Thanksgiving and Turkeys...

You all did a quick activity today that provided a little break for all of us and hopefully caused you to reflect on what you are thankful for this holiday season. I did not make a turkey, but if I had, the following four things would have been on his feathers...

1. My Faith. I am so thankful that I can live for Someone beyond myself, and that I have a hope and a future.

2. My Family. There are not many joys in life that can compare with little people who call you "mom"! I am thankful every day for healthy children, both in mind and body. (It also helps that they simply CRACK ME UP much of the time!) I am also thankful for a husband who loves and supports his family, but perhaps most importantly, someone I can laugh with and who is my very best friend. Not many people my age have parents as well as grandparents living, and I am so grateful for those people who have given me an example for living. I also have a wonderful sister and brother-in-law (though we have only viewed each other as wonderful since we have been adult :) ). It is probably even few people who can say that they have amazing in-laws! I love my mother and father-in-law to pieces and I just have the best brother and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews on earth. Add my amazing extended family (cousins especially) to that, and it just doesn't get any better.

3. My Friends. Boy, there are days I don't think I would survive YOU people if I didn't have my teacher friends to vent to!!! I work with the best faculty on the planet, and I am blessed to call many of them my friends. Then there are those non-teacher friends, those people who keep me grounded in the real world and remind me that there is life beyond teenage drama. These are my "grown-up friends". :) I am lucky enough to have four best friends, people I can talk to about absolutely anything and know that they will always support me. Can life be this good, really?!?!?

4. My Focus. This is a broad category, and it mainly encompasses my passions in life. I would put all of you in this category, along with my job and my love for learning and literature. I truly feel that I was called to this profession and I hope that I am doing it to the best of my ability every single day. I also have to put my second profession in here, photography. I just love to view the world through a camera lens and I am lucky that I get to make money while having fun! Finally, in this category, I would certainly put my areas of focus in my life, the study of the Holocaust and the passion I have to educate on this topic as well as the topic of ridding the world of injustice. (Long sentence, likely a run-on...) I feel very strongly about many things and I like to spend my time thinking and learning about those areas.

So, that would be my turkey. He is an alliterative turkey, as you can tell. :) Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy your break!!!

Your reactions...

We will complete the Holocaust unit tomorrow. What are your reactions to this unit? What parts did you feel were the most beneficial? What parts did you want to spend more time on? What parts did you think could have been dropped from the unit? How did you feel about the book? What do you think is the main thing you will take away from this unit? Is anyone interested in learning more about the Holocaust (by reading more, watching more, or even taking Holocaust lit?)?

SHORT Week of November 24

TWO DAY WEEK!!! How excited are you? :) We have a relatively light schedule this week as we wrap up the Holocaust unit. I have been very pleased with your responses to this unit.

Monday, November 24
Letter to Mr. Dorris
Watch "Life is Beautiful"

Tuesday, November 25
Finish "Life is Beautiful"
Thanksgiving activity

H/W over Break: Do the Extra credit Holocaust project that is due on Monday, 12/1.

I think that if there is one thing we have gained from this unit, it is that we should be appreciative and grateful for what we have. This Thanksgiving, I hope that you will cherish your families, enjoy the meals, take some time to rest, and be safe. Don't forget the feelings you had during this unit about how much we take for granted in our own lives. Have a wonderful break! We will hit the ground running on December 1!!!

Amazing Projects

We did a culminating activity for the Holocaust unit in which students used some sort of medium to create a symbol of their understanding of the Holocaust unit. Here are some pictures of the finished products!

Mr. James Dorris

"Once you have seen what I saw, you know that you cannot tolerate unjustice, people treating each other unfairly and with disrespect."

What a unique opportunity we all had this morning!  You all got the opportunity to hear from the best defense to Holocaust denial... someone who saw the atrocities with his own eyes, who comforted the survivors with his own hands, who heard the gunshots of the perpetrators with his own ears.  Mr. James Dorris and his sweet wife came from Chattanooga (at 6:45 in the morning, no less!!!) to talk to you all and tell his story.  

His soft voice and gentle expression contrasted so much to the horrors he told of finding.  However, what an amazing story of hope in this midst of tragedy.  To me, one of the most amazing stories I have heard or read of liberators is his story of the cigarette butt given to him by a survivor.  Mr. Dorris's viewing of that gift, the only material possession that poor man had, as a sign from God that He was still in the world and had put him in that place, at that time, for a reason, is such an inspiration.  

You all, much like my other classes, had an opportunity few students have and even fewer will have in the future.  It really sobered me today on the drive back from Chattanooga when I realized that my own two girls will probably never hear a first-hand account of the Holocaust. By the time the my girls are old enough to hear, the survivors and liberators will be gone or unable to travel much of a distance.  That's a sad thought.  

I want you to consider the opportunity you had today.  What parts of what Mr. Dorris told you spoke to you the most?  What do you think his advice to you is?  What fears does he have for the world today?  Please comment on this posting.

The New Song

I know that some of you probably are not nuts about the new song I have put on here. However, I specifically selected that song for a reason. An excerpt from the lyrics to that song are posted below. We will be hearing this week from an eye witness to history. You will become an eye witness to an eye witness. Your children will never have this opportunity. These people, and their stories, are kept alive through you and I.

REMEMBER ME
(James Horner/Cynthia Weil)
(Performed by Josh Groban with Tanja Tzarovska)

Remember:
I will still be here
As long as you hold me
In your memory

I'm with you whenever
You tell my story
For I am all I've done

Week of November 17-- Is it starting to feel like a balancing act???

I know that you all have felt pretty stressed out lately and it probably feels like a balancing act. I feel the same way. But the high stress days and huge assignments are really behind us now. We have a test and seminar this week, relaxed week next week, then a big presentation and test with the following unit (Vietnam), then debates (which you will LOVE), then a nine week test. That's it!!! Book chats (easy!) and journals are the only major grades other the the previous ones. Your high pressure days are behind you. Now you just need to dig in and finish strong, okay?

I am in shock that we are already at the end of the 4.5 weeks of the SECOND NINE WEEKS! I really have had a great semester with you guys and I have been most impressed with you reactions to the Holocaust unit. I absolutely cannot wait until this Friday to get to hear Mr. Dorris.

Monday, November 17
Read Night

Tuesday, November 18
Read Night

Wednesday, November 19
Night Seminar
Holocaust Test

Thursday, November 20
Culminating activity

Friday, November 21
Mr. James Dorris, Holocaust Liberator

Kristallnacht- The November 1938 Pogroms

If you are interested in learning more about Kristallnacht, check out the link above to the USHMM online exhibition. Again, feel free to leave any comments. For example, why were their places of worship attacked? Can you think of other examples in history where places of worship were attacked?

Father Patrick DesBois

I read this afternoon about a French priest who has taken on the mission of discovering every mass grave of Jews in the Ukraine. It is a pretty interesting story and the link to the NY TImes article is below. I am also linking a podcast (below that) from the USHMM about it.

NY Times article:


Podcast:


If you read the article or listen to the podcast, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. These would have been the victims of the mobile killing squads we talked about today.

What is the importance of knowing where someone is buried, of having an actual grave to visit? Why do people return to the scene of accidents and deaths? Why are these things so important to us as humans?

Week of November 10

I have been so impressed by your attention thus far to the Holocaust unit I certainly think that the further we go into this unit will really enlighten you.

Monday, November 10
Nazi Germany notes
Children of the Holocaust (butterfly activity)

Tuesday, November 11
Final solution notes
Finish photo activities
Finish butterfly activity

Wednesday, November 12
PLAN test

Thursday, November 13
Responsibility Discussion
Triangle
Rescue, Resistance, and Liberation

Friday, November 14
Read Night
DUE: Journals

Photo Activity

I did not book the computer lab in enough time, so I need you all to do something for me between now and Monday, the 10th.

First of all, jot down three words that you relate to every day life. These words might be eating, sleeping, shopping, playing outside, playing sports, reading, school, etc.

Then, please go to the below website:
http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/search/ph_catalog.php

At this site, you will find a place to enter a search term into the field and hit search. Enter one of the words you jotted down. It will pull up a list of photos with thumbnails. Scroll through the photos until you find one that really speaks to you. (Please don't just pick the first one you come to!) You might want to search each of your three words. Pick TWO photos that you really like. You need to pick photos that were taken PRIOR TO the camps and ghettos, of everyday Jewish life. (There are descriptions on most of the photos that will let you know that information.)

Once you have selected two that fit the above requirements, please copy and paste them onto a sheet of paper and print them out (they will be black and white). I typically have some questions for you to answer, but since you are doing this at home, we will skip that part.

Bring these printed photos with you on Monday. This is for a grade.

Honor to Whom Honor is Due

You all might have noticed that I changed the song on the blog. I just thought that with Veteran's Day coming up next week, Election Day today, and beginning the Holocaust unit, this would be a great time to reflect on the honor we owe our veterans and current armed forces personnel. You guys will see as we go through this unit how blessed we are to live in America. The rights that we enjoy (the same rights which were taken from the Jews in Nazi Germany) are protected by our military personnel. Your political persuasions don't come into play, your personal opinions about our current war don't matter, and your like or dislike for the way our country is run has nothing to do with the fact that we are a blessed people. Next week, you will be writing a thank you letter to veteran. The week after that, you will hear from a liberator of a concentration camp. I would like for you to spend some time between now and those two days and reflect on what it means to be American, and what kind of a debt of gratitude we owe to people like that.

Week of November 3

Election Week! No matter who you are voting for, this is such an exciting week for our country! We are so blessed that we have the right to vote and that the change of power takes place in such a peaceful way. (AND you get a day off this week! What can be better than that?)

This week is also the start of our Holocaust unit. Holocaust education is really my passion and I am so anxious to share this with you. We are especially lucky to hear first-hand from a Holocaust survivor. Your children will never have that opportunity.

Monday, November 3
Star of David Activity

Tuesday, November 4
OFF!!!

Wednesday, November 5
Holocaust Intro, notes, chronology
DUE: Creative essay

Thursday, November 6
Victim groups, propaganda

Friday, November 7
Photo activity, Nazi Germany notes, Veteran's letter
DUE: Essay packet