The Holocaust, Day 1 - Class Recap

Auschwitz II in 2013. The chimneys are the only remainder of much of the camp.

Dear class,

Since everyone is reading "Night" in Mr. Lathrop's class, I thought it was especially important to go over some of the basics of the Holocaust in class. Today was our first day looking more in depth at what happened. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Critical Thinking & Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "So What" by Miles Davis. A bit of jazz (no lyrics) to start the day! Selected because I wanted to explain the answer to "so what?" in regards to the Holocaust.

AGENDA 1/7/15:
News Brief – Austin
Rwanda Speech Grades
The Holocaust
Textbook Work

Homework: Read the blog. Check your updated grades and know what to do to improve! Next news brief: Jonathan.

News Brief: Austin had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Charlie Hebdo attack: 12 dead in Paris, manhunt on. This was a breaking news story this morning at the time of the class, but I tried to provide context for what happened. It is probable that this attack was in retaliation for a satirical French newspaper printing images of the Prophet Muhammad and making fun of religion (as they have done with many religions in the past).

Thanks for talking about the story, Austin! Jonathan was assigned the next news brief. I also played the VICE News clip for today.

Rwanda Speech Grades: I passed back the graded Rwanda speeches, being careful to go over how I scored using the rubrics. In essence:
1) If you did not address imperialism in Rwanda at all, you got a score of 1 on that target.
2) The communication target was the score for your actual speech in front of the class. I included my notes as well as everyone else at the table listening, so you can see what I wrote about how you did.
3) The explanation target was for your overall paper and individual speech. How thoroughly did you explain the genocide in Rwanda and what needs to be done?

If you have individual questions, I would be happy to answer them in person. As with any assignment, you can always revise it (or resubmit it, if you haven't turned it in) to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency, if needed.

The Holocaust: Again, I think it is really important that I not gloss over the history here (especially with Mr. Lathrop teaching Night next door), so we began looking at the Holocaust in depth today. To begin, I passed out the Cornell Notes template, then went through this PowerPoint:

Google Drive: The Holocaust Overview PowerPoint

All of the pictures in the PowerPoint are from my own travels. I made sure to try and explain each slide in depth and I was happy to try and answer all of the questions from the class.

Along with the PowerPoint, I passed out two papers. This one was a map of the concentration camps and death camps in Europe, along with some statistics about the Holocaust:

Google Drive: Concentration Camp Map and Holocaust Statistics

The second paper was a timeline of the Holocaust and a "Pyramid of Hate":

Google Drive: Holocaust Timeline and Pyramid of Hate

All of these are resources that should help you better understand the Holocaust and what Mr. Lathrop is teaching you through "Night."

Textbook Work: Near the end of class, we started looking at the Modern World History textbook and what it has to say about the Holocaust. A mere four total pages, 502-505! That said, it does have a quote from Night at the end, and I did use it to reinforce the vocabulary terms and concepts. The assigned work in class (we will finish next class and go over it together) was:

Summarize the two sections --> The Holocaust Begins + The Final Solution

Write out vocab definitions (words in blue)

Complete questions 1-8 at the end of the Chapter (page 505).

That was where we ended for the day. Next class, we will go over some more information about the Holocaust and how it relates to our lives today. I will also probably show some more photos from my time visiting Auschwitz in Poland. I look forward to continuing this important work with you all!