Exploring What it Means to Be
Human Through the Voices of the
Holocaust
An Instructional Unit Designed for 10th Graders
Bri tta ny Va nd ergri ff & S arah Rob b i ns
LAE 4335.001
C.Edge
Rationale
What does it mean to be human? How does our view on human value
shape how life is viewed and valued? These questions will encompass the
overall theme for the unit plan on the Holocaust. The concepts central to the
Holocaust include personal freedoms, hate, prejudice, anti-Semitism, genocide,
perseverance, family, and propaganda.
These concepts all help tie the unit back to the question, “what does it
mean to be human?” It is necessary to teach this unit keeping in mind these
concepts to understand our past in order to change the future. Teaching the
Holocaust from various perspectives, helps to promote understanding and
tolerance. The unit can be taught through use of a wide range of mediums;
including, novels, poetry, speeches, newspaper articles, and movies. The use of
various mediums allows students of all learning styles to be engaged.
Teaching the Holocaust, introduces students to the idea of civic
awareness. Units centered on the idea of civic awareness help students to
understand their roles as citizens in their communities, states, and nations
(Smagorinsky 143). Students will be examining the ideas of rights and
responsibilities and how they relate to the ways a society views the value of
human life. Making students more aware of their rights and responsibilities as well
as the rights and responsibilities of others helps produce more knowledgeable
citizens.
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Teaching the Holocaust, under the umbrella of what it means to be
human, discusses social problems of both the past and present; those issues
being prejudice, and discrimination. When addressing the social problems, it is
also necessary to address the needs of the social environment. Addressing both
the problems and the needs of society helps to create a more understanding,
compassionate community and society.
Texts:
Night- Elie Wiesel
The book, Night, explores the darkest points in the Holocaust from a first
hand account. Elie Wiesel and his father experienced time in the ghettos, and
one of the most notorious concentration camps, Auschwitz. Wiesel describes the
warning signs leading to the eventual detainment in concentration camps- he
also describes the process of selection, and the brutality suffered at the hands of
the guards.
This novel gives readers a real look at the experiences of a son and his
father. It is a true account, and won Elie Wiesel a Nobel Peace Prize. The book is
well written, and is age appropriate.
Alicia: My Story- Alicia Appleman-Jurman (excerpts)
A handout containing details of Alicia Jurman’s Holocaust story will be
given to students as a companion reading to Night. Alicia Jurman was a young
Jewish girl whose family was torn apart by the Holocaust. She acted in a
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moment of heroism to save the life of her mother. The excerpts that will be used
give another real look at the experiences of those that survived the Holocaust.
The viewpoint in this novel comes from a young girl and her experiences as a
young woman in the Holocaust. It gives another voice to the exploration into
what it means to be human.
Ten Hours: A Holocaust Short Story
This short story details a man named Yossi, and the ten hours that led him
to death in the concentration camps. The short story gives a glimpse into a
guard that was forced to be part of the concentration camps. Because this
story is fictional, we are able to be lead in a first person telling to the moment
that death happens. It is a great short story that introduces a new style of writing
and delivers a powerful message.
We Will Never Forget Auschwitz – Alexander Kimel
This poem, written by a Holocaust survivor, is a great learning tool as it
introduces a new style of writing and delivers a powerful message.
Movies:
The Wave
The Wave is a film that documents an experiment that took place in a
classroom with the intention to explore how the Holocaust happened, and if it
could happen again. This film takes a real look at what it means to be human.
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Unit Goals & Rubrics
Overarching Theme/Question/Idea:
What does it mean to be human?
This unit is intended to open students’ minds and eyes to various human voices
through the context of the Holocaust.
Goals:



Students will read, evaluate, discuss, and respond to a variety of
Holocaust literature.
Students will participate in literature circles to demonstrate ability to work
cooperatively and think critically
Students will demonstrate ability to research using various media, through
the completion of a multi-genre project
In Process/ Culminating Texts:
Cumulative Portfolio of Student Learning
This will be a portfolio of student work in the format of a binder. The portfolio will
contain various writings, artifacts, and responses that students produce over the
course of the unit. This portfolio is intended to document students’ learning
experiences, critical thoughts, and personal responses as we explore voices and
perspectives of the Holocaust. Students are expected to take pride in their
work, and creating a portfolio comprised of personal reflections and artifacts
that document their hard efforts will help them value their learning
achievements.
The portfolio will be assessed using the following rating scale:
Criteria
Includes multiple entries
per week
Includes thoughtful
responses to daily task
Is neat and logically
organized
Not Present
0
0
Okay
1
1
Good
2
2
Excellent
3
3
0
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
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Each entry is dated
Is turned in on time
Each entry is clearly
labeled
0
0
0
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
Score___/(18)=___%
Literature Circles
Students will participate in one of four literature circles. Literature circles allow
students to have autonomy over their learning. Literature circles also provide a
sense of belonging and safety within the context of the classroom. As students
discuss weekly, they will develop connections and an understanding amongst
their peers. Together they will discuss the primary text Night, as well as the
discussion of an alternative novel of choice. Students will rotate specific roles in
the literature circle, giving each student the chance to contribute to the group
in a meaningful way. Roles also allow students to excel beyond what they may
normally feel comfortable doing, giving them each opportunities to explore new
avenues to understanding and exploring text.
The literature circle roles will include:
WordSmith
Illustrator
Illuminator
Summarizer
While reading the assigned section, you watch out for
words worth knowing. These words might be interesting,
new, important, or used in unusual ways. It is important to
indicate the specific location of the words so the group
can discuss these words in context.
Your role is to draw what you read. This might mean
drawing a scene as a cartoonlike sequence or an
important scene so readers can better understand the
action. You can draw maps or organizational trees to show
how one person, place, or event relates to the others. Use
the notes area to explain how your drawing relates to the
text. Label your drawings so we know who the characters
are.
You find passages your group would like to/should hear
read aloud.
These passages should be memorable, interesting, puzzling,
funny, or important. Your notes should include the
quotations but also why you chose them, and what you
want to say about them. You can either read the passage
aloud yourself or ask members of your group to read roles.
Prepare a brief summary of the day’s reading. Use the
questions to the right to help you decide what to include.
In some cases, you might ask yourself what details,
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Connecter
Discussion Director
characters, or events are so important that they would be
included on an exam. If it helps you to organize the
information, consider making a numbered list or a timeline.
Your job is to connect what you read with what you study
in this or other classes. You can also connect the story with
events in your own life or the world outside school as
depicted in the news or other media. Another valuable
source of connections is books you’ve already read this
year. Connections should be meaningful to you and those
in your group.
Your role demands that you identify the important aspects
of your assigned text, and develop questions your group
will want to discuss. Focus on the major themes or “big
ideas” in the text and your reaction to those ideas. What
interests you will most likely interest those in your group. You
are also responsible for facilitating your group’s discussion.
Roles from: Burke, Jim. Tools for Teachers. “Lit Circle Notes”.
< http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/litcirclepacket.pdf>
Since literature circles are based around students’ personal involvement and
decision-making, they will complete a self-evaluation as a form of assessment,
once a week. Self-evaluation is a critical part of students becoming responsible
in their personal and professional. The Teacher will also assess the student, using
the same rubric. This will allow the teacher and student both to monitor
intellectual progress though literature circles. Students will also take part in
occasional quizzes and written assignments to help drive learning and
engagement (These additional items will be included in the portfolio).
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Name:_________________________ LC Group___________ Date_____________
Literature Circle Self Evaluation Rubric:
1
2
3
I participated in
the discussion
sometimes, But
didn’t offer
many opinions,
ask many
questions, or
make many
personal
connections.
I participated
proficiently in
the discussion,
offered
insightful
opinions, and
made
connections to
the text
I participated
enthusiastically
in group
discussions
Offering
insightful and
thoughtful
opinions and
making
pertinent
connections to
the text.
Discussion
-Stayed on Topic
-Asked Open-Ended
Questions
-Added Appropriate
Input
-Showed respect by
taking turns
-Made Personal
Connections to the
text
I did not
participate
Reading
-Read the Selection in
its entirety
-Jot Down Quick
Notes to practice
active reading
I did not read
the book.
I did some of the
assigned
reading.
I read all of the
assigned
reading.
Preparation/RoleFulfillment
- Brought Book
- Completed my roletask
I was not
prepared. I
did not bring
my novel or
my fulfilled
role.
I forgot either
my novel or my
role.
Listening-Look at Speaker
-Listen to Understand
-Don’t Interrupt Others
I did not listen
to others
I listened to
others some of
the time. But I
found my mind
wandering.
4
My Response
1
2
3
4
I read all of the
reading and
took note of
important
Parts to share.
1
2
3
4
I was prepared
and brought
my novel and
my role.
I brought my
novel and
assigned role. I
read over my
contribution
before meeting
with my group
1
2
3
4
I carefully
listened to
others.
I listened to
others at all
times in an
attentive way,
and thought
about what was
said, trying to
make
connections.
1
2
3
4
Notes/Comments
Multi-Genre Research Project
Students will complete a multi-genre research project towards the end of this
unit to demonstrate their new knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust,
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gained by studying various literatures and performing their own personal
research. A multi-genre project is an alternative to the classic research paper. It
is a compilation of various genres of text, that still aim to argue a thesis, or prove
a central point. A multi-genre paper is personal, creative, and can’t be copied
from some other source. It involves the student, as a writer, making conscious
decisions about what information is important and how it should be presented
to the reader.
In keeping with our essential question: “What does it mean to be human?”
students will choose a character from Night, their Alternative Novel, or Holocaust
museum ID cards, or another researchable historical figure/ fictional character.
The project will be completed individually, it will contain a minimum of 5 pieces,
each a different genre. Some genres includes: poetry, diary, fiction, website,
and art forms. Students will be provided with a long list of ideas to choose from.
The project will be assessed in three parts 1) Required Elements 2) Each piece
individually 3) Overall quality and appeal of the project.
Adapted From: Hogue, Dawn. Your Multigenre Web. “Multigenre Web Rubric”. (2005).
<http://www.mshogue.com/ce9/multi_genre/mg_rubric.htm>
1. Required Elements
Poor 1-2
Average 3-4
Incredible 5
Title “page” includes:




title (not label)
your first name only
the date (due date)
teacher & course name
Table of contents page is complete
and well organized.
The opening/prologue meets
expectations given in the original
directions.
The epilogue/closing meets
expectations given in the original
directions.
The annotated bibliography correctly
lists all sources according to MLA
format, and annotations are complete
and easy to understand.
I have used repetition of
ideas/elements to create unity in my
multi-genre project; it is recognizable
and effective.
The overall presentation quality of my
project is inviting, flowing, and
coordinated.
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Score ____/(35)
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2. Individual
Pieces
Needs Work
Genre piece #1
Genre type:
1
2
Genre piece #2
Genre type:
1
2
Genre piece #3
Genre type:
1
Genre piece #4
Genre type:
Genre piece #5
Genre type:
Acceptable
3
Excellent
4
5
6
3
4
5
6
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
3
5
6
4
Score ___/(30)
Adapted from: < classrooms.tacoma.k12.wa.us/sota/.../multigenreportfoliorubric11.doc>
3. Overall Quality, Appeal, Impact
Holistic Scoring
Knocks me off my feet, bowls me over, so informative and emotionally
moving is the project. Throughout there is evidence of original thinking,
depth, specificity of detail, and delights of language or insight.
Research is interesting, surprising, and deftly, creatively incorporated
into the project. The project is rife with excellent writing that includes
attention to a pleasing visage of the page, action verbs, varied
sentence length, effective word choice, skilled placement of payoff
information, strong leads and endings, visual and other sensory imagery.
Evidence of revision and polish to individual elements is evident in the
final presentation.
41-50
A Good Project, I’m upbeat because the writer pays attention to many
of the elements that are mentioned above. The audience learns about
the chosen topic as a result of the project. The multi-genre project was
executed in a competent way, some individual work may be uneven in
execution- with some individual pieces shining through more than
others. Evidence of revision in discrete elements is uneven.
31-40
This project is complete or nearly there, but it has a “middle of the road”
feeling to it. The project shows inconsistencies in the writing, or lacks
important qualitative elements. Additional revision would improve the
21-30
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overall project.
This project is not complete and lacking important elements of the multigenre project. Material may seem perfunctory, as if written hastily and
never revised. Content may show limited insight and depth. Unification
of the project is uneven or not present.
This is not acceptable work, see your faculty. A parent teacher
conference may be required.
11-20
10 or below
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Unit Plan Weekly Overview
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Week
1
1
-What does it
mean to be
human?
-Into to unit
2
-Defining the
Holocaust
-Creating a
timeline of
events
3
-Power of
Words
-Introduction
to Night
4
-Night
Discussion
-Fishbowl
Exercise
5
-Night
Discussion
-Start
Literature
Circles
Week
2
6
-Night cont…
-Poetry
exploration
-Gaining
perspectives
7
-Night Cont…
-Literature
Circles Meet
8
-Night cont…
-Literature
Circles meet
9
-Night
cont…
-Reader
Response
10
-Night
conclusion.
-Reader
Response
Week
3
11
Night/Wrap Up
Intro to
Complementa
ry Novels
12
People of the
Holocaust:
Into to various
groups of
people. In
depth look of
each group
to follow.
13
Victims of the
Holocaust Pt.1
14
Victims of
the
Holocaust
Pt. 2
15
Perpetrators
in the
Holocaust Pt.
1
Week
4
16
Explanation of
Multi-Genre
Project
17
Perpetrators
in the
Holocaust Pt.
2
18
Bystanders in
the Holocaust
Pt.1
19
Bystanders
in the
Holocaust
Pt.2
20
Class
Workshop on
Multi-Genre
Projects
Week
5
21
Rescuers in the
Holocaust
Alicia: My
Story
22
Resisters in the
Holocaust Pt.1
23
Resisters in the
Holocaust Pt. 2
24
Liberators in
the
Holocaust
25
Class
Workshop
Week
6
26
Children in the
Holocaust Pt.1
Daniel’s Story
27
Children in
the Holocaust
Pt. 2
28
Survivors of the
Holocaust Pt. 1
29
Survivors of
the
Holocaust
Pt. 2
30
Multi-Genre
Project
Presentations
&
Symposium
Parents
Welcome.
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Week 1
Day 1/ Monday
Lesson Title: What does it mean to be human?
Lesson Overview: Students will be introduced into the unit question; What
does it mean to be human? Students will brainstorm answers to the
question, What does it mean to be human? These answers will be
recorded and the class will determine an overall classroom definition.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson will help students gain the background
knowledge needed to begin reading the classroom texts for this unit,
including the main text, Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:
a. Define what it means to be human.
Sunshine State Standards:
SS.912.W.1.1: Use timelines to establish cause and effect
relationships of historical events.
LA.910.1.6.10: The student will determine meanings of words,
pronunciation, parts of speech, etymologies, and alternate word
choices by using a dictionary, thesaurus, and digital tools; and
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Youtube.com video link
Journals
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (5 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and will take out their journals and
respond to the following quote:
“When we view people as things, we are capable of doing
anything to them.”
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
Class Discussion/Think-Pair-Share/ (35 minutes)
As a class we will begin to examine our unit question, “What does it
mean to be human?” Considering things such as human rights,
freedom, respect, and survival; students will complete a think-pairshare exercise, in which they will think individually, then collaborate
with a seat partner and finally share with the class their ideas about
what it means to be human.
Taking the overall idea from this in class discussion, a class definition
will be created- it will be an evolving definition, getting more
detailed as we delve into the unit.

Video/Wrap-up (10 minutes)
Students will watch a youtube.com video entitled, “What does it
mean to human?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feuLudwb68
Homework assignment: Students will be asked to interview family
members and friends about what it means to be human; they will
record the responses then compare and contrast the responses to
their own definition formed in class.
14 | P a g e
Week 1
Day 2/ Tuesday
Lesson Title: What was the Holocaust?
Lesson Overview: Students will begin to discuss the unit topic: the
Holocaust. Students will define the Holocaust, and explore important
dates to form a timeline. This timeline will be used throughout the course
of this unit as we explore different texts.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson will help students gain the background
knowledge needed to begin reading the classroom texts for this unit,
including the main text, Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:



define the Holocaust
create an organized timeline based on important Holocaust dates
take a look at the Holocaust as it relates to the unit question, What
does it mean to be human?.
Sunshine State Standards:
SS.912.W.1.1: Use timelines to establish cause and effect
relationships of historical events.
LA.910.1.6.10: The student will determine meanings of words,
pronunciation, parts of speech, etymologies, and alternate word
choices by using a dictionary, thesaurus, and digital tools; and
instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Youtube.com video link
Journals
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (5 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and will take out their journals and
respond to the following poem:
First They Came For the Jews
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By Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out- because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
And I did not speak out- because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out- because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for meAnd by then there was no one left to speak out for me.

Video/Introduction into Unit Topic: The Holocaust (20 minutes)
Students will begin introduction into unit topic by watching a
youtube.com video entitled “He We Are (Holocaust)”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aByQl9P1c_0&feature=related
Following the viewing, students will be given a few minutes to
verbally respond to what they viewed; how did it make them feel?
Did it give them a sense of what the Holocaust was all about?

Class Activity: Timeline (25 minutes)
The teacher will ask for 12 volunteers to each read a notecard with
an important event from the Holocaust, and then will add it to a
timeline (the timeline will be set up prior to class, and will be located
on a bulletin board to reflect back on the entire unit). Each event
will be key in understanding how the Holocaust happened, and will
be useful as we read through the various Holocaust texts to refer
back to. As we read through the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel along
with the other texts that will brought into the class, students will be
encouraged to add onto the timeline, with events specific to their
characters experiences.
List of Timeline Events:
1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany. The Nazi Party Takes
Control. First permanent concentration camp, Dachau, is
established.
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1935: Nuremberg Race laws; Jews are denied German citizenship.
1936: SS renames its units deployed to concentration camps “Death
Head Units”.
1938: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass): a government organized
attack against Jews in Germany, Austria, and Poland. It included
widespread destruction of synagogues, businesses and homes. 19
people were killed.
1939: Hitler violates the Munich Agreement of 1938- when he
invades and dismembers Czechoslovakia. September of 1939,
Germany invades Poland, starting WWII in Europe. In November of
1939, the first ghetto is established in Poland. Jews in occupied
Poland are forced to wear armbands bearing the star of David for
identification.
1940: May- Auschwitz concentration camp is established. German
authorities seal off ghettos in Poland.
1941: July 31- Nazi security police chief Reinhard Heydrich is given
authorization to plan a “final solution” to the “Jewish question”. The
construction of Auschwitz-Birkneau camp begins. December 8- the
first killing centers in Nazi-occupied Poland begin operation.
1942: The Wannsee Conference held in Berlin in January ensures full
cooperation of all state, Nazi party, and SS agencies in
implementing “The Final Solution”; a plan to murder the European
Jews under the coordination of the SS and police.
1943: More than 4 million Jews are murdered by the end of the year.
1944: Germany occupies Hungary in March. Between late April and
early July around 440,000 Jews are deported- mostly to Auschwitz.
Himmler orders a halt to the Final Solution in November; also orders
the destruction of gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkneau.
1945: January 27- Auschwitz liberated. April 11- Burchenwald
liberated. November 20- Nuremberg Trials begin (International
Military Tribunal).
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Homework assignment: Students will be given an identification card
courtesy of the United States Holocaust Museum’s online resources.
The identification cards describe the experiences of those that were
hid or rescued, as well as those that survived internment in the
ghettos and concentration camps; some of them tell the stories of
those that died. It will be the responsibility of the student to create a
timeline based on the information provided on the identification
card.
(http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/resource/pdf/idc
ards.pdf)
18 | P a g e
Week 1
Day 3/ Wednesday
Lesson Title: Power of Words/Introduction to book, Night.
Lesson Overview: Students will listen to a clip of a speech given by Adolf
Hitler in order to recognize propaganda techniques. Students will be
asked to record the feelings that arose when listening to the speech.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson will help students gain the background
knowledge needed to begin reading the classroom texts for this unit,
including the main text, Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:

Identify propaganda techniques used by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
Party in carrying out the Holocaust.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.5.2.1: The student will use appropriate listening strategies
according the intended purpose (e.g., solving problems,
interpreting and evaluating the techniques and intent of the
presentation);
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Youtube.com video link
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (5 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and will take out their journals and
respond to the following quote:
“But nor have I left any doubt that if the nations of Europe are once
more to be treated only as collections of stocks and shares of these
international conspirators in money and finance, then those who carry the
real guilt for the murderous struggle, this people will also be held
19 | P a g e
responsible: the Jews! I have further left no one in doubt that this time it will
not be only millions of children of Europeans of the Aryan peoples who will
starve to death, not only millions of grown men who will suffer death, and
not only hundreds of thousands of women and children who will be
burned and bombed to death in the cities, without those who are really
responsible also having to atone for their crime, even if by more humane
means...But before everything else I call upon the leadership of the nation
and those who follow it to observe the racial laws most carefully, to fight
mercilessly against the poisoners of all the peoples of the world,
international Jewry.” – Adolf Hitler taken from his last testament.

Video: Hitler Speech/Response (15 minutes)
Students will watch a youtube.com video of a speech given by
Hitler discussing the problem of the world as Hitler viewed things. The
video is intended to elicit an emotional response from students;
whether that is anger or disgust, or even admiration at Hitler’s
speaking abilities.
Following the clip, students will be given 10 minutes to discuss the
clip; how it made them feel, etc.

Lecture on the Power of Words (15 minutes)
During this lecture, students will be asked to consider how people
could have gotten so wrapped up into the words of Hitler, and how
those words and that influence led to the death of millions of Jews.
Propaganda techniques such as emotional appeal will be
discussed in this lecture.

Introduction to Night/ Distribution of Text(20 minutes)
Students will view a Powerpoint presentation giving a brief overview
of Elie Wiesel and his journey through the Holocaust. Following this
presentation, students will receive a copy of the novel, Night. Elie
Wiesal Intro. .pptx (Item 1.2)
Homework assignment: Students will read the Preface and the
Forward from the novel. As they read, students will be asked to
consider why Wiesel felt it necessary to write the book, and what
did he feel was the importance of telling his story?
20 | P a g e
Week 1
Day 4/ Thursday
Lesson Title: Night.
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the previous nights reading, and will
respond to various quotes from the text.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson is designed to elicit higher level thinking when
studying the novel, Night.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:

Participate in higher level thinking and class discussion.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the authors purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (10 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and will take out their journals and
respond to one of the following quotes:
“But how was one to rehabilitate and transform words betrayed
and perverted by the enemy? Hunger-thirst-fear-transport-selectionfire-chimney: these words all have intrinsic meaning, but in those
times, they meant something else.” (Night, ix)
“Could men and women who consider it normal to assist the weak,
to heal the sick, to protect small children, and to respect the
21 | P a g e
wisdom of their elders understand what happened there? Would
they be able to comprehend how, within that cursed universe, the
masters tortured the weak and massacred the children, the sick,
and the old?” (Night, x)
“But is there hope? Is there hope in memory? There must be.
Without hope memory would be morbid and sterile. Without
memory, hope would be empty of meaning, and above all, empty
of gratitude.” (Wiesel, Days of Remembrance address- 2002)

Class Discussion: Fish Bowl (30 minutes)
Students will be labeled a one or a two- one’s will be inside the fish
bowl discussion first, while the two’s will be active observers (this
includes taking notes, etc). Following the one’s being inside the fish
bowl, the two’s will have a go at it. Each student is expected to
participate. The first discussion question will be “Why did Elie Wiesel
write Night?”, students will be expected to support answer based
on the reading from the previous night. The second discussion
question will be “What was the importance of telling Wiesel’s story?”

Wind Down (10 minutes)
Students will be able to journal about the discussion, the bell work
prompts, or read silently.
Homework assignment: Students will read the page 3-22 in Night.
22 | P a g e
Week 1
Day 5/ Friday
Lesson Title: Night continued…
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the previous nights reading, and will
respond to various quotes from the text.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson is designed to elicit higher level thinking when
studying the novel, Night.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:

Participate in higher level thinking and class discussion.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the author’s purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (10 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and will take out their journals and
describe the significance of the following quotes in relation to one
another:
“Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us. Annihilate an
entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so
many nations So many millions of people! By what means In the
middle of the twentieth century!” (Night, 8)
23 | P a g e
“ The Germans were already in our town, the Fascists were already
in power, the verdict was already out- and the Jews of Sighet were
still smiling.” (Night, 10)
“The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal…” (Poor Father! Of what
then did you die?) (Night, 11)
“The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by
delusion.” (Night, 12)

Class Discussion: Introduction to Literature Circles (30 minutes)
Students will be broken into groups of 5 to form literature circles.
These groups will remain in tact for the remaining time of the unit. As
students discuss weekly, they will develop connections and an
understanding amongst their peers. Together they will discuss the
primary text, Night, as well as the discussion of an alternative novel
of choice. Students will rotate specific roles in the literature circle,
giving each student the chance to contribute to the group in a
meaningful way.
Students will receive a handout (see Item 1.3)including all the roles
of the literature circle: wordsmith, illustrator, illuminator, summarizer,
and connector.

Literature Circle Work Time (10 minutes)
Students will get into their groups and assign roles for the weekends
reading assignment. Each student will be expected to fulfill the
duties of their assigned role for Monday’s class.
Homework assignment: Students will read the pages 23-28 and 2946 in Night. Students will complete their assigned literature circle role
for class discussion on Monday.
24 | P a g e
Week 2
Day 6/ Monday
Lesson Title: Night continued…
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the previous nights reading, and will
respond to various quotes from the text. Students will also begin to read
and discuss other Holocaust stories in addition to Night.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson is designed to elicit higher level thinking when
studying the novel, Night and to encourage the exploration of many texts
on one topic to gain multiple perspectives.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:


Participate in higher-level thinking and class discussion.
Compare and contrast texts.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the author’s purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
LA.910.1.7.6: The student will analyze and evaluate similar themes or
topics by different authors across a variety of fiction and nonfiction
selections;
LA.910.1.7.7: The student will compare and contrast elements in
multiple texts;
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Class handout: “We Will Never Forget Auschwitz” Poetry Handout (Item 2.1)
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (15 minutes)
25 | P a g e
Students will enter the classroom and will begin silent reading a
handout synopsis of “We Will Never Forget Auschwitz” by a
Holocaust Survivor.

Classroom Discussion: Night and “We Will Never Forget” (35 minutes)
To begin this discussion, the class will start off volunteering parts of
each reading that they found particularly powerful or moving. If not
mentioned by students, teacher will make sure the following
sections are discussed:
-
Mrs. Schachter and the foreshadowing of the “fire”.
“Never Shall I forget that night…” (Page 34)
“Those were the first human words.” (Page 41)
“I became A-7712. From then on I had no other name.” (Page
42)
Teacher will handout a Venn diagram worksheet, and together with
students, will create a compare/contrast chart discussing the main text
and the handout on “We Will Never Forget Auschwitz”. venn
diagram.docx (Item 2.2)
Homework assignment: Students will continue to read the
completing pages 47-65 in Night. Literature Circles will work in class
on Tuesday.
26 | P a g e
Week 2
Day 7/ Tuesday
Lesson Title: Literature Circle Workday
Plan for the Day:
Students will work in their groups to ensure each student is completing their assigned works, and
they are prepared to present on Wednesday.
Literature Circle Groups are responsible for covering pages 23 through 65 in Night.





WordSmith: Should have a minimum of 15 words worth knowing to share.
Illustrator: Should have a minimum of 3 detailed illustrations, diagrams,
maps, etc.
Illuminator: Should have a minimum of 4 scenes to read aloud, and the
reason they were chosen.
Summarizer: Should have 3 summaries. [Summarize the sections as follows:
section1= pages23-28, section2=pages29-46, section 3=47-65.]
Connector: Should make connections to the poem read in class, as well
as an outside piece of literature found by student.
Homework: be prepared to share in class Wednesday.
27 | P a g e
Week 2
Day 8/ Wednesday
Lesson Plan Title: Literature Circles Share Day.
Homework: Read pages 66-84 in Night.
28 | P a g e
Week 2
Day 9/ Thursday
Lesson Title: Night continued…
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the previous nights reading, and will
respond to various quotes from the text. Students will also begin to read
and discuss other Holocaust stories in addition to Night.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson is designed to elicit higher level thinking when
studying the novel, Night and to encourage the exploration of many texts
on one topic to gain multiple perspectives.
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:


Participate in higher-level thinking and class discussion.
Compare and contrast texts.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the author’s purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
LA.910.1.7.6: The student will analyze and evaluate similar themes or
topics by different authors across a variety of fiction and nonfiction
selections;
LA.910.1.7.7: The student will compare and contrast elements in
multiple texts;
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (10 minutes)
29 | P a g e
Students will enter the classroom and take out their journals and
respond to one of the following quotations from the previous nights
readings:
“Those whose numbers had been noted were standing apart,
abandoned by the whole world. Some were silently weeping.”
(Night 72)
“Here, take this knife,” he said. “I won’t need it anymore. You may
find it useful. Also take this spoon. Don’t sell it. Quickly! Go ahead,
take what I’m giving you!” My inheritance. (Night 75)
“I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept
his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.” (Night 81)

Lecture/Class Discussion (35 minutes)
Students will be encouraged to share and discuss parts of the book
they found most profound and moving. If not mentioned by
students, the teacher will mention the following:
o “Whenever he could, he would “organize” a cauldron of
soup for the young, for the weak, for all those who dreamed
more of an extra portion of food than of liberty.” (Night 51)
o “For God’s sake, where is God? “ And from within me, I heard
a voice answer: “Where He is? This is where- hanging here
from this gallows…” That night, the soup tasted of corpses.”
(Night, 65)
o The word “last” as it applies to the experiences of Elie and his
father.
o The importance of the inheritance. (P.75)
o The final missed opportunity to escape (P. 82)
o Loss of faith in God, Only faith in Hitler (P. 77, P.81)
Homework assignment: Students will continue to read, finishing the
novel Night.
30 | P a g e
Week 2
Day 10/ Friday
Lesson Title: Night conclusion.
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the previous nights reading, and will
respond to various quotes from the text.
Lesson Rationale: This lesson is designed to elicit higher level thinking when
studying the novel, Night .
Lesson Objectives: Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will
be able to:


Participate in higher-level thinking and class discussion.
Compare and contrast texts.
Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the author’s purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
LA.910.1.7.6: The student will analyze and evaluate similar themes or
topics by different authors across a variety of fiction and nonfiction
selections;
LA.910.1.7.7: The student will compare and contrast elements in
multiple texts;
Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Journals
Class set: Night, by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Sequence (50 minutes):

Bell Work (10 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and take out their journals and
respond to one of the following quotations from the previous nights
readings:
31 | P a g e
“From time to time, a shot exploded in the darkness. They had
orders to shoot anyone who could not sustain the pace. Their fingers
on the triggers, they did not deprive themselves of the pleasure. If
one of us stopped for a second, a quick shot eliminated the filthy
dog.” (Night 85)
“We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world. We had
transcended everything-death, fatigue, our natural needs. We were
stronger than cold and hunger, stronger than the guns and the
desire to die, doomed and rootless, nothing but numbers, we were
the only men on earth.” (Night 87)

Discussion (35 minutes)
The class will discuss the topic of death, and the fight for survival as
is seen in the final chapters of the novel. Students will consider the
following things during this discussion:
o Contrasting father-son relationships [Elie & his father, Rabbi
Eliahu & his son, Little Meir and his father on the train]
o The need to survive for others: Elie for this father, Juliek for his
chance to play Beethoven, etc.
The discussion will include in depth look at the following
quotes:
 “Death enveloped me, it suffocated me. It stuck to me
like glue. I felt I could touch it. The idea of dying, of
ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer
exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot.
To no longer feel anything, neither fatigue nor cold,
nothing. To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of
the road…My father’s presence was the only thing that
stopped me.” (Night 86)
 “…our hearts empty and heavy, our brains a whirlwind
of decaying memories. Our minds numb with
indifference. Here or elsewhere, what did it matter? Die
today or tomorrow, or later? The night was growing
longer, never-ending.” (Night 98)
Homework: Students will be given a worksheet of essay questions relating to the
novel, Night. They must answer a minimum of 3 questions with a thoughtful, in
depth analysis based on textual evidence.
32 | P a g e
Week 3
Day 11/ Monday
Lesson Title: Night Wrap Up/ Introduction to Complementary Books
1. Lesson Overview: Today we will be wrapping up our main discussion of Night;
however, Night will continue to remain an intricate part of our discussions and
studies. Students will be instructed to choose an alternative young adult book
from a list to read, we will go over some of the book selections, and will talk
about the importance of multiple voices.
2. Lesson Rationale: This lesson is important to transition students from reading the
primary text Night and to provide them with autonomy in choosing a
complementary novel. The complementary novel is intended to give students
another perspective of the Holocaust
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will:
 Examine purpose in writing of the memoir Night
 Describe the effectiveness of Night in accomplishing its purpose
4. Sunshine State Standards:
o LA.910.2.1.7: The student will analyze, interpret, and evaluate an
author's use of descriptive language (e.g., tone, irony, mood,
imagery, pun, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion), figurative
language (e.g., symbolism, metaphor, personification, hyperbole),
common idioms, and mythological and literary allusions, and
explain how they impact meaning in a variety of texts;
o LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the authors purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect
meaning;
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
List of Alternative Books
Journals
6. Lesson Sequence

Check-In/ Focus: (5-10 min)
o Take Attendance
o Have students reflect on their experience reading Night. Think
about new knowledge, new perspective, and new insights. What
do you know now that you didn’t know before? What would you
33 | P a g e
still like to learn? What are unanswered questions that you have? If
you could ask Elie Wiesel any question, what would you ask him?

Explicit Instruction:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Teacher will read, in the preface to Night, Elie Wiesel says, “I do not
know, or no longer know, what I wanted to achieve with my words.
I only know that without this testimony, my life as a writer—or my
life, period—would not have become what it is: that of a witness
who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy
from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased
from human memory” (Weisel viii)(2-3 minutes)
Explain that as humans we are prone to forgetting things. As
humans we sometimes do things that we wish we could forget. But
there are some things that are too large to be forgotten. (5
minutes)
Students Respond: On a sheet of paper students will describe how
you think having read this story will impact you in your life? To what
extent has Elie accomplished his goal through you? What
techniques did he use to achieve his purpose? Papers will be
collected.(10 minutes)
Pass out Alt Novel Choices Handout(Item 3.1)/Introduce Alt Novel
Choices by going over handout (5-7 min)
Point out that the texts are arranged in order or perspectives,
encourage students to read a book that offers a different
perspective than Night, perhaps a female voice, etc…
Now that we have studied a primary text as a class, allowing
students to choose another novel to read will expose them to a
different voice of the Holocaust, will provide a sense of autonomy,
and will incorporate young adult literature into the English
classroom.
Explain that students will still being working within their literature
circles, but in a different capacity. Because each person can
choose a book of his or her choice, Instead of individual roles each
person will play 2 roles per meeting. They will be summarizing their
novel for the lit group, as well as choosing another role to share
during literature circles,
7. Misson: Look at the list of provided alternative novels, choose any novel, and
make a plan to acquire it by either:
a. Checking it out of the school library
b. Checking it out of the teacher’s library
c. Checking it out of your neighborhood library
d. Purchasing it
e. Borrowing it from a friend
34 | P a g e
Week 3
Day 12/ Tuesday
Lesson Title: People of the Holocaust
1. Lesson Overview: As students choose an alternative book that will give readers a
new perspective, as a class we will be examining different groups of people of
the Holocaust. Today’s lesson will be an introduction to these groups. For the next
2 weeks we will be looking at victims, perpetrators, bystanders, resisters, rescuers,
liberators, survivors, and children.
2. Lesson Rationale: It is important that students understand that there were a
variety of people involved in the Holocaust. We want them to critically examine
and be exposed to the various perspectives of people in the Holocaust, as to
broaden their response to “What it means to be human”.
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will:
o Recall definitions for: victims, perpetrators, bystanders, resisters,
rescuers, liberators, survivors, and children
o Make predictions about the meaning of words, based on prior
knowledge & experience.
4. Sunshine State Standards:
o
o
o
LA.910.1.6.1: The student will use new vocabulary that is introduced
and taught directly;
LA.910.5.2.1: The student will select and use appropriate listening
strategies according to the intended purpose (e.g., solving
problems, interpreting and evaluating the techniques and intent of
a presentation);
LA.910.1.6.5: The student will relate new vocabulary to familiar
words;
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
Copies of definition handout for all students
Overhead/Whiteboard
6. Lesson Sequence :

Check-in/ Focus: (10 min)
35 | P a g e
o
o
o

Attendance
Based on what you have read and what you know so far, write
down the groups of people that were part of the Holocaust. Think
about characters from Night, or other voices that we have heard.
Go over student responses.
Explicit Instruction:
o Students will be introduced to the various types of people who
were involved in the Holocaust: victims, perpetrators, bystanders,
resisters, rescuers, liberators, survivors, and children.
o Students will be instructed to fold a paper into 8 boxes. Unfold and
label each box with a group of people. In each box the students
will write down what they know about each word.(10 min)
o Together students will share our and we will create the definitions
for each based on what we have already read and what we
already know. (15 minutes)
o Students will then receive a definition handout( Item 3.2), with
correct definitions on them; we will compare what we came up
with to what is on the handouts. (5 min)
o Teacher will explain how we interpret words and new information
based on what we know, and have experienced.
o Encourage students to refer back to the hand out, and our created
definitions throughout the rest of the unit to see if what we know
changes. (5 min)
36 | P a g e
Week 3
Day 13/ Wednesday
Lesson Title: Victims of the Holocaust Part 1
1. Lesson Overview: In this lesson students will examine the various groups of victims
that were part of the Holocaust. While Jews were the main target of the Nazi’s,
other groups of people were also targeted.
2.
Lesson Rationale: It is important that students recognize that while the Jews were
a major target of the Nazis, other groups were persecuted for racial or
ideological beliefs.
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson students will be able to:
o Recall different groups of people who were victims in the Holocaust
o Work Cooperatively in Groups
o Scan an article for important information
4. Sunshine State Standards:
o LA.910.5.2.1: The student will select and use appropriate listening strategies
according to the intended purpose (e.g., solving problems, interpreting
and evaluating the techniques and intent of a presentation);
o LA.910.5.2.2: The student will research and organize information for oral
communication appropriate for the occasion, audience, and purpose
(e.g., class discussions, entertaining, informative, persuasive, or technical
presentations);
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
o
Brochures downloaded and printed from the Holocaust Museum Website
about Non-Jewish Victims of the Holocaust
( see http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/resource/)
o
Copies of Non-Jewish Victim Blank Information worksheet for each student
(Item 3.3)
6. Lesson Sequence:

Check-in/ Focus:
o
o
Attendance
As citizens living in America, we all have certain personal freedoms.
America is considered by some, a melting pot, by others, a salad
bowl. Whatever the metaphor, the meaning remains, that America
37 | P a g e
o
o

is made u of many diverse populations. We all have qualities that
make us diverse; these characteristics could include beliefs, hair
color, profession, friends, or hobbies.
Think about what makes you unique and pick a characteristic that
describes you or your beliefs. How do you feel about this
characteristic? Explain. (5 min)
Now imagine, that whatever character that once made you
unique, now made you a target for persecution. How would you
react? (5 min)
Explicit Instruction:
o
o
o
o
Teach: There were many different people who were persecuted
during the holocaust: Jews, Roma or Gypsies, Poles and Other
Slavs, Political Dissidents, Dissenting Clergy, Persons with Physical or
Mental Disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Homosexuals, etc… (5 min)
Students will be broken up into 5 groups. Each group will receive a
brochure from the Holocaust museum each one detailing the
persecution of a non-Jewish population. Within the group students
will answer the following questions:
-What group is being targeted?
-Why are they being targeted?
-What was done specifically to persecute this group?
-How did this group respond to persecution?
-Pick 3 Things we need to know
(25 min)
Groups will share out their answers with the class as they share,
students will individually complete the Worksheet “Non-Jewish
Victims of the Holocaust”. (10 min)
Worksheets will be collected, and will receive credit using a simple
check, check minus, or check plus system. (5 min)
38 | P a g e
Week 3
Day 14/ Thursday
Lesson Title: Victims of the Holocaust Part 2
1. Lesson Overview: We will continue looking at victims of the Holocaust,
specifically, we will respond to the identification methods used to alienate
victims. We will examine news articles from the time period, and a testimony from
a victim.
2. Lesson Rationale: As we continue studying the different human voices of the
Holocaust, we need to examine the specific ways that people were made to
feel less-than human. Students need to become aware of ways that people
were treated to reflect on one’s own treatment, and to educate one’s self.
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will:
 Be able to identify purpose in newspaper texts
 Recognize the way different forms of media convey a similar message
4. Sunshine State Standards:
 LA.910.4.1.1: The student will write in a variety of expressive and reflective
forms that use a range of appropriate strategies and specific narrative
techniques, employ literary devices, and sensory description;
 LA.910.1.6.2: The student will listen to, read, and discuss familiar and
conceptually challenging text;
 LA.910.1.7.2: The student will analyze the authors purpose and/or
perspective in a variety of text and understand how they affect meaning;
 LA.910.1.7.7: The student will compare and contrast elements in multiple
texts;
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
o Newspaper Articles: “Nazis Order Jews Over Six Labeled”(Item 3.4)
and “Nazis to Banish Jews Failing to Wear Star”(Item 3.5)
o Video Clip from Shoah Foundation website; testimony from Dina
Gottliebova- Babbitt http://college.usc.edu/vhi/
6.
Lesson Sequence
 Check-in/ Focus: (5-10 min)
o
o
Attendance
We will look at images of people, not just Holocaust victims, who
have been alienated in some way.
39 | P a g e
o
o
o

Connecting with Day 13’s Lead-In, students will think about a
characteristic that makes them unique.
Students will imagine if there was a new law in place that
persecuted whoever had that characteristic. You could no longer
go to stores, be seen in public without identification, etc…
Describe a moment in your new life.
Explicit Instruction:
Explain: The Nazi party was very meticulous in their persecution of
groups of people they considered inferior. They wanted Jews to be
identified at all times. While they set up new rules for the Jews, this
alienation was also part of the psychological manipulation the
Nazi’s employed. They wanted the Jews and other groups to feel
powerless and less-than human. (5-7 minutes)
o Students will read the articles from the New York Times that report
the mandates about Jews wearing the yellow star.(10 minutes)
o Student will examine these articles for tone and purpose.
Is the author trying to convey a message, does he or she seem
urgent, worried, sympathetic, passive? To what extent does the
article accomplish its purpose?(7 min)
o Students will then view the testimony, about the first day that Dina
wore her star out in public. (2 minutes)
o Reading/Hearing two different accounts of the same situation how
do the different accounts of events resonate within the reader? (5)
o Wrap up. Victims of the Holocaust were made to feel alienated
and shunned. News reporting didn’t necessarily express open
disapproval to this forced alienation and persecution. As humans, is
it important to be empathetic to the persecution of others?(5 min)
Remind Students to come to class prepared with their selected novel of
choice tomorrow.
o

40 | P a g e
Week 3
Day 15/ Friday
Lesson Title: Perpetrators in the Holocaust Part 1/ Propaganda/ Lit Circles
1. Lesson Overview: Today students will meet in their literature circles to discuss and
organize the novels each student is considering. We will begin to look at the
perpetrators in the Holocaust, which will enable us to look at Nazi propaganda,
and Hitler’s views on propaganda.
2. Lesson Rationale: In order to have a broad understanding of the Holocaust,
student must examine the groups of people who committed acts against
humanity. We must question human motivation and beliefs.
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will be able to:
 Define perpetrator, in a the context of the Holocaust
 Define Propaganda
 Identify techniques of propaganda used by the Nazi regime
 Make critical judgments about propaganda in the world around them
4. Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.1.6.1: The student will use new vocabulary that is introduced and taught
directly;
LA.910.6.3.1: The student will distinguish between propaganda and ethical
reasoning strategies in print and non-print media;
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:
o Internet access with projection capabilities or an overhead
projection of popular Nazi propaganda as found at:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005202
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters2.htm
6. Lesson Sequence :

Check-in/ Focus:
o Attendance
o Display on the projector a series of slogans/logos used by popular
companies. On a sheet of paper student will attempt to identify the
company or brand that each slogan correlates with.
o Check to see that students have attempted each slogan.
o Go over the slogan, asking students how they learned the slogan,
and what they associate with the product, company, or brand
being advertised.
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o

Ask how the students feel about the company based on the
slogans /images promoted by the company. (10 min)
Explicit Instruction:
o Explain that just as companies use specific marketing techniques to
gather customers, so did the Nazis. Only the Nazi’s tried and mostly
succeeded at convincing millions of people that race purification,
ethnic cleansing, and persecution of selected groups of people
was the solution to German power and happiness for the German
people.
o Explain how Nazis use propaganda to indoctrinate Germans of
their beliefs.
o Define Propaganda- The systematic propagation of a doctrine
or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of
those advocating such a doctrine or cause. (7 min)
o
o
Show students images from selected databases of Nazi
propaganda.
The teacher will choose a selected image and will analyze the
image aloud, instructing students to look for specific details to
understand the image’s message
 What are the main colors used in the poster?
 What symbols (if any) are used in the poster?
 If a symbol is used, is it
 clear (easy to interpret)?
 memorable?
 dramatic?
 Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or
both?


The most effective posters use symbols that are unusual,
simple, and direct. Is this an effective poster? (15 min)
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/ARTPROP.HTM
Students will then be given images to analyze on their own, and will
answer the above questions. Teacher will circulate to answer
questions and promote critical thinking.
o Students will reflect on what they’ve learned about Nazis and
Propaganda. (10 min)
o Students will meet briefly in Literature Circles to discuss individual
book selections and to decide on reading assignments, and
material to be prepared to share for the next literature circle
meeting (10 min)
HW: Students are to acquire and begin reading their alternative novel
o

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Week 4
Day 16/ Monday
Lesson Title: Multi-Genre Project Explained
1. Lesson Overview: Today we will take time to explain the Multi –Genre Project that
each student is responsible for creating.
2. Lesson Rationale: I am devoting a whole day to explaining this project so that
students can gain a clear understanding of what is expected of them. They are
creating doing this project as a way to demonstrate their understanding of the
power of different human voices. Also, as a creative way to allow students
autonomy over their learning
3. Lesson Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the lesson, students will be able to:
 Define to term Genre as it pertains to the project
 Explain the Multi- Genre Project
4. Sunshine State Standards:
LA.910.5.2.1: The student will select and use appropriate listening strategies
according to the intended purpose (e.g., solving problems, interpreting and
evaluating the techniques and intent of a presentation);
5. Instructional Resources and Lesson Materials Needed:


Handouts for Multi-Genre Project Explanation
An Example of a Completed Multi-Genre Project
6. Lesson Sequence

Check-in/ Focus:
o Attendance
o Define the term “Genre” as you know whether in terms of music,
literature, etc…
o Describe your favorite genre of something. Why do you like this
particular genre?

Explicit Instruction:
o
Explain to students the term genre.
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Genre: One of the categories, based on form, style, or subject
matter, into which artistic works of all kinds can be divided. For
example, the detective novel is a genre of fiction.
Ask students to share the definitions they came up with for Genre.
Also ask them to share some of their favorite genres.
Explain how “texts” take the format of many genres. Genres offer us
options, opportunity, diversity, and choice.
Pass out Multi-Genre Project handout(Item 4.1)
Go over the handout and thoroughly explain the project.
Show the students and example of a Multi-Genre project.
Answer any questions they have, clarify, and make sure they
understand
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Appendix
Item 1.1 Elie Wiesel Night Power Point Presentations
Item 1.2 Literature Circle Handout(s)
Item 2.1 Poetry Handout
Item 2.2 “We Will Never Forget” Venn diagram
Item 2.3 Essay Question Worksheet
Item 3.1 List of Alternative Novels dealing with the
Holocaust
Item 3.2 Blank Definition Handout
Item 3.3 Non-Jewish Victim Blank Information
worksheet for each student
Item 3.4 “Nazis Order Jews Over Six Labeled”
Item 3.5 “Nazis to Banish Jews Failing to Wear Star”
Item 4.1 Multi Genre Project Handout
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Literature Circles
Item1.2
Students will participate in one of four literature circles. Literature circles allow
students to have autonomy over their learning. Literature circles also provide a
sense of belonging and safety within the context of the classroom. As students
discuss weekly, they will develop connections and an understanding amongst
their peers. Together they will discuss the primary text Night, as well as the
discussion of an alternative novel of choice. Students will rotate specific roles in
the literature circle, giving each student the chance to contribute to the group
in a meaningful way. Roles also allow students to excel beyond what they may
normally feel comfortable doing, giving them each opportunities to explore new
avenues to understanding and exploring text.
The literature circle roles will include:
WordSmith
Illustrator
Illuminator
Summarizer
Connecter
While reading the assigned section, you watch out for
words worth knowing. These words might be interesting,
new, important, or used in unusual ways. It is important to
indicate the specific location of the words so the group
can discuss these words in context.
Your role is to draw what you read. This might mean
drawing a scene as a cartoonlike sequence or an
important scene so readers can better understand the
action. You can draw maps or organizational trees to show
how one person, place, or event relates to the others. Use
the notes area to explain how your drawing relates to the
text. Label your drawings so we know who the characters
are.
You find passages your group would like to/should hear
read aloud.
These passages should be memorable, interesting, puzzling,
funny, or important. Your notes should include the
quotations but also why you chose them, and what you
want to say about them. You can either read the passage
aloud yourself or ask members of your group to read roles.
Prepare a brief summary of the day’s reading. Use the
questions to the right to help you decide what to include.
In some cases, you might ask yourself what details,
characters, or events are so important that they would be
included on an exam. If it helps you to organize the
information, consider making a numbered list or a timeline.
Your job is to connect what you read with what you study
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Discussion Director
in this or other classes. You can also connect the story with
events in your own life or the world outside school as
depicted in the news or other media. Another valuable
source of connections is books you’ve already read this
year. Connections should be meaningful to you and those
in your group.
Your role demands that you identify the important aspects
of your assigned text, and develop questions your group
will want to discuss. Focus on the major themes or “big
ideas” in the text and your reaction to those ideas. What
interests you will most likely interest those in your group. You
are also responsible for facilitating your group’s discussion.
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WE WILL NEVER FORGET – AUSCHWITZ Item 2.1
by Alexander Kimel - Holocaust Survivor
We will never forget the selections at Auschwitz,
Where Black Jackals condemned millions to gas,
Right - death, left - life, right death... death ...death.
The black finger, surrounded with barking dogs,
Works like the Angel of Death, creating living hell.
Children are torn apart from the tender embrace
Of mothers, clinging to their treasures.
Babies wailing from hunger,
Parents parting tearfully with their children.
Fathers shaken with helpless rage.
The condemned form a column of trembling fear.
Soon the mass of fainting humanity
Is lead to the clean foyer of death.
Disrobe quickly, take a shower and you will be fed.
Food! Food! The hungry mass of disoriented humanity
Awakens runs and fights to get into the chamber of gas.
The heavy door closes and the cyclone dropped.
Soon the parents choke and turn blue,
Later the children turn rigid with death
The people become a twisted load,
Of intertwined limps and heads glued with blood.
When the human pulp is ready for the works,
Sondercommando quickly pull,
The bodies apart, peel the gold from the mouths.
And the remains are taken to the open pit,
Where the bones are cleaned with fire,
And the fat drained for human soap.
Six days a week the Jackals drink beer,
And rejoice doing the Devil's work.
Sunday is the day of rest, the day
When the Jackals ride to the Church, to praise God
And assure the Salvation of their pious souls.
Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles!
In this Kingdom of Evil,
There is no peace for the Righteous.
It is the wicked that inherited
This tortured World, engulfed
In the red, milky, cry-absorbing fog,
Guarding the wilted conscience of man.
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Venn Diagram Item2.2
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Essay Questions Item 2.3
1. As Night begins, Eliezer is so moved by faith that he weeps when he prays. He is also
searching for a deeper understanding of the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. How
does Eliezer's relationship with his faith and with God change as the book progresses?
2. What literal and symbolic meanings does "night" have in the book?
3. Early in the book, after Moishe the Beadle escapes his execution, no one, not even
Eliezer, believes his tales (p. 7). Even when the Germans arrive in Sighet and move all
the Jews into ghettos, the Jewish townspeople seem to ignore or suppress their fears.
"Most people thought that we would remain in the ghetto until the end of the war, until
the arrival of the Red Army. Afterward everything would be as before" (p. 12). What
might be the reasons for the townspeople's widespread denial of the evidence facing
them?
4. Think of the kapos and the little blonde pipel who is hanged on page 64. Who are the
bystanders? Who are the perpetrators? Who are the victims in Night? Do these roles
sometimes overlap?
5. At the end of Night, Wiesel writes: "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was
contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me" (p. 115).
What parts of Eliezer died during his captivity? What was born in their place?
6. What scenes from Night do you remember most vividly? Have they made you look at
the world or your family differently?
7. In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Wiesel says: "[O]ne person of
integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident
is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be
filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that
they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are
stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the
quality of our freedom depends on theirs" (p. 120). How has Elie Wiesel fulfilled this
purpose with this book? How does this statement make you feel about your place in the
world?
8. Talk about how the Nazis' program of persecution against the Jewish people in
Sighet was carried out in gradual steps (p. 9). First, the German officers moved into
private homes. They closed the synagogues. They arrested leaders of the Jewish
community, forbade the Jews from owning any valuables under penalty of death, and
forced them to wear the Star of David on their clothes. Jews no longer had the right to
frequent restaurants, to travel by train, to attend synagogue, or to be on the streets
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after 6 o'clock in the evening. Then, they were forced to leave their homes and move
into designated ghettos. And from the ghettos, the Jews were deported to the
concentration camps. How do you think the Jews felt as the persecution escalated?
Why do you think they followed the Germans' rules? Should they have stood up? Would
you have reacted differently?
9. On p. 23, Wiesel describes a scene familiar to anyone who has sat in the back of a
movie theater: "Freed of normal constraints, some of the young let go of their
inhibitions and, under cover of darkness, caressed one another, without any thought of
others, alone in the world." How does the shadow of Nazi terror transform the ordinary
moments Wiesel describes?
10. When Eliezer sees his father being beaten with an iron bar, he keeps silent and
thinks of "stealing away" so he won't have to watch what's happening (p. 54). Instead of
directing his anger at the Kapo, he becomes mad at his father. What do you think is
really going on inside of Eliezer? Who is he really mad at?
11. In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Wiesel says: "[O]ne person of
integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident
is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be
filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that
they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled
we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our
freedom depends on theirs" (p. 120). Think of conflicts and wars you've studied in your
history or social studies classes at school. How does this statement make you feel about
your place in the world?
12. When Night begins, Eliezer is so moved by faith that he weeps when he prays—but
he is only 12 years old. How does Eliezer's relationship with his faith and with God
change as the book progresses? When the book ends, he is 16 years old. How would you
describe him?
13. At which points did you identify with Eliezer? Who did you identify with most in
Night?
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Item 3.1
Companion Reading Choices
This is a list compiled by Dr. Joan Kaywell in Chapter 4 of Adolescent Literature
as a Complement to the Classics.
Group One: Other Jewish Children’s Experiences During World War II
Anne Frank and Me by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld (287 pp.)
The authors have adapted their 1998 play of the same title into this easy-to-read novel where Nicole Burns, a
contemporary 10th-grade student who questions why they have to read The Diary of Anne Frank, is mysteriously
transported in time into the person of Nicole Bernhardt, a 15-year-old Jewish girl living in occupied France. Nicole meets
Anne Frank who helps her see the value of studying the Holocaust as she returns as Nicole Burns. (MS)
London Calling by Edward Bloor (304 pp.)
Martin Conway hates his school and all of the snobbery there. When his grandmother dies and leaves him an
old Forties radio, he mysteriously teleports back in time to the London Blitz and meets Jimmy who needs his help. Through
a series of alternating story lines between the past and present, Martin helps expose various sins committed in both times.
(MS-HS)
We Are Witnesses by Jacob Boas (208 pp.)
Boas was born in the Westerbork Concentration Camp in Holland and writes this book from five teenage
perspectives he found in reading their diaries: David Rubinowicz, Yitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Eva Heyman, and
Anne Frank. As Boas points out, “alongside the other four diaries, Anne’s looks different than when you read it by itself as
the sole voice of the Holocaust.” (MS)
I Am David by Anne Holm (256 pp.)
Twelve-year-old David has only known life in a concentration camp in Eastern Europe. When the opportunity to
escape presents itself, David seizes it and then begins his journey to Denmark and freedom. Walden Media made a
movie of this book, originally published in Denmark in 1963, by the same name in 2004. Since then, it has been mass
marketed to educators. For teaching materials, visit their website at http://iamdavidmovie.com. (MS)
Memories of My Life in a Polish Village: 1930-1949 by Toby Knobel Fluek (110 pp.)
Toby Fluek was a small Jewish girl growing up in Czernica, Poland, when World War II started. She and her
family moved to a Jewish ghetto and went into hiding several times to save their lives. By the war’s end, only she and
her mother had survived. Now an artist in New York City, the author presents her story through her paintings and their
descriptions. (MS)
Room in the Heart by Sonia Levitin (285 pp.)
Based on the true events of Germany’s invasion of Denmark, this story is told primarily from the alternating
perspectives of two young Danes. After learning the Germans have plans to capture all of the Jewish people in
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Denmark, Julie takes her family to Sweden by boat. Her friend and co-narrator, Niels, joins the resistance when he
discovers the Nazi plot while his friend, Emil, is captivated by and admires the power of the Germans. A large cast of
characters reveals how the Danes fought the Nazi occupation and saved almost all of Denmark’s Jews. (MS-HS)
Tug of War by Joan Lingard (208 pp.)
Hugo and Astra, 14-year-old Latvian twins, are separated when the Russians invade their country in 1944. Hugo
ends up in Hamburg, Germany, where a family takes care of him until the end of the war. Meanwhile, his family waits
out the war in a refugee camp. When they are finally reunited, his family is disgruntled by Hugo’s German girlfriend and
places him in a choice situation. (MS-HS)
No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel (193 pp.)
A winner of the Caldecott Award for Illustrators, Anita Lobel writes her memoir growing up in Krakow, Poland,
during the Holocaust. She was only five when the Nazis invaded, and she is sent to live with their Catholic nanny in the
country. Anita and her brother are eventually discovered and deported to a concentration camp where they live until
the liberation. Art and books become her saving grace when she finally comes to America as a teenager. (HS)
In My Enemy’s House by Carol Matas (167pp.)
Blond-haired and blue-eyed Marisa loses her family at the hand of the Nazis when the Germans invade Poland.
With the papers of a Christian Polish girl, she disguises her identity and goes to work as a servant for a Nazi family. As she
spends more time and becomes closer with the family, she has to answer some tough questions about her basic beliefs
of humanity. (MS-HS)
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl (130 pp.)
Five-year-old Marion Blumenthal and her family left Germany and went to Holland in an attempt to travel to
America to escape the Nazis. Unfortunately, their ship was delayed three months and the Germans invaded Holland.
The Blumenthals became a bargaining chip for the Nazis who wanted German POWs. They are deported to Bergen
Belsen, where Marion, clinging to the hope that one day they would all be freed together, collects four pebbles from
the camp to symbolize the members of her family. This riveting memoir is a story of determination and survival under the
most dire of circumstances. (MS-HS)
We Were Not Like Other People by Ephraim Sevela (216 pp.)
A Russian Jewish teenager is separated from his parents at the onset of World War II. Exhausted and practically
starved, he is found and nursed to health by a peasant woman and her daughters. His life is a test of survival as he
wanders in search of his parents for six years. This novel is based on the author’s own experiences. (MS-HS)
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli (208pp.)
As a young boy, Misha Pilsudski has had several names—Stopthief, Stupid, Jew, and Gypsy. Uri, another
homeless boy surviving in the street of Warsaw during World War II, is a bit older and more aware of what’s happening
around them. Misha learns from Uri that the “Jackboots,” or the Nazis, are not ones to emulate but to outsmart. (MS)
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Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood during World War Two by Nelly S. Toll (161 pp.).
The author was only six years old when the Nazis invaded Poland. She and her mother go into hiding with the
help of some Gentiles, but their hiding place happens to be next door to the Gestapo headquarters. For the two years
they are in hiding, Nelly records her fears, hopes, and dreams through art and in a journal. (MS)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (560 pp.)
Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger as she grows up from the age of 9-13 in a small town outside of
Munich, Germany, during the years 1939-1943. The Nazis are in power, rounding up Jews and forcing kids to participate
in the Hitler Youth. Liesel goes to live with foster parents after her father is taken away as a communist, her mother
disappears, and her brother dies. Her new family is hiding a Jew from the Nazis, and Liesel steals books because reading
is what helps her survive. (HS)
Group Two: The Concentration Camps
The Children We Remember by Chana Abells (48 pp.)
This nonfiction photo essay focuses on the children in the concentration camps during World War II. (E-MS)
Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman (433 pp.)
Alicia was only 13 years old when she began saving Jewish lives in war-ravaged Poland. In this nonfiction
account of the Holocaust, Alicia recalls how she stood on her brother’s grave and vowed she would tell his story. (MS-HS)
The Seamstress by Sara Tuvel Bernstein (384 pp.)
This posthumously published memoir tells of young Sara’s resistance to anti-Semitism while growing up in
Romania. For awhile, she was able to escape the Nazis by her blonde hair and blue eyes but eventually was caught
and sent to Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp for female prisoners. (HS)
I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson (224 pp.)
Livia Bitton-Jackson a.ka. Elli Friedmann was only 13 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary. She recounts
her struggle to survive with her mother, first in the ghetto, then in the Plaszow Concentration Camp (the one shown in
Stephen Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List), and then while working in a factory in Augsburg. (MS-HS)
Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs (188 pp.)
After hiding for weeks from the Nazis in Poland, the father of 12-year-old Eva sends her to a labor camp in
Czechoslovakia to join her sister Rachel and avoid deportation to Auschwitz where she would face certain death.
Suffering from starvation and disease, they are forced to make clothing for the German soldiers as they struggle to
survive from one hour to the next. The girls rely on each another and their friendships with other prisoners as they wait for
the camp to be liberated in this tension-filled story of human triumph based on the real-life experiences of the author’s
mother-in-law. (MS)
Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II by Marisabina Russo (48 pp.).
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Rachek always begs her Grandmother Oma to tell the story of Oma’s two lives: the one before American and
the one after. The first part recounts her marriage prior to World War I and then her family’s move from Poland to
Germany to seek safety. Ironically, two of her three daughters spent time in concentration camps but all survived and
were reunited in the United States. The illustrations really add to readers’ understanding of this horrible time in history. (EMS)
Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz and translated by Tim Wilkinson (272 pp.)
As a youth, Kertesz spent one year in Auschwitz and so develops this novel about a 14-year-old Hungarian boy’s
ability to see beauty even in a horrific concentration camp. Publisher’s Weekly called its prequel Fateless (191 pp.) one
of the best 50 books in 1992 and this one won him a Nobel Prize.
All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein (261 pp.)
Little did Gerda know that her father’s insistence that she wear her hiking boots one hot, summer day would be
her salvation from death. Gerda was able to see good even in the darkest of moments while struggling to survive in
several concentration and slave labor camps. From January through April 1945, it was those boots that saved her from
the cold during a brutal, 300-mile death march from a labor camp in western Germany to Czechoslovakia where she
was the only one of 120 women who survived. (HS)
Fragments of Isabella by Isabella Leitner and Irving A. Leitner (128 pp.)
This ALA Best Book for Young Adults is the true, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable story of the author’s
experiences at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. The reader will be shocked by the atrocities and the horror that she
faced but will be moved by her courage and willpower to survive. (HS)
I Am Rosemarie by Marietta D. Moskin (256 pp.)
Drawn from the author’s own experiences, this is the moving story of a young Jewish girl, Rosemarie Brenner,
and her experiences in a concentration camp during World War II. (HS)
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender (224 pp.)
This is the memoir of a Nazi Holocaust survivor. This grandmother speaks from her experiences in the Lodz
ghetto in Poland and Auschwitz when she was a teenager. Riva Minska vividly shares how the Nazis destroyed her
family, her community, and her way of life and tells how she managed to survive the death camps of World War II. (HS)
Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 by Aranka Siegal (192 pp.)
Piri is nine years old at the onset of World War II, and her life becomes a nightmare when the Nazis invade
Hungary. Her Jewish family is placed into a ghetto to await the trains that will take them to the concentration camps.
Although the Nazis have little to no regard for them as people, Piri’s mother courageously attempts to instill the values of
human dignity and respect in her family. This sensitive fictionalized autobiography depicts the value of life in direct
contrast to others’ total disregard for humanity. In the end, Piri survives the horrors of Auschwitz. (MS)
Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale (160 pp.) and Maus II by Art Spiegelman (144 pp.)
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In these graphic novels, Spiegelman writes of his father’s struggle as a Jew in Poland during World War II. In
comic book form, the Jews are depicted as mice, the Nazis as cats, and those who side with the Nazis are pigs. Maus II
continues the story with his father’s and Anja’s struggle in Auschwitz and Birkenau with Americans portrayed as dogs and
the French as frogs. Spiegelman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for this work. (MS-HS)
I Never Saw Another Butterfly edited by Hana Volavkova (80 pp.)
This is a collection of drawings and poems that were done by children who grew up in the Terezin
Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia between 1942 and 1944. The terror, the pleas for rescue, and the reflections of
beliefs and values of these children who lived during World War II are vividly captured. (E-MS)
Night by Elie Wiesel and translated by Stella Rodway (112 pp.)
This short autobiographical novel is Wiesel’s rendering of his terrifying experiences as a teenager at Auschwitz
and Buchenwald, Nazi death camps. A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Wiesel graphically describes his witnessing the
death of his father, his innocence, and his God. (MS-HS)
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (176 pp.)
For students who resist studying the Holocaust, this is a must read. The protagonist, 12-year-old Hannah, is really
over her Grandfather’s stories about the Nazis and wishes he’d just stop bringing it up. When asked to open the door for
the prophet Elijah during her family’s Seder dinner at Passover, Hannah is transported back to 1942 Poland and assumes
the life of a young girl named Chaya. Hannah as Chaya learns first hand about the dehumanizing life in a
concentration camp and why we must never forget. For a similar book that links the story of Briar Rose, also known as
Sleeping Beauty, to the Holocaust and the Chelmno Extermination Camp consider Yolen’s Briar Rose (176 pp.). (MS)
NOTE: FOR TEACHERS ONLY: Because it is a good idea to read something new while your students are reading, I highly
recommend Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life/The Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork (376 pp.). Regarded as
the adult counterpart of Anne Frank, Etty Hillesum’s diary and letters capture two years of her life between the ages of 27
and 29 before she died in Auschwitz.
Group Three: Those Who Risked Their Lives
Rescuers Defying the Nazis: Non-Jewish Teens Who Rescued Jews (Teen Witnesses to the Holocaust) by Toby Axelrod (64
pp.)
Rescuers Defying the Nazis actually includes three short texts: “In the Ghettos,” “Rescuers,” and “Hidden
Children” replete with photo documentation. The stories of Jewish teenagers who were assisted by gentiles in Poland,
Denmark, and Germany are told as well as the harrowing accounts written by the courageous survivors of the Lodz,
Theresienstadt, and Warsaw ghettos. (E-MS)
Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers (312 pp.)
Jacob Todd, a British soldier wounded in World War II, falls in love with Geertrui, a Dutch teenager who hides
him from his pursuers in 1944. Now his 17-year-old grandson, also named Jacob Todd, has traveled to Holland to visit the
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grave of the grandfather he never met. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, Jacob is not prepared for the perplexing
experiences of the city, seeing Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, or for the shocking story that reveals family secrets.
Two stories, Jacob Todd’s and Geertrui’s, from two different times are intertwined throughout the book and raise some
very thought-provoking questions. (HS)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (144 pp.)
One day in 1943 Annemarie and Ellen are playing in German-occupied Copenhagen, and the next day Ellen
and her family face the possibility of relocation since they are Jewish. Annemarie decides that she must help her best
friend escape from Norway and go to Sweden where they will be safe. Before she knows it, 10-year-old Annemarie finds
herself involved in a dangerous mission. (MS)
The Good Liar by Gregory Maguire (129)
Three girls trying to complete a school assignment on World War II contact Marcel Delarue, an artist who grew
up in France when it was occupied by the German army. In the letter he writes to the girls—that makes up the bulk of
the book—Marcel describes how he and his two brothers, Ren and Pierre, took pride in their ability to successfully tell
outrageous lies; the boys even befriend a Nazi soldier. What Marcel doesn’t know, though, is that the best liar in the
family is his mother, who was hiding a Jewish family in their rural home for over a year without the boys knowing it. This
sometimes humorous, sometimes sad story shows how ordinary people can become extraordinary heroes. (E-MS)
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill and John Sherrill (272 pp.)
This nonfiction work is the description of how this heroine of the anti-Nazi underground in Holland and her family
hid persecuted Jews in their home. Eventually they were betrayed, and they, too, spent some time in concentration
camps. (MS)
A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde (213 pp.)
As a measure of safety, 13-year-old Lisette Beaucaire is sent away from her home in Nazi-occupied Paris to live
with an aunt in the country. Disappointed she won’t be with her friends to start a new school year, Lisette is disconcerted
about having nothing to do but spend time with her annoying cousin, Cecile. She quickly realizes, however, that her
time in the country will be anything but ordinary when she discovers that her aunt is hiding Jewish and Gypsy children
from the Nazis. In addition to preparing for the day the Germans come looking for them, she meets Gerard, the ghost of
a 14th-century knight, who ends up playing a significant role in the outcome of this story. (MS)
Group Four: The Japanese, Japanese-American, and American Perspectives
Remembering Manzanar (96 pps.) and Fighting for Honor by Michael Cooper (128 pp.)
Ten thousand Japanese Americans were sent to the Manzanar relocation camp in eastern California between
March 1942 and November 1945. In the first book, Cooper shares what life was like for these imprisoned Americans. The
second book examines the treatment of Japanese Americans before, during, and after World War II by the U.S.
government. From Pearl Harbor to the Japanese Internment camps, and the victories attained by an all Asian battalion,
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these stories give readers insight into the dichotomy felt by Japanese Americans during this shameful time in history.
Photographs capture much what cannot be adequately expressed in words. (MS-HS)
Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (180 pp.)
Lily is looking forward to spending another summer at her family’s vacation home with her grandmother on the
shore in Rockaway, New York, when her father drops the news that he must go to Europe with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers during World War II. Angry at her widower father for leaving, Lily refuses to say goodbye to him and is certain
that this summer will be lonely. Then she meets Albert, a Hungarian refugee who lost most of his family to the war and
had to leave his sickly sister behind in Europe. The two friends rely on each other to overcome their feelings of guilt in this
story of how war affects the children at home. (MS)
Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps by Mary M. Gruenwald
(240 pp.)
This is Mary Matsuda’s memoir beginning when she was 16 years old. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941,
this teenager’s typical life on a farm in Vashon Island, Washington, is completely changed when she and her family are
relocated to an internment camp because of her Japanese ancestry.
Shadows on the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow (244 pp.)
Based on historical fact, this is a story that brings World War II home, just off the coast of Maine where Jill Winters
has been sent to live with her grandmother. With her mother traveling the Atlantic to visit a sick brother and German
submarines stalking in the nearby waters, Jill is feeling very nervous about the war, especially after finding a carrier
pigeon transporting a note written in German. After she hears her grandmother and a German friend repeat the
message on the note, she becomes suspicious. Determined to find the Nazi spy and solve the mystery, Jill finds herself in
her own deep waters. (MS)
Hiroshima by John Hersey (152 pp.)
Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey interviewed survivors of Hiroshima’s bomb while the ashes were still warm.
Hersey describes the lives of six people--a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a surgeon, and
a German Catholic priest--shortly before and for about a year after the bombing. While describing the ordeals of these
individuals, Hersey manages to convey the devastation and the suffering experienced by the people of Hiroshima on
August 6, 1945. A final chapter was added in 1985 that continues with the lives of these six people. (MS)
Beyond Paradise by Jane Hertenstein (165 pp.).
Fourteen-year-old Louise Keller and her family leave Ohio for the Philippines in order to join a missionary camp in
1941. Soon after their arrival, the Japanese have invaded and established internment camps that Louise avoids for a
time in the jungle but is later captured. This story is a bit different in that it is an American version of being held in a
Japanese Internment camp established by the Japanese in the Philippines. (HS)
Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse (160 pp.)
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In June of 1942, Japanese forces attack the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. In an effort to protect these native
islanders, the U.S. military move the people to relocation centers in Alaska’s southwest. Not only are the conditions in
these camps deplorable, but many are treated much worse than POWs and many died. Hesse combines poetry and
prose to tell young Vera’s story from May 1942 until April 1945, the time the Aleuts were held by the U.S. government. (MS)
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston (208 pp.)
This is the true story of one spirited Japanese-American family’s attempt to survive the indignities of forced
detention as seen through the eyes of Jeannie, the youngest daughter of the Wakatsuki family. The family was detained
for four years at the Manzanar Internment Camp during World War II. (MS-HS)
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (272 pp.)
Sumiko and her family are shipped to a Japanese internment camp in one of the hottest places in California
after the events of Pearl Harbor. She was raised in California on a flower farm and now instead of flowers, she must
endure dust storms regularly. In her old life she was accustomed to being the only Japanese girl in her class. Now they
find themselves on an Indian reservation and are as unwelcome there as anywhere. She finally finds a friend in one
Mohave boy. There they do their best to rebuild their lives and create a community. (MS)
Dear Miss Breed: Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a
Difference by Joanne Oppenheim (287 pp.)
This nonfiction book is a collection of letters written to a librarian in San Diego by the name of Miss Breed. These
actual letters, replete with spelling and grammar mistakes, show how one person can make a positive difference in the
lives of so many. (MS-HS)
The Quilt by Gary Paulsen (96 pp.)
A 6-year-old boy whose mother is working in a munitions factory in Chicago during World War II is sent to live in
Minnesota with his grandmother, Alida. Since all of the men are in Europe fighting, the women have to work the farm,
and there are plenty of animals to look after to keep the young boy busy. But he is out of his element when his cousin,
Kristina, goes into labor. While waiting for the delivery, the women work on a quilt that reveals the family stories of love
and loss. (E-MS)
House of the Red Fish by Graham Salisbury (288 pp.)
Readers first met Tomi Nakajo in Under the Blood Red Sun(256 pp.), and this sequel continues his story a year
after this young teen was left in charge of the house after his father and grandfather were arrested after the attack on
Pearl Harbor. Prejudice abounds for Japanese Americans living in Hawaii in 1943, and Tomi meets it head on when a
former friend becomes his nemesis. (MS)
Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida (144 pp.)
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Readers first met young Yuki and her Japanese American family in Journey to Topaz (160 pp.), a story based on
the author’s experience of having her own family uprooted and sent to the Relocation Center in Topaz, Utah. This novel
continues their story after they are released into a society full of prejudice and fear. (MS)
Group Five: The Soldiers’ Stories
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor H. Ayer, Helen Waterford, and Alfons Heck (244 pp.)
Ayer presents two alternating perspectives of the Holocaust—one from Helen Waterford, a Jewish woman and
her struggle to survive and one from Alfons Heck, a Hitler Youth whose ambition is to climb in rank. After meeting in the
Unites States long after the war, this Aryan and Jew befriend one another and, remarkably, join forces to educate the
youth of America to prevent this atrocity from ever happening again. (MS) (NOTE: Interested students may want to find
both of Alfons Hecks’s autobiographies: Child of Hitler: Germany in the Days when God Wore a Swastika (228 pp.) and
The Burden of Hitler’s Legacy (266 pp.).
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (176 pp.)
This Newbery Honor book shows how Hitler manipulated the German youth and created the Hitler Youth, or
Hitlerjugend, in 1926. Kathrin Kana narrates the stories of 12 young people and their evolution into being patriotic
supporters of the Third Reich. An epilogue tells what became of them when they realized their belief in Hitler was
misguided and the very antithesis of the evil they thought they were eliminating. (MS)
Under a War Torn Sky by L. M. Elliott (288 pp.)
Although Hank a.k.a. Henry Forester is an older teenager at 19, he’s still in the teens in terms of the number of
bombings he’s participated in as an American pilot during World War II. His luck runs out when he is shot down and
parachutes into German-occupied territory. With the help of the French Resistance, he overcomes a number of perils
and learns many lessons as he seeks safety in England. (MS-HS)
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene (208 pp.)
In this ALA Notable Book, Patty Bergen is an abused girl who befriends an escaped German prisoner of war.
In
spite of what her parents and others say about the Germans, Patty gets to know Anton and falls in love with his gentle
spirit. (MS)
Children of the Swastika: The Hitler Youth by Eileen Heyes (96 pp.)
This nonfiction book is carefully researched and includes photos and source notes to add to its credibility. It is
fascinating to see how Hitler managed to brainwash children into doing things totally contrary to their parents’ values.
(MS-HS)
The Last Mission by Harry Mazer (188 pp.)
In this ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults and New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, Jack
Raab, uses an older brother’s identification in order to lie his way into military service during World War II. This 16-year-old
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American-Jewish boy vividly shares his experiences, including his harsh imprisonment and release from a German camp.
The horrors of a war that Jack never should have fought in make him an adult before his time. (HS)
Hansi, The Girl Who Loved the Swastika by Maria Anne Hirschmann (243 pp.)
This is the true story of a young, orphaned Czechoslovakian girl, raised in a Christian German home, who is
chosen to serve in Hitler’s Nazi Youth leadership. She eventually immigrates to the United States, but readers won’t forget
her story. (HS)
And No Birds Sang by Farley Mowat (256 pp.)
Mowat retells his own experiences as a young soldier during World War II. At first he was very idealistic and
romanticized the war effort but after exposure to many atrocities, Farley grows and learns painfully to see war as it is.
(HS)
Soldier X by Don L. Wulffson (240 pp.)
Based on a true story, this is a teacher’s recollection of how is life was as a teenager fighting on the side of the
Germans as a Hitler Youth. At 16, Erik Brandt was made to fight on the Russian front as a Nazi because of his ability to
speak Russian. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that he wants out of this war, especially after he sees the cruelty
done to the Jews. After a particular brutal attack on the Germans by the Russians, Erik switches his uniform with that of a
dead Russian soldier and feigns amnesia. It is as Soldier X that Erik escapes with a nurse and lives to tell about his inner
torment. (MS-HS)
Group Six: Other Holocausts
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian (272 pp.)
This is a chilling recollection of 12-year-old Vahan Kenderian’s struggle as an Armenian refugee during the
Armenian holocaust (1915-1918) where 1.5 million men, women, and children were systematically murdered by the Turks.
Based on the author’s great uncle’s recollections, this historical novel is a vivid account of the Armenian atrocities told
from a young boy’s perspective. (MS-HS)
When the Rainbow Goddess Wept by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (272 pp.)
Nine-year-old Yvonne Macaraig’s family flees their pleasant home in Ubec City to join a guerrilla movement in
the jungle during the 1941 Japanese invasion of the Philippines. She grows to realize that even if her family survives and
retires to their home that nothing will ever be the same. (HS)
Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic (240 pp.)
First published as Zlata’s Diary in 1994, this revised version includes additional photos. When Zlata Filipovic, “the
Anne Frank of Sarajevo,” began her diary entries on September 2, 1991, her life was typical of most 11 year olds. By the
time she ended her diary entries on October, 13, 1991, the Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim warlords had changed her life
forever. Her diary may prompt readers to find additional information on Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Geneva Agreement, Anne
Frank, and Icarus. (MS)
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The Other Victims: First Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis by Ina R. Friedman (224 pp.)
The Jews were not the only people persecuted under Hitler’s orders. This nonfiction book is organized into these
categories: “Those Unworthy of Life,” “The War Against the Church,” “Racial Purification: Breeding the Master Race,”
“Mind Control,” and “Slaves for the Nazi Empire.” (MS-HS)
The Stone Goddess by Minfong Ho (208 pp.)
Set during the Sixties during the Vietnam War, this story is about 12-year-old Nakri when the Khmer Rouge takes
over Cambodia. She and her siblings are forced to work in a labor camp until the Vietnamese army liberates the camp,
and two surviving family members go to a refugee camp on Thailand’s border. Eventually they immigrate to the U.S. and
it is Nakri’s prowess in dancing that helps her survive the trauma. (MS-HS)
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Chol-hwan Kang and Pierre Rigoulot (238 pp.)
Kang recounts his life as a boy growing up in Pyongyang during the Sixties after his Korean family returns to
North Korea from their affluent lives in Japan. After Kang’s grandfather is accused of high treason, Kang spends ten
years of his life surviving in a remote labor camp or gulag. Kang was only nine years old when he was first imprisoned at
the Yodok camp in 1977. (HS)
The Road from Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope by David Kherdian (242 pp.)
Many people are ignorant of the Turks’Armenian Genocide that occurred in 1915, killing over a million innocent
people. David captures the voice of his mother, Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian, who was born into a fine family just prior to
the systematic killings. (MS)
Dawn and Dusk by Alice Mead (160 pp.)
Thirteen-year-old Azad knows nothing but war while growing up in a predominantly Kurdish town in Sardasht,
Iran. Iran’s new religious leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini wants to eliminate the Kurds while Iraq’s Saddam Hussein’s
would like to occupy that part of Iran. Readers get a glimpse into the heart of this young Kurdish refugee and will
experience the loss and hope of emigration. (MS-HS)
Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples (288 pp.)
Najmah and Nusrat alternate the telling of the post 9/11 Afghan War on their lives until their tales eventually
intersect. Najmah actually witnesses the kidnapping of her father and older brother by the Taliban and then survives the
horror of her mother’s and little brother’s death in an unexpected American air raid. She disguises herself as a boy and
decides to walk to Peshawar, Pakistan, in hopes of finding a refugee camp. Nusrat’s story begins with her waiting for the
return of her husband, Faiz, who went to help the wounded in Northern Afghanistan while she stayed behind to help the
refugee children. Nusrat’s American name was Elaine until she converted to Islam and followed Faiz to help those hurt
by religious fanaticism. (MS-HS)
Teenage Refugees from Rwanda Speak Out by Aimable Twagilimana (64 pp.)
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Eight teenagers who fled from Ethiopia and Rwanda tell how they got to America and Canada only to receive
more prejudicial treatment. (E-MS)
Group Seven: After the War—The Effects on Families and What We’ve Learned or NOT—Contemporary Prejudice
Fire from the Rock by Sharon M. Draper (231 pp.)
Imagine being asked to be one of the first black students to integrate an all-white school in the Fifties. Such is
the case for Sylvia Patterson when she must decide whether or not to be an agent of social change or to stay in the
comfort of her inferior all-black school. (MS-HS) Readers may want to refer to Melba Pattillo Beals’s memoir Warriors
Don’t Cry ( 312 pp.), for her personal account of what happened when she was one of the nine teenagers who
integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. (MS-HS)
Silver Rights by Constance Curry (258 pp.)
Mae and Matthew Carter want something more for their children than life on the cotton fields, so they decide
to send 7 of their 13 children to an all-white school for a better education when Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is
passed in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Unfortunately, the Carter children were the only blacks who chose to integrate
and claim their civil rights. (HS)
Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji (214 pp.)
In 1972, President Ida Amin had a dream that he believed was a message from God. Based on that dream, this
dictator decides to eliminate all foreign Indians—the “Jews of Uganda”—in 90 days. Fifteen-year-old Sabine thinks that
she and her family will be spared since they are citizens of Uganda, but eventually no one is spared from the effects of
this mandate. When there is a governmental shift in power by an extremist, NO ONE is spared by the change of attitudes
as pointed out by Gloria Miklowitz’s YA novel, The War between the Classes (158 pp.) and Todd Strasser’s, The Wave (138
pp.). (HS)
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler and translated by Erik J. Macki (207 pp.)
Originally written in German, this English translation sets the stage for a contemporary controversy that could
erupt in any unsuspecting family of German descent. When the protagonist, Johanna, goes on a class trip to Israel, she
learns about the anti-Semitic laws that enabled her grandfather, Erhard Riemenschneider, to “acquire” their family
business from a Jewish family. What would you do if you discovered your grandfather was an enthusiastic Nazi
supporter? (MS-HS) Note: This novel is very similar to M.E. Kerr’s Gentlehands (208 pp.) where Buddy finds out that his
grandfather might have been the Nazi murderer “Gentlehands” in a World War II concentration camp. (MS-HS)
Never Mind the Goldbergs by Matthue Roth (368 pp.)
Seventeen-year-old New Yorker Hava Aaronson is an Orthodox Jew who lives an unorthodox lifestyle in the
world of punk. She’s “discovered” and given the chance to go to Hollywood in order to play the part of an Orthodox
Jew on a TV show about a modern American Orthodox Jewish family. The problem is she is the only Jewish person on
the show which forces her to examine her beliefs more closely. (HS)
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Grace in the Wilderness: After the Liberation 1945-1948 by Aranka Siegal (220 pp.)
Piri, now 17, resides with a Swedish family while she searches for news of family and friends who also might have
survived the Nazi concentration camps. Although the Swedes accept her as their own daughter, she strives to hold on
to her own identity and dreams of finding her blood relatives. The novel is dedicated to the many people who assisted
the Jews in their efforts to find their families after the war. (MS)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (160 pp.)
This autobiography recounts the author’s struggle as a young girl, ages 10-14, during the Islamic Revolution of
1979 and the Iran-Iraq War. The story uses black-and-white illustrations to express a rebellious teen’s struggle with this
religious war and totalitarianism. Readers may wish to continue Marjane’s story as a teenager in Persepolis 2: The Story
of a Return when she leaves Iran but then returns (192 pp.). (MS-H)
The Wave by Todd Strasser (138 pp.)
Based on a true story, this book will show contemporary students that the Holocaust could happen again—
even today. (MS-HS)
The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm (207 pp.)
For those students who just don’t understand how the desensitization of people for people begins, this book will
show bullies in action and the complicit nature of others who allow it to happen. A reference to Anne Frank is made
midway through the book. For another book that examines the inner workings of the bully mentality, consider Jerry
Spinelli’s Crash (176 pp.). (MS)
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People of the Holocaust Item 3.2
Loose Definitions
Victims-Approximately 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy.
It was the explicit aim of Hitler's regime to create a European world both dominated
and populated by the "Aryan" race. The Nazi machinery was dedicated to eradicating
millions of people it deemed undesirable. Some people were undesirable by Nazi
standards because of who they were,their genetic or cultural origins, or health
conditions. These included Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, and people with
physical or mental disabilities. Others were Nazi victims because of what they did. These
victims of the Nazi regime included Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the dissenting
clergy, Communists, Socialists, asocials, and other political enemies.
Perpetrators- Although Adolf Hitler is often perceived as the chief perpetrator, there
were others. Perpetrators were Nazi party leaders, bankers, professors, military officials,
doctors, journalists, engineers, judges, authors, lawyers, salesmen, police, and civil
servants. The perpetrators of the Holocaust were those who played some role in the
formulation and implementation of destructive measures against target victims.
Bystanders- Bystanders were ordinary people who played it safe. As private citizens,
they complied with the laws and tried to avoid the terrorizing activities of the Nazi
regime. They wanted to get on with their daily lives. During the war, the collective
world's response toward the murder of millions of people was minimal.
Resisters- As fear and terror became everyday truths for many Europeans during the
Holocaust, standards of daily reality shifted dramatically. The very act of survival
became an act of defiance. Resistence took the form of unarmed Armed
Rescuers- Rescuers are those who, at great personal risk, actively helped members of
persecuted groups, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust in defiance of Third Reich
policy. They were ordinary people who became extraordinary people because they
acted in accordance with their own belief systems while living in an immoral society.
Thousands survived the Holocaust because of the daring of these rescuers. Although in
total their number is statistically small, rescuers were all colossal people.
Liberators-Allied troops liberated prisoners of concentration camps. Although these
soldiers had witnessed all the horrors of war, the condition of the prisoners in the camps
was even more shocking. It was beyond any war scene the soldiers had experienced.
Liberators struggled to make sense of the scenes they witnessed. Allied troops,
physicians, and relief workers tried to provide nourishment and medicine for the
prisoners, but many were too weak and could not be saved.
Definitions accessed through A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust
http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/default.htm
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Name____________________________
Non-Jewish Victims of the Holocaust Item 3.3
Notes
Jehovah’s
Witnesses
Homosexuals
Handicapped
Sinti & Roma
(Gypsies)
Poles
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Selected Newspaper Articles from The New York Times
These are just a sampling that we’ve included for the purposes of this Unit. There
is an extensive collection of Newspaper articles through the ProQuest Database,
accessed through USF libraries.
When used in class, these will be printed off as PDFs and will be enlarged for
easier reading.
•
•
“Nazis Order Jews Over Six Labeled” Item 3.4
“Nazis to Banish Jews Failing to Wear Star” 3.5
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Item 3.4
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Item 3.5
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Holocaust Voice Multi-Genre Project
About the Project: A Multi-genre Project is one that addresses a single theme in many
different ways. Similar to a Literary Magazine or Collection, many different genres are
used to explore a common theme. Your task is to choose one character from Night,
your alternative book choice, or another text we have examined.Using multiple genres,
you will explore the changes they go through emotionally and physically. We will go
over an example to help better understand the project.
You Will: create at least 5 pieces, encompassing at least 4 different genres.
The pieces should thread together, showing similar emotion and following the storyline
of the character. Create a title for you collection, add illustrations and artwork if you so
desire.
*Remember: that your 5 pieces do not all have to be written!
You can express yourself artistically, musically, etc. We will have some additional
workshops in class to help you work on the project and understand if better. On these in
class days I will be coming around to check on your progress and see some of your
works.
Why a Multi-genre Project? Because you can! These types of projects boast your
abilities to be creative and show understanding in ways other than essays. They allow
you to highlight your own personal interests and spend more time on things you are
expert in or interest you.
How will you be graded? The project will be assessed in three parts 1) Required
Elements 2) Each piece individually 3) Overall quality and appeal of the project.
You will receive these rubrics. Projects will be presented in class during the last week of
our unit
This is a list of possible genres to use in your project. Remember that each thing you
use must connect to the others in certain ways.
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Journal Entries
Personal Letter, Correspondence, or Greeting Card
Business Letter
Persuasive or Advocacy Letter
Narrative Essay
Short Scene from a Play with Notes for Stage
Directions
Short Scene from a Movie with Notes for
Camera Shots
Dialogue of a Conversation among Two or More People
Inner Monologue Representing Internal Conflict
Short Story
Adventure Magazine Story
Ghost Story
Myth, Tall Tale, of Fairy Tale
Picture Book
Biographical Summary
Newspaper or Magazine Feature Story
Newspaper or Magazine Human Interest Story
Home or Hobby Magazine Story
Future News Story
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Letter to the Editor
Classified or Personal Advertisement
Obituary and Eulogy or Tribute
Critique of a Published Source
Speech, Diatribe, or Debate
Personal Essay or Philosophical Questions
Historical Times Context Essay
Chart or Diagram with Explanation and Analysis
Time Line, Chain of Events, or Map with Explanation and Analysis
Top Ten List
Textbook Article
News Program Story or Announcement
Talk Show Interview or Panel
Magazine or Television Advertisement
Glossary or Dictionary
Recipe and Description of Traditional Holiday Events
Restaurant Description and Menu
How To or Directions Booklet
Travel Brochure Description
Science Article or Report
Business Article or Technical Report
Company or Organization Publication
Receipts, Applications, Deeds, Budgets, or Other Documents
Wedding or Graduation Invitation
Local News Report
Birth Certificate
Year Book or School Newsletter or Paper
Classroom Discussion
Award Nomination
Contest Entry Application
Doctor, Teacher, Lawyer, Employer, Police, or Counselor Records and Notes
Character Analysis or Case Study
Review and Poster for a Movie, Book, or TV Program
Board Game or Trivial Pursuit with Answers and Rules
Comedy Routine or Parody
Comic Strip or Book
Tabloid Article
Puzzle, Witticisms, or Aphorisms
Poetry
Lyrics for a Song or Ballad Video
Power Point Presentation
Web Site
Advice Columns
Bedtime Story
Book Review
Collage
Diary
Horoscope
Interview
Jingle
Soap Opera
Telegram
Vignette
Dedication
Soliloquy
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