As my course load has now been reduced, I am now teaching 3 classes a day rather than 6, I have had the chance to watch my co-op teach. While I am teaching a novel unit on The Light in the Forest, he is guiding them through a research paper. Their paper is on prejudice. They must research an instance of historical prejudice/discrimination/intolerance etc. It flows rather nicely with my social justice paper. To introduce this unit, he uses the Holocaust. The kids mostly complained because they are also reading Anne Frank in their reading classes and they will learn about the Holocaust again in 10th grade. But my co-op was duel history/english ed major so he take advantage of this time to draw on another one of his passions.
One of the things he uses is a video of Oprah interviewing Elie Weisel at Auscwitz. If you do not know Elie Weisel, and/or you have not read his memoir "Night," than you are doing yourself a disservice. Hands down it is one of the most important books written in the last 30 years. The video takes two class periods to watch, and at times it is quite chilling. Some kids drag their feet and complain that this is too depressing to watch first period, and it is very heavy. But as I sat watching it for the third time, I realized a couple of things. 1) I was not able to grade any papers during this video, even after multiple/consecutive viewings. I hung on his words as if they were gospel. 2) I could have heard a pin drop in every class. 3) First hand accounts like this are becoming more and more vital. We have all heard that it is necessary to study history so it does not repeat itself. I was spoiled as a child. My grandfather fought in WWII and liberated Dachau. I have known about these horrors. But this generation, the greatest generation, is quickly withering away. When our kids hear about this from a teacher or read it in a book, its sad, boring history; when they see someone who lived through it, it's real.
Something about teaching makes me pretty emotional. On more than one occasion in the classroom I have been touched, nearly to the point of tears, and today was another one of those days. The emotion of the video and the solemnity of the classroom was remarkable. The catch phrase associated with the holocaust is "Never Forget." I never truly understood the weight and magnitude of that phrase until today. I would encourage you all to take time to watch this interview ( I must say it's worth it, even as an Oprah hater) and read his book. Heres a clip of the first part, watch as much as you want, but I warn you... 10 min will go quick
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