Day of Learning: Essential Lessons for Teaching the Holocaust

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 | Zoom | Clock Hours Provided

• Focus on practical teaching strategies and resources
• Provide lessons and materials that teachers can implement in their classrooms
• Build on the Holocaust Center for Humanity's Best Practices

Register for one session or multiple. Teaching materials are geared towards grades 5 and up unless otherwise specified. 

Session offerings below.

Session 1: Pyramid of Hate

9:15-10:15am (PT) | Beth Poole, Briar Terrace Middle School, Edmonds, and member of the Holocaust Center's Educators for Change

Bias-motivated violence, in addition to genocide, represent mere tips of an iceberg; an end result that is seen.  Beneath what we can see lie attitudes, behaviors, actions and inactions that, if unchecked, create the conditions necessary for that end, tragic result.  Unchecked, those attitudes and behaviors become normalized, with the potential to escalate.  This lesson, with at least two options, engages students to consider that bias-motivated violence and genocide are not inevitable, encouraging them to realize that their actions (and inactions) have consequences, and that they CAN make a difference.

Session 2: Why Didn't They Just Leave? 

 "The Refugee" by Felix Nussbaum (1939)

10:30-11:30am (PT) | Branda Anderson, Kamiak High School, Edmonds, and member of the Holocaust Center's Educators for Change

One of the most frequently asked questions by students when they study the Holocaust is, "Why didn't they just leave?" This lesson challenges students to consider the complexities of leaving, the barriers to entering other countries, the difficult, sometimes impossible, choices refugees must make, and the bias of hindsight.

Session 3: Lunch-and-Learn - How To Use the "Master's Tools"...or not

12:00-1:00pm (PT) | Kendall Pinkney

Kendell Pinkney is a Brooklyn based theatre-maker, Jewish-life consultant, and rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. While he was most recently featured in Saturday Night Seder and on the Crooked Media podcast Unholier than Thou, his collaborative works have been presented at venues such as 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, the 14th St. Y, and Two River Theatre, to name a few. In addition to his creative work, he is the rabbinic intern for the Jewish arts and culture organizations Reboot and LABA, and serves on the Spiritual Direction team at Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy.

Session 4: Post Lunch-and-Learn Discussion

1:15-1:45pm (PT) | Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education, Holocaust Center for Humanity

Session 5: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany

2:00-3:00pm (PT) | Paul Regelbrugge, Teaching and Learning Specialist, Holocaust Center for Humanity

This series of lessons spotlights another group singled out by the Nazis during the Holocaust:  Black people in Germany, also known as “Afro-Germans.”  There were only 20,000 Black people living among a population of 65 million people in Germany in 1933.  Yet, “German authorities routinely and viciously persecuted and discriminated against German residents of African descent,” planning for their eventual disappearance through a forced sterilization policy.

Special thanks to:

Powell Family Foundation - Carol P. Heller and Nancy E. Powell Divisions

NOTE: An additional, secondary registration is required to receive the Zoom link(s) to the session(s) you are interested in. That 2nd registration link will appear in your confirmation email and on the attendee page (after registering through PD Enroller). Registration through the second link is required only once. There are check boxes for each session(s) you'd like to attend.

You will receive Zoom link(s) to your registered session(s) to your email prior to the event. 

 You must be registered through PD Enroller by 06/28/2021 @ 3:00PM to receive clock hours for this event. Clock hours are entered within 7-10 business days of the event itself after an attendee report has been provided to the registrar. Clock hours are awarded based on the sessions you attended.