The question that has always plagued me in teaching the Holocaust is where to find hope. It's a rare and precious quality, in general. Yet, in the Holocaust, it's so very difficult to find. One answer has come in the form of what we are undertaking this week.
There are so many implications in the Holocaust. It embodies "interdisciplinary" study. Inquiry into the field of literature, poetry, art, philosophy, religion, writing, communication, as well as cinematic and lexical understandings are all a part of the unit. It is so difficult to devote one day to each topic. Even then, not everything will be covered and more voice goes away. It is in this light where I have decided to explore the Holocaust with the students through the Edmodo learning environment. Below is a letter that is going home to all parents and guardians about what we are doing. I invite you to communicate with me if you have any further questions. Many thanks for all of your (hopeful) support in the validation of voice in the Holocaust, the ultimate act of resistance.
April_____, 2014
To
the Parents/ Guardians of _______________________:
I hope this message finds you
well. The purpose of this letter is to
inform you of a component in our study of the Holocaust. As students have received their final packet
of the year, we will be approaching this unit a bit differently than previous
units.
Our study of the Holocaust will be
driven through an online learning environment.
We are going to engage our discussion of Holocaust concepts using the Edmodo
social learning platform. There were
several reasons behind this. The first was that the month of May finds us
losing instructional time due to various activities. MAP Testing, Field Trip obligations, as well
as other items that traditionally emerge in May make it difficult to plan on an
entire month of pure instruction time. Our
topic of study in the Holocaust will take on different forms, embracing the
fields of history, art, cinema, philosophy, poetry, and sociology. Seeking to address all of these varied fields
in a traditional lecture format will be difficult, to say the least. The
challenge that we find in traditional format is that not everyone gets the
chance to speak and articulate voice on so many intense topics. At the
same time, in seeking to cover so much ground, I fear we will lose the voice of
the students, which should be the most important element in this topic. It is the maximizing of voice that should
drive all learning experiences, especially one with so much importance in it.
Using Edmodo to facilitate the course of study
in our unit will help address these arduous demands. Students have been instructed on the log in
process and have seen (or will experience) the edmodo online learning forum. I have constructed 30 discussion topics on
different aspects of the Holocaust. I am
asking students to have posted 45
comments by May 14. There should be
at least one comment in every topic featured.
This will ensure student voice substantiated with thoughtful
analysis. Each comment must include some
type of support that clearly expresses individual thought. It
will also enable students to differentiate their own learning experience. Students can pick what they wish to comment
on and can design their own learning experience in the edmodo forum. For each comment they post, I am asking
students to keep a hard copy log of when they posted their comment and in what
forum they posted it. On this log will
be a quick reflective analysis of their post.
I envision this experience as akin to voyaging to a museum of the
Holocaust. We will let the silence
speak, and allow our voices to be integrated in it.
We will be using iPads in the
classroom to facilitate the posting process.
Using the edmodo app might prove to be a bit more efficient and the hope
in using the iPads will be a quicker response and posting time in
comments. Naturally, we are prepared if “the
technology does not work.” Should this
be the case, we will revert to our packets and engage in a specific
analysis. Students are reminded to be
diligent and responsible with the technology, as it will play a critical role
in facilitating both their intellectual production and academic product of a
letter grade for this unit.
The topics selected provide an
intellectual and emotional understanding of the Holocaust and implications that
extend from it. I designed each topic
with our students in mind. There are
some close reading passages from Elie Wiesel’s Night, something that students should have experienced in their
Language Arts classes. Additionally,
some of the topics ask students to analyze different settings in which themes
from the Holocaust are evident. I concede
that the subject matter is difficult.
Yet, I pledge that each topic in the Edmodo learning environment is
crafted with a sensitivity that will guide our students to get them to post
insights into their understanding of the significance of the Holocaust on
political and personal levels. I am
fully aware that some of our students are not comfortable with the topic
matter. Very few human beings are. Yet, I would ask your help in assisting our
students to confront the very worst of human action in order to recognize how
to make the future better. We have sojourned
through so many fields of sadness this year.
The mournful procession that is the human predicament in American
History has been one very long and sad parade.
Students have faced these sad realities with a sense of honor and
strength throughout the year. I ask for
one last moment in which they are able to confront that which happened in the
hopes of being active agents in preventing it from happening again on personal
and social levels. I ask that you ask
your student, your emerging scholar, about their posts and what they felt about
what was featured.
Students will not have any
additional work other than making sure they are able to generate their 45 posts
over the two- week period. Students can
post outside of class, as well. We have discussed the rules of online posting
and etiquette. I have also told students
that I will be monitoring discussions and will communicate with them privately
if their comments need reorientation. I
will try my best to facilitate discussion and not add too much to it. I shall fight this temptation because the
subject matter always generates more questions than answers. It is my deepest of hopes that the use of the
online learning environment can be about the kids and their voices. I will do my best to pledge such loyalty
towards that end.
As this will be the last time I
write to both you and them this year, I wanted to thank all of you for the
opportunity to teach your students. It
has been a singular privilege to guide them through the portal of joy, pain,
hurt, and elation that is American History.
I don’t think a teacher could have been happier with much of the work
and commitment that your children showed towards Social Studies this year. I know that I have been made better with
their presence and that Julian will miss them as they leave. For many of our students, these hallways and
this classroom were made better with them in it. As we engage in our last course of study,
please encourage me one last time to help your students advance further along
the path of scholarship. As nostalgia is
meant to cause a twinge in one’s heart, I anticipate experiencing this sweet
pain one more time in seeing our students post their thoughts about the time
period of the Holocaust.
If I can be of any further help or assistance, please
initiate contact with me.
All
best.
Ashley
A. Kannan
Assignments for this week:
Monday:
|
Edmodo posting with iPads on Holocaust Portals
of thought.
|
|
Find your 15 Minutes. Please remember the following
regarding your edmodo posts:
•You must have at least 45 posts by May 14. You must have
at least one post in every topic featured.
*You must use the word “because” in every post.
If you lost your orange, laminated quote from
the start of the year, click here.
|
Tuesday:
|
Edmodo posting with iPads on Holocaust Portals
of thought.
|
|
Find your 15 Minutes. Please remember the following
regarding your edmodo posts:
•You must have at least 45 posts by May 14. You must have
at least one post in every topic featured.
*You must use the word “because” in every post.
If you lost your orange, laminated quote from
the start of the year, click here.
|
Wednesday
|
Edmodo posting with iPads on Holocaust Portals
of thought.
|
|
Find your 15 Minutes. Please remember the following
regarding your edmodo posts:
•You must have at least 45 posts by May 14. You must have
at least one post in every topic featured.
*You must use the word “because” in every post.
If you lost your orange, laminated quote from
the start of the year, click here.
|
Thursday:
|
Edmodo posting with iPads on Holocaust Portals
of thought.
|
|
Find your 15 Minutes. Please remember the following
regarding your edmodo posts:
•You must have at least 45 posts by May 14. You must have
at least one post in every topic featured.
*You must use the word “because” in every post.
If you lost your orange, laminated quote from
the start of the year, click here.
|
Friday:
|
Edmodo posting with iPads on Holocaust Portals
of thought.
|
|
Find your 15 Minutes. Please remember the following
regarding your edmodo posts:
•You must have at least 45 posts by May 14. You must have
at least one post in every topic featured.
*You must use the word “because” in every post.
If you lost your orange, laminated quote from
the start of the year, click here.
|
