistics and place a face on it so that the students may develop that emotional connection? Can we maybe relate it to current events around the world? Then again, that produces another challenge--making sure not to trivialize the Holocaust by comparing it to the modern day genocide that continues in the present. And if we do have a successful curriculum in our hands, will we have enough time to cover it all and still meet the national standards as well as the benchmark deadline? Many people may think that teaching the Holocaust may be simple, but teaching it EFFECTIVELY is another matter.

Anything else that you would like to add?

The Holocaust is one of the topics students truly enjoy and remember throughout their lives. As a result, educators should take this opportunity to hopefully build the moral character of our students, the future generation, through Holocaust education. I believe the Social Sciences and Language Arts are taught so students may take these teachable moments and develop into citizens who make the right choices when it comes to moral/ethical decisions they have to make it life, not only on the domestic home front but also throughout the global community.

 All the supplementary materials offered through the workshop. 

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Article submission by Cameron Andrews. 

Orange County Teacher Learns Teachable Holocaust Moments

A three-day educational forum, “11th Annual Southern California Teacher Forum on Holocaust Education: Teaching about the Holocaust” presented by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently in Los Angeles helped more than 120 California teachers learn how to teach the Holocaust and how to make it relevant to students who don’t think this history applies to them.

“Part of the job of teaching the Holocaust is making students aware that genocide did not stop in 1945,” said Mark Gudgel, a member of the Regional Education Corps, a group of master teachers drawn from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellowship Program that implements educational programming on a national level. “Our program also examines the mass killings perpetrated in Rwanda, Bosnia and Sudan in recent years.”

California is one of six states that require Holocaust education in secondary schools.

Some of the world’s most prominent experts in the Holocaust and genocide spoke to teachers to provide insight to teaching methodologies, content, and contemporary issues associated with history.

Diana Nguyen, a teacher in the Irvine Unified School District, believes the biggest challenge in teaching the Holocaust is finding a way for students to connect its lessons to their everyday lives.

“As educators we face students who may have their own challenges in life and have no interest with what occurred in the past to people they never met on the other side of the world,” said Nguyen. “We have to find a way for students to connect to the Holocaust rather than believe that it is just a past event full of statistical data and information to memorize and regurgitate.”

Teachers learned of resources such as lesson plans and curriculum, guidelines of how to present this history in a thought-provoking and responsible way, and the museum’s online free resources at http://www.ushmm.org.

“Our mission is to encourage students and teachers beyond statistics and facts to emotionally connect with individual, relatable stories of Survivors,” said Peter J. Fredlake, Director, National Outreach for Teacher Initiatives, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Tools like the online video testimonials of Survivors and identification cards profiling the experiences of people who lived in Europe during the Holocaust help students to personalize the historical events of the time.”

Nguyen sees in her students a fascination with the Holocaust and believes that this is a ripe opportunity where students may take these teachable moments and develop into citizens who make the right choices when it comes to moral and ethical decisions they have to make in life.

“The Holocaust is considered one of the most significant examples throughout history where we doubt humanity's love and respect for our fellow human beings and ask questions as to why we let such an atrocity occur.”

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanent place on the National Mall, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by generous donors.