Think Higher Feel Deeper: Holocaust Education in the Secondary Classroom

Approaching the Holocaust in your classroom can be a difficult, often daunting task. This practical guide for English and social studies teachers features lessons learned from the author's 17 years of experience teaching the subject in public schools, as well as his work with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Using anecdotes and empirical data, Gudgel offers advice for teaching the Holocaust in a way that is nuanced, socially responsible, and historically accurate. He provides guidance on common challenges and questions teachers will encounter, such as correcting misconceptions, using films, and discussing genocide with secondary students. While World War II grows ever more distant in the past, the lessons of the Holocaust are perhaps more relevant today than ever before. It may never be easy to teach about the Holocaust, but it can be done in ways that make it edifying and empowering, rather than causing despair. This approach is as important for educators as it is for their students.Book Features: Uses a conversational tone with classroom examples and actionable teaching advice. Designed to make a difficult topic more accessible for teachers at all levels of experience. Helps teachers think about best practices through a lens of inquiry, pedagogy, and personal experience. Focuses on what the author believes would have been most helpful when he began teaching about the Holocaust.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword Michael Berenbaum  xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1.  Defining and Contextualizing the Holocaust With Young People 5 What Are We Talking About When We Talk About the Holocaust? 6 Comparing Definitions of the Holocaust 6 Defining Jews and Judaism 10 Explaining How Nazi Racial Ideology Distorted Judaism 10 Helping (Non-Jewish) Students Understand Jews and Judaism 11 Exploring Layers of History 12 2.  The Paradox of Education 15 Building Weapons 16 The Einsatzgruppen 16 Nazi Doctors 18 The Wannsee Conference 20 The Nuremberg Trials 23 3.  At War With Misconceptions and Misinformation 26 Misconceptions Abound 27 For Want of Heroism: Rescue Mythology 27 Nationalistic Narratives 29 The Complexity of the Camps 30 Auschwitz Comma And: Going Beyond the Popular Narratives 31 4.  Gray Areas, Name Calling, and Human Complexity 34 Five Problematic Words 35 More Problematic Words 37 Oskar Schindler and Other Complicated People 37 Teaching Using Schindler’s List 39 5.  Half-Truths My Teacher Told Me 44 Misconceptions, Half-Truths, Errors, and Omissions 45 How Many People Actually Died? 45 The Diary of a Young Girl 47 The Voyage of the St. Louis 50 6.  Avoiding Simple Answers to Complex Questions 54 “Why Didn’t They Just Leave?” 55 “Why Didn’t They Fight Back?” 57 “America Saved the Day Again—Am I Right?” 59 “But If You Disagreed With Hitler, Wouldn’t You Get Shot?” 61 “Why the Jews?” 62 “Why Didn’t Anybody Stand Up for the Jews?” 63 “Was the Holocaust the Worst Genocide of All Time?” 65 “When Did the Holocaust End?” 65 7.  “Others” 68 The Spectrum of “Others” 69 Teaching About Non-Jewish Victims of the Nazis 72 “Other” Genocides 73 8.  Images, Still and Moving 79 A Thousand Words 80 What Images We Choose 80 Photo Analysis 81 Survivor Testimony 83 9.  The Most Precious Resource 86 Time Constraints in Our Classes 87 The English Teacher’s Challenge 87 The History Teacher’s Challenge 89 Challenges in Other Curricular Areas 90 Planting Seeds 91 10.  Go There 93 Bring a Friend 95 Plan … But Don’t Overplan 96 Working With Destinations in Advance 97 What to Do and See 97 Kids 99 Chaperones 100 Meal Planning 101 Travel Light 103 Communication 103 Funding 104 Other Considerations 106 11.  Denying the Impossible 108 Holocaust Denial 109 Many Faces of the Same Hatred 109 Vetting Sources and Avoiding Debate 111 The Tenth Stage of Genocide 112 12.  Humor and the Holocaust 116 Mocking the Sacred 117 Humor in Holocaust Cinema 118 Ill-Conceived Jokes 120 “It Kept Us Alive” 120 13.  Teaching Brave and Free 123 Some Personal Advice 124 Establish a “Genocide-Free Zone” 124 Know Your Audience 125 From Past to Present 126 Glossary 129 References 135 Index 143 About the Author 151

About the Author :
Mark Gudgel is an adjunct instructor in education at Nebraska Wesleyan University, a 17-year veteran of public-school education, Fulbright Scholar, and fellow of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Review :
"That teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides today is more important than ever is a given. The question is how to teach it effectively and realistically. Given that time is a precious commodity for teachers, Think Higher, Feel Deeper is the best text I know of to consult and utilize both to incorporate the Holocaust into a course as well as the curriculum in general." --Teachers College Record