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Never Again How Storytelling Can Save Us

Authors: Andrew Ducharme, English 8 Karen Rock, English 8

Overview:
This long-term interdisciplinary unit on the Holocaust focuses on how story-telling can save us fromrepeating humanity’s darkest hour. The unit will span six weeks, culminating with a dramatic performance ofstudent-synthesized monologues written from the point of view of characters in The Diary of Anne Frank.Student performances will be given in the auditorium in front of an audience of their peers. The unit will consistof reading and analyzing informational print sources, maps, and charts through technology, as well as readingand analyzing an allegory, poetry, and a play.

Our assessments will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the events leading up to theHolocaust, historical figures, related vocabulary, the purpose of allegorical fiction, and the elements of drama. Students will also help raise awareness of Holocaust issues by decorating butterfly cutouts with poems by the children of Terezin Concentration Camp. These butterflies will become a part of Houston Memorial Museum’sButterfly Exhibit. The museum is constructing an exhibit of 1.5 million butterflies to commemorate the loss of1.5 million children in the Holocaust.

Students will reflect on their learning experience through journal writing.This unit will meet New York State character education requirements as it will focus on the civic valuesof justice and tolerance. It will also address district goals of 6+1 writing, differentiated instruction, and readingin the content areas. Students will apply the principles of 6+1 traits writing to their synthesized monologues andreading response journal entries.

The variety of reading materials and mediums (poetry, artwork, performanceand movement, and reading) will allow us to differentiate instruction and appeal to many learning styles.Finally, Holocaust-related text will build reading comprehension in history.