Since I first read Night by Elie Wiesel, I have been particularly struck by the raw detail in the memoir. Elie does not try to romanticize the Holocaust or make it seem like it wasn't that bad. He blatantly states that it stole his faith, father, and sense of hope. When I teach this book, I like to spend many days discussing the students' feelings and thoughts on this book. It's important that we share a sense of empathy for Holocaust victims. This, however, can sometimes be difficult for you students to do when they are in high school. I've had students nervously laugh and joke about the babies being thrown in the air and used as shooting practice. Now, this does not happen every year, but it has happened. Instead of yelling at this student, I choose to take that moment to teach about empathy. I tell them a definition, I explain why the student's laughter was inappropriate, then I explain that it is okay for us to feel uncomfortable while reading this book. Students need to be taught how to be empathetic, even when it makes them uncomfortable. em·pa·thy /empəTHē/ the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Night is one of the greatest memoirs to teach empathy. It offers such unique insight into one of the most horrific occurrences in the world. I recently attended a Project Based Learning conference, which opened my eyes to the possibilities awaiting my classroom. I was about to teach Night exactly the way I had taught the memoir the year before, but then I decided to change my mind, and WOW am I glad I did. I created a PBL concept related to human rights violations (HRV). The Holocaust, of course, is one the greatest violations of human rights since the dawn of time. Before creating this unit, I did a lot of historical research on HRV. It was fascinating to discover that it is extremely difficult to stop HRVs from occurring. It absolutely shocked me, but it made me think that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to creating awareness for these HRVs. I have a resource on TPT that will give you the materials needed for this PBL. You can see my resource on TPT here.
My students were asked to create campaigns that created awareness for an HRV of their choice. Students chose things like human trafficking, child soldiers, equal punishment for equal crime, child abuse, drug trafficking, and the Syrian holocaust. Students worked on their campaigns periodically while reading Night, and were asked to connect their campaign to the memoir. With this unit, students truly learned about HRVs because they had to do their own research and create a campaign for real people. Although the memoir offers the most magnificent first-hand account of the Holocaust, this project really broadened my students' knowledge of HRVs. It allowed them to realize that there are still atrocious events happening in the modern day. My students were incredibly engaged throughout this entire unit, and they were proud of the accomplishments they made during this project. I had students write to senators and students who raised $150 for the Ohio Children's Fund that helps children who have been abused. My students were doing amazing and relevant things during this project.
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