Welcome and Introduction
Before you start teaching
Guidelines for Teaching
- Define the term ‘Holocaust’
- Contextualize the history you are teaching
- Translate statistics into people
- Strive for precision of language
- Avoid simple answers to complex history
- Just because it happened does not mean it was inevitable
- Try to avoid stereotypical descriptions
- Strive for balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study of the Holocaust
- Make careful distinctions about sources of information
- Do not romanticize history to engage students’ interest
- Be sensitive to appropriate written and audiovisual content
- Select appropriate learning activities
- Reinforce the objectives of your lesson plan
- Avoid comparisons of pain
These Guidelines have been updated and condensed in a new format which also includes five new Guidelines for teaching about genocide.
New guidelines
Topics to Teach
Personal Testimony
Guest Lecture
Sample Lessons
Conclusion
Please return! More video discussion, materials supporting the guidelines, and additional lessons will be added to this workshop.
The following links provide further information that may assist you in teaching about the Holocaust.