Background Context
I teach a sophomore Church History class at a co-ed Catholic high school of about 800 students in southeast Michigan. Towards the end of our academic year, our class does a unit on the Holocaust, specifically how the Catholic Church was involved as well as influenced by that tragic event. In years past, I have taught this unit using more traditional print media, particularly our course textbook and a few other secondary sources. I have found that students have a very hard time wrapping their minds and hearts around the complexity of the Holocaust in a way that allows them to relate on a personal level to those who experienced it. Prior class discussions during this unit have either been quite combative or drastically oversimplified. As I looked to improve the unit, I turned to new media as a way to increase engagement as well as student access to a wide variety of sources and perspectives. I particularly wanted students to be able to explore this topic in a student-centered manner while considering the role that the Catholic Church played in events leading up to and including the Holocaust. A great divide exists between people who argue that the Catholic Church did what it could under difficult circumstances to combat Hitler and save the lives of Jews and those who argue that the Church did very little stop what was taking place and in some ways may have demonstrated tremendous indifference to the plight of Jews in Europe. I tried to choose a selection of sources, albeit limited, that provide a number of differing (and sometimes contradictory) perspectives for students to consider. Ultimately, my goal is for students to walk away from this unit with a deeper, more empathetic understanding of the experiences of those involved while having explored what it means to analyze complex and differing historical perspectives.
Design Decisions & Rationale
Non-Linear Investigation of Topics
This website has been structured to facilitate students' exploration of the Holocaust in a non-linear manner that allows them to have the freedom to make decisions as they are learning. Readings, testimony, videos, links, and resources have been provided throughout the website on several pages in such a way that students can explore topics of particular interest more deeply at their own discretion. While there are class notes, assignments, and textbook pages included, I do not provide specific directives as to how students are to navigate this site. The goal is for the design of this website to provide an opportunity for students to engage in LICRA reading about a very complex topic and hopefully experience a level of flow as well as personal investment in their own research. One could argue that with a difficult topic like the Holocaust, it would be better to start with the basics and work up towards greater complexity. However, I think such an approach would run the risk of oversimplifying the Holocaust. Students have the ability to grapple with complexity if they are given the tools to do so, and that is one of the great benefits of the Internet -- it provides a forum for students to do just that.
I intentionally chose to include links to the various resources I used in conducting my own research for this project for any students who find themselves looking for additional information. I believe that by citing my own sources and allowing students to view the websites I used, I am modeling responsible academic research and citation practices as well as encouraging students to conduct their own research into this complex topic. I do not want their inquiry to stop with the resources I have provided them. Rather, it is my hope that the links I have included will provide an exit from my course materials and an entryway into the vast array of online resources available to students on the Internet. This type of investigation would be far more difficult and time consuming, if not impossible, if the course materials were not provided in an online format using new media. Traditional texts have been used in the making of this website (e.g. PDFs, uploaded documents), however they have been made available through new media in order to improve student access. A wide array of new media texts have also been utilized, particularly videos and imbedded links, so that students may easily navigate the site without delay or impediment.
Reading, Evaluating, and Comparing Differing Perspectives
This website contains a variety of texts that offer differing perspectives on the Holocaust including primary and secondary sources and survivor testimony. Students benefit tremendously from the opportunity to read and analyze a variety of texts that offer differing perspectives on complex moral issues such as the Holocaust. I chose to use NowComment to provide a space for students to annotate two sources as a class. "The Catholic Church Through the Ages" is a secondary source that offers an historical perspective on the Holocaust written by a Catholic priest. Excerpts from that book will be contrasted with "The Catholic Church's Long Road to Accepting Judaism," a Los Angeles Times article written by a Jewish rabbi on the history of Catholic-Jewish relations. The rabbi is in many ways highly critical of the Church's position during World War II and what he deems to be the Church's inaction and indifference towards the plight of Jews. I specifically chose these two sources for the students to annotate together because our textbook author sways very much in favor of the Catholic Church, and I strongly believe that the students need additional perspectives. The two sources I chose provide very differing perspectives from each other -- one is written by a Catholic priest and is largely supportive of the Church; the other is written by a Jewish rabbi and is largely critical of the Church. My hope is that these two sources will provide an opportunity for students to develop their own conclusions about the role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust as well as consider the role of bias and perspective in how we pass on and study history. While students could annotate texts independently through more traditional means (e.g. hard copy), there is a huge benefit gained when students can annotate a text together, learning from their classmates' comments, insight, and perspectives. Using new media such as NowComment makes annotation a collaborative and metacognitive practice, rather than a solitary endeavor.
By including survivor testimony as well as academic resources, students have an opportunity to engage with the topic on a deeper, more personal level. The Holocaust was not simply an historical event; it was a tragedy with serious implications for human rights that forever changed the lives of those who experienced it. Any consideration of the Holocaust therefore must include not only the perspectives of historians and researchers but also the testimony and personal accounts of those who lived it. I specifically included a variety of perspectives within the realm of first-person narrative including victims, survivors, bystanders, and liberators. The only voice truly missing from this collection of perspectives is that of perpetrator. While the perspective of a Nazi soldier or sympathizer would add to the entire picture of Holocaust experience, I felt that it would also detract from one of the main goals of this unit: to help students understand the perspectives of victim, survivor, bystander, and liberator so that they can develop their own sense of how they could or should act in the face of someone else's oppression. By exploring eyewitness and survivor testimony through diary entries, videos, and memoirs, students will be able to encounter a very different world of experience and understanding that I hope will allow them to grow in their capacity to express empathy for others. While students could read Anne Frank's diary or Elie Wiesel's memoir in hard copy, there is a huge benefit gained from the addition of videos to this site. Images and videos make these stories come alive and make the people who lived them seem more real and relatable to students. I would try to enhance that experience even further by inviting a survivor to come to my classroom, if such arrangements could be made.
Space for Thoughtful Reflection and Sharing Ideas With Others
The resources included in this website provide students with an opportunity to consider their own perspectives and then to share and discuss their beliefs about important and complex topics with one another. The resources on this website, particularly the individual stories and reflection questions in "Personal Testimony" and "The Gospel Message," will provide a space for students to thoughtfully reflect on the suffering of others as well as their moral responsibility to act in the face of suffering. The reflection questions can be found right below the sources to which they apply as well as in the Assignments section of this site. I chose to include the reflection questions throughout the site so that students could see them and immediately begin to consider them as they are reading, rather than waiting until they sit down to complete an assignment.
The resources and reflection questions are meant to allow students to grapple with these complex issues independently without worrying about sharing their thoughts with others. For this reason, I chose not to include a discussion forum or other collaborative tool at this point in the unit. Due to the complex and troubling nature of this topic as well as the need for students to have time to process and develop their own understandings, sharing will take place through in-person partner and small-group discussions throughout the unit rather than online forums or whole class discussion. The final discussion where students will share their opinions, beliefs, and perspectives as a whole class will take place through a culminating in-class Socratic Seminar at the end of the unit once students have had an opportunity to think, reflect, and develop their own understandings independently. One could certainly debate the benefits and drawbacks of that choice, however, due to the sensitive nature of this topic, I feel that it is wise to have greater instructor control over the discussion piece of this unit than the other areas of this unit.
This website has been structured to facilitate students' exploration of the Holocaust in a non-linear manner that allows them to have the freedom to make decisions as they are learning. Readings, testimony, videos, links, and resources have been provided throughout the website on several pages in such a way that students can explore topics of particular interest more deeply at their own discretion. While there are class notes, assignments, and textbook pages included, I do not provide specific directives as to how students are to navigate this site. The goal is for the design of this website to provide an opportunity for students to engage in LICRA reading about a very complex topic and hopefully experience a level of flow as well as personal investment in their own research. One could argue that with a difficult topic like the Holocaust, it would be better to start with the basics and work up towards greater complexity. However, I think such an approach would run the risk of oversimplifying the Holocaust. Students have the ability to grapple with complexity if they are given the tools to do so, and that is one of the great benefits of the Internet -- it provides a forum for students to do just that.
I intentionally chose to include links to the various resources I used in conducting my own research for this project for any students who find themselves looking for additional information. I believe that by citing my own sources and allowing students to view the websites I used, I am modeling responsible academic research and citation practices as well as encouraging students to conduct their own research into this complex topic. I do not want their inquiry to stop with the resources I have provided them. Rather, it is my hope that the links I have included will provide an exit from my course materials and an entryway into the vast array of online resources available to students on the Internet. This type of investigation would be far more difficult and time consuming, if not impossible, if the course materials were not provided in an online format using new media. Traditional texts have been used in the making of this website (e.g. PDFs, uploaded documents), however they have been made available through new media in order to improve student access. A wide array of new media texts have also been utilized, particularly videos and imbedded links, so that students may easily navigate the site without delay or impediment.
Reading, Evaluating, and Comparing Differing Perspectives
This website contains a variety of texts that offer differing perspectives on the Holocaust including primary and secondary sources and survivor testimony. Students benefit tremendously from the opportunity to read and analyze a variety of texts that offer differing perspectives on complex moral issues such as the Holocaust. I chose to use NowComment to provide a space for students to annotate two sources as a class. "The Catholic Church Through the Ages" is a secondary source that offers an historical perspective on the Holocaust written by a Catholic priest. Excerpts from that book will be contrasted with "The Catholic Church's Long Road to Accepting Judaism," a Los Angeles Times article written by a Jewish rabbi on the history of Catholic-Jewish relations. The rabbi is in many ways highly critical of the Church's position during World War II and what he deems to be the Church's inaction and indifference towards the plight of Jews. I specifically chose these two sources for the students to annotate together because our textbook author sways very much in favor of the Catholic Church, and I strongly believe that the students need additional perspectives. The two sources I chose provide very differing perspectives from each other -- one is written by a Catholic priest and is largely supportive of the Church; the other is written by a Jewish rabbi and is largely critical of the Church. My hope is that these two sources will provide an opportunity for students to develop their own conclusions about the role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust as well as consider the role of bias and perspective in how we pass on and study history. While students could annotate texts independently through more traditional means (e.g. hard copy), there is a huge benefit gained when students can annotate a text together, learning from their classmates' comments, insight, and perspectives. Using new media such as NowComment makes annotation a collaborative and metacognitive practice, rather than a solitary endeavor.
By including survivor testimony as well as academic resources, students have an opportunity to engage with the topic on a deeper, more personal level. The Holocaust was not simply an historical event; it was a tragedy with serious implications for human rights that forever changed the lives of those who experienced it. Any consideration of the Holocaust therefore must include not only the perspectives of historians and researchers but also the testimony and personal accounts of those who lived it. I specifically included a variety of perspectives within the realm of first-person narrative including victims, survivors, bystanders, and liberators. The only voice truly missing from this collection of perspectives is that of perpetrator. While the perspective of a Nazi soldier or sympathizer would add to the entire picture of Holocaust experience, I felt that it would also detract from one of the main goals of this unit: to help students understand the perspectives of victim, survivor, bystander, and liberator so that they can develop their own sense of how they could or should act in the face of someone else's oppression. By exploring eyewitness and survivor testimony through diary entries, videos, and memoirs, students will be able to encounter a very different world of experience and understanding that I hope will allow them to grow in their capacity to express empathy for others. While students could read Anne Frank's diary or Elie Wiesel's memoir in hard copy, there is a huge benefit gained from the addition of videos to this site. Images and videos make these stories come alive and make the people who lived them seem more real and relatable to students. I would try to enhance that experience even further by inviting a survivor to come to my classroom, if such arrangements could be made.
Space for Thoughtful Reflection and Sharing Ideas With Others
The resources included in this website provide students with an opportunity to consider their own perspectives and then to share and discuss their beliefs about important and complex topics with one another. The resources on this website, particularly the individual stories and reflection questions in "Personal Testimony" and "The Gospel Message," will provide a space for students to thoughtfully reflect on the suffering of others as well as their moral responsibility to act in the face of suffering. The reflection questions can be found right below the sources to which they apply as well as in the Assignments section of this site. I chose to include the reflection questions throughout the site so that students could see them and immediately begin to consider them as they are reading, rather than waiting until they sit down to complete an assignment.
The resources and reflection questions are meant to allow students to grapple with these complex issues independently without worrying about sharing their thoughts with others. For this reason, I chose not to include a discussion forum or other collaborative tool at this point in the unit. Due to the complex and troubling nature of this topic as well as the need for students to have time to process and develop their own understandings, sharing will take place through in-person partner and small-group discussions throughout the unit rather than online forums or whole class discussion. The final discussion where students will share their opinions, beliefs, and perspectives as a whole class will take place through a culminating in-class Socratic Seminar at the end of the unit once students have had an opportunity to think, reflect, and develop their own understandings independently. One could certainly debate the benefits and drawbacks of that choice, however, due to the sensitive nature of this topic, I feel that it is wise to have greater instructor control over the discussion piece of this unit than the other areas of this unit.