Monday, November 24, 2008

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?)?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I personally think it was the most interesting unit we had. We really went into alot more detail on the subject and I got alot out of it.

Adam Spivey

Anonymous said...

Doing a more thorough study of the Holocaust gave me a better understanding of what the Jews went through. I loved reading the book Night because I think hearing certain individual's stories about their Holocaust experiences makes it seem more real.
Eventhough memorizing different camps and target groups was kind of boring, I think they are an important part to know. I also feel that the percentages from different countries that was on the board was also important information. The activities that we did, such as the picture matching, star activity, and butterfly activity, were helpful to me because I could get a better idea of my life compared to theirs' and just how many Jews were killed.
When it comes to killing innocent children, I don't tolerate that at all. I don't think any part of the unit should be dropped and have Holocaust Lit. on my proposed schedule for 11th grade.
Jenna Stewart

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed the Holocaust unit. The part i enjoyed the most was making the butterflies it was neat being able to hear what the Holocaust was like from a kids point of view. Studying the Holocaust was interesting because it doesnt seem like anyone could be that mean and its really hard to understand, but its part of history that people should learn about before it's seen as just a story someone made up.

taylor crumbley

Anonymous said...

I agree with Adam on this unit being the most interesting. I also agree with Taylor on how the butterfly activity really put things into perspective. I personally disliked the book Night, but I believe it is a very descriptive account of the Holocaust which was very helpful in understanding how horrible it really was. The picture activity was my favorite because it connected our lives to the Jews'. Through the pictures we can see how alike we are and how unexpected everything was.
Kent Connell

Anonymous said...

This unit was AMAZING. I've gotten so much more out of it than I ever thought I would. I've learned so much and I've found a new passion in assuring that victim's stories are heard. I don't think I've ever been so set on anything like I am on this topic. And doing the creative projects only made it better. The butterflies, the puzzle pieces, and the photo activies helped me see the holocaust from a unique, more emotional point of view. I'm so glad that I've had this experience and I am absolutly intersted in learning more. Thank you so much for making this unit so special. :]

Emily Hill

Anonymous said...

We were told about the Holocaust when we were younger. But this unit has made the Holocaust clearer to me. The way you taught it was great because you didn't give all the information away but still gave everything that we needed to know. I want to learn more about the Holocaust and want to join the Holocaust literature. When I was younger they didn't tell me about the death march. How they had to run and march through the snow was unbelievable to me especially after being treated so poorly.
I have heard a survivor speak but not a liberator. I was really grateful for that. It shows another side to the Holocaust like a different angle.
Probably the most horrifying thing that i took out of the Holocaust was the killing of the little children and infants. They were so young and weren't able to live life.
I just hope and pray that we won't get into the years where people say that it never happened. It DID and I will never forget it even though I wasn't there to experience it. There is so much proof in this world and I just don't see how people can say it didn't happen.
Reading the book probably informed me the most on the day to day activities that the prisoners had to do and had to suffer with. I wanted to just sit and cry when I read the book. It just hurts me to know that there were people like that who would do such a brutal, terrifying, and unneccesary thing. For goodness sakes the Jews didn't do anything to the Germans. They just fought for them! And Hitler wanted to pay them respect by killing them. I just wished that the U.S. could have helped the Jews earlier and someone who would have gotten to Hitler before he killed himself and made him and his followers go through the hell that he made the Jews go through.
Thank you for teaching us this unit and hopefully we can pass it on to the next generation.

Katelyn McChesney

Anonymous said...

I think that by far this is my favorite unit, it surprises me how barbaric and inhumane people can treat other people. I think everything we learned about was very interesting. I wish we could have spent more time reading more books like "Night" and i think, researching more poems like the ones in the book. Those poems really showed me how involved the children were thought the processes as a whole. I would also have liked to see more survivors of the Holocaust, although seeing the liberator was enlightening, i think hearing the stories of living in the camps would be even more fascinating. I think the part in class that not everyone benefited from was the part when we learned about individual target groups. i know me personally never got around to learning about a group. I think if we would have been given proper time, then this would have been more beneficial. Overall, everything was extremely fascinating and i am planning on taking holocaust literature next year.

Brooke Muller

Anonymous said...

I'm really glad we got to spend a lot of time on this unit. I definitely think it's the most important out of everything we learned. It was also really awesome that you got a liberator to come speak to us. Now I've heard first hand accounts from a survivor and a liberator. Knowing they won't be around much longer to spread their stories is both good and bad. Besides hearing Mr. Dorris, doing the puzzle piece and star activity were my favorites. I'm definitely interested in taking Holocaust lit next year. The Holocaust is one of my favorite things in history to learn about, and I love anything I am able to learn about.

Hayley Brewster

Anonymous said...

The holocaust unit is easily the best unit we have had so far. I think we should spend more time on the speakers coming in to talk about their experiences in it. You don't need to drop any of the parts of it. Night was a great book but may distort the holocaust some, but not much. Since they were almost living in a death camp paradise, compared to others.

A. Davis said...

Just a quick response to Michael's comment: Night is the actual story of his experience, and I didn't think it came across at all as a "death camp paradise." It was horrific. Now the MOVIE, "Life is Beautiful," most certainly can come across that way, which is why we watch it at the END of our unit and having read Night and having discussed the situations. Night is a true memoir of the Holocaust on the part of one individual, Elie Wiesel. Just wanted to clear that up...

Anonymous said...

Personally, I love learning about the holocaust. So to me, this was the most interesting unit we have had. My favorite part would have been the butterfly part because you got to see the holocaust from more of a kids point of view. I am positive i want to take holocause lit. junior year.
Meryn Evans

Anonymous said...

The best was definitely the guest speaker. I got more out of his speaking than anything else. It was definitely the most interesting unit we had.

Tim Horick

Anonymous said...

It was definently, by far, my favorite unit. I really wish that we went into more detail though. I'm definently going to take holocaust lit my junior year! Cant wait! :)
Bethany McIntosh

Anonymous said...

I liked this unit because I learned alot about it. Before I learned about it in this class I never knew other groups were being killed. But I have learned alot and look forward to learning more.
Sheena Lewis