Recommended+Internet+Sources

www.tolerance.org
 * Internet Source:** Teaching Tolerance

“Teaching Tolerance is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation's children,” (Teaching Tolerance). The organization’s website includes free resources to educators who are looking to reduce prejudice with young people.

Teaching Tolerance. //Teaching Tolerance//. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://www.tolerance.org/
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Teaching Tolerance also includes a collection of Classroom Activities that can be searched by topic, grade level and subject area. In searching “Holocaust” and “Grades 6-8,” a list of nine different activities for the classroom can be found, some of which directly relate to the Jewish Holocaust and others with relate to ideas of prejudice, discrimination and hate. These more general classroom activities can be used to bring the themes of the Holocaust to life for students and make them applicable to them in their daily lives. The lessons promote critical thinking from students in a variety of content areas. I could envision using the classroom activities in interdisciplinary studies and including social workers, guidance counselors and other school officials in the teaching, as well. All of these materials can relate to our essential question, “Could a holocaust happen again and if so, how?” The classroom activities would show students that if prejudice and discrimination continue, another holocaust could be possible.
 * Rationale:** Teaching Tolerance provides free educational kits and subscriptions to its magazine to teachers, librarians and anyone else who works with youth. In relation to our Holocaust study, Teaching Tolerance has a kit entitled, “One Survivor Remembers.” Included in the kit is an Academy Award-winning documentary DVD which tells the story of one Holocaust survivor, Gerda Weissman Klein. Also included in the kit are replicas of primary documents from Gerda. These include photographs, personal letters and a Jewish star. A teacher’s guide and resource book come along with the kit, as well, to aid teachers in instructing with the materials. I have used this kit in my classroom with students and have found they are very engaged in looking through the replicas, reading Gerda’s letters and connecting to her and her experience. Once again, this kit tells the powerful story of one of the many fortunate survivors of the Holocaust.

**Internet Source:** United States Holocaust Memorial Museum www.ushmm.org

“A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, promote human dignity, and prevent genocide. A public-private partnership, federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanence, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by donors nationwide. Located among our national monuments to freedom on the National Mall, the Museum provides a powerful lesson in the fragility of freedom, the myth of progress, the need for vigilance in preserving democratic values. With unique power and authenticity, the Museum teaches millions of people each year about the dangers of unchecked hatred and the need to prevent genocide. And we encourage them to act, cultivating a sense of moral responsibility among our citizens so that they will respond to the monumental challenges that confront our world,” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. //United States Holocaust Memorial Museum//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from http://www.ushmm.org/
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In a section of the website entitled “Responding to Genocide Today,” articles, photographs and videos work to answer our essential question, “Could a holocaust happen again and if so, how?” Unfortunately, through their research on this site, students will learn of genocides taking place today around the world. One article entitled “How Will You Meet the Challenge of Genocide” has viewers read stories about those who are making a difference against genocide in the world and concludes by asking readers to pledge to take action. In a framework for teachers, the museum provides answers to four essential questions asked by educators when given the task of teaching the Holocaust: Why teach about the Holocaust? What do I teach? What teacher training opportunities are available? and Guidelines for Teaching. A plethora of resources are available to assist educators in their instruction of the Holocaust on this site. Under the History section of the website, in the Museum Exhibitions link, students can access the Holocaust Encyclopedia which contains vast amounts of primary resources and information on the Holocaust. Also very valuable in working with students are five brochures on non-Jewish victims of the Nazi era. The handicapped, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Poles and Gypsies were all groups who were persecuted during the Holocaust in addition to the Jews. These brochures provide information specific to these groups and their Holocaust experiences. Lastly, I choose to utilize this resource for students as a preview for the visit that many of them will take to the museum on their eighth grade Washington, D.C. trip. Many of our students will have the privilege of visiting the opportunity in person the following year. Having had the opportunity myself, I recognize how much there is to be seen and no matter how much time is spent on a visit, it will never be enough to take it all in. Former students have shared with me following their visits that they saw displays or presentations in the museum that we viewed online the year before. With so much valuable information to be shared through the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, it is a great site to expose students to.
 * Rationale:** The museum has an entire section of its website devoted to remembrance. Information on the International Holocaust Day of Remembrance can be found here as well as resources from and for various memorials. A three-minute wordless film on Auschwitz can be found on the remembrance page. At the conclusion of the film, a quote from Holocaust survivor Henry Appel reads, “There is only one thing worse than Auschwitz itself and that is if the world forgets there was such a place.” The quote supports our study’s essential question, “Why should we remember?” Asking students to consider the significance of this quote would lead to a powerful discussion. Other articles in the remembrance section discuss the growing amount of Holocaust denial in the world today. This information could also be valuable to share with students in a lesson on critical evaluation of messages that are being presented to them.

**Internet Source:** National Archives Experience Digital Vaults www.digitalvaults.org

Out of the twelve billion records that the National Archives claim to hold, 1200 of them have been logged into the Digital Vaults for public viewing. Primary documents can be searched, viewed, read about and even printed from this website.

National Archives Experience. //Digital Vaults//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from [|http://www.digitalvaults.org]
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Students can refine their searches using keywords, topic tags or by clicking on resources shown on the visual web. Although the site could be over-stimulating for some students, the search web allows students to progress through related resources easily and without formal refinement that would be required of a standard database search. DocsTeach is an area of the Digital Vaults that allows teachers to locate and create interactive learning lessons that incorporate “primary source documents and promote historical thinking skills,” (Digital Vaults). Organized by time period, teachers can access a collection of activities already created by teachers to include primary documents on this site. Teachers who register with the program are eligible to receive access to additional activities. The site also provides support in creating interactive learning activities that are particularly applicable to your students. This would allow teachers the flexibility to make the collections relate to the class’ specific Holocaust study. Relating to the Holocaust study, once again, I believe that it is important for students to be working with primary documents and resources. The Digital Vaults provide fun and easy access for students to get their hands on authentic resources from the time of the Holocaust.
 * Rationale:** This visually-stimulating search engine allows students to search and browse select primary resources from the National Archives. Each resource is accompanied by a description and the ability to zoom in or print.

**Internet Source:** One Clip At A Time [|www.oneclipatatime.org]


 * “ **Our goal is to help foster an understanding and appreciation of diverse interests, cultures and backgrounds in students. But more than just giving them the tools they need to combat prejudice, hatred and discrimination, we are also empowering them to be good stewards and to make positive changes in their own communities. We are creating young philanthropists and future leaders who will convey these lessons to their children and future generations,” (One Clip At A Time).

Paper Clips Project. //One Clip At A Time//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from [|http://www.oneclipatatime.org]
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The Paper Clips Project was a result of a middle school Holocaust education class in Whitwell, Tennessee. In the students’ study of the Holocaust, they were struggling to comprehend the enormity of six million people being murdered in the Holocaust. Their idea was to create a collection of paper clips, one for each person killed in the Holocaust to try to understand the magnitude of the event. When word of the students’ project spread, world-wide donations of paper clips started coming to the students in Whitwell. The documentary “Paper Clips,” released in 2004, tells the students’ story throughout their learning of the Holocaust, the establishment of their organization and the collection of their paper clips. Highlights from the video include a visitor from Holocaust survivors to Whitwell and the students receiving an authentic German railcar used for transporting Jews to the concentration camps for the memorial. The film is very powerful and inspiring for both students and teachers. If access to the film is not available, the website provides a trailer that gives an overview of the Paper Clips Project. The One Clip At A Time website also provides links to supplemental sites that can assist educators in teaching the Holocaust, fighting prejudice and appreciating diversity among students.
 * Rationale:** This website is directed at teachers in supporting their instruction on appreciating diversity and fighting prejudice, hate and discrimination in and outside of the classroom. One Clip At A Time was created for teachers in response to the Paper Clips Project.

**Internet Source:** Facing History and Ourselves [|www.facinghistory.org]

Facing History and Ourselves states their mission as “helping classrooms and communities worldwide link the past to moral choices today,” (Facing History and Ourselves).

Linking history to moral choices today. //Facing History and Ourselves//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from http://www.facinghistory.org/ Facing History and Ourselves provides awesome resource collections to educators, including one on the Holocaust and one on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The collection on the Holocaust includes book lists, video clips and section entitled Facing Today, where present-day published articles that relate to topics of the Holocaust can be found. This connection to modern times is critical in facilitating student understanding that the prejudices and discrimination at the time of the Holocaust still exist in many ways in our world today. One of the most fascinating resources I found on the Facing History website was their library collection. Teachers can register with Facing History and have access to a plethora of materials for free. Once you have established an account, you can search materials through the Facing History website, place your “order” online and then expect to receive your materials through the mail. Materials are checked out for three weeks at a time and are returned via mail to Facing History. A credit card is asked for at the time of registration in case of damage to the organization’s materials. Resources available for check out include books, videos and even class-sets of books for students. This resource is invaluable, especially to teachers with limited budgets for supplemental materials.
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 * Rationale:** A powerful video clip entitled “Face It” can be found on the homepage of Facing History (as well as searched through YouTube). The video touches on the organizations mission and how it works to relate “small choices, big choices and tragic choices,” (Facing History and Others) from history to the present day. The emphasis is that teachers work to help students recognize the impact of the choices they make. I would recommend that not only teachers view the three-minute clip, but that they share it with their students, as well.