Goals

 

Details

Duration: 60 minutes

Assessments: Student reflections/journals, Student discussions, Student writing

Materials: Butcher Paper, markers; Facing History and Ourselves Resource Book

 

Description

IN-CLASS:
Supplementary Reading Activity (jig-saw): "Auschwitz" from the Facing History and Ourselves Resource Book
1. Students will be divided into small groups of three.
2. Each member of the group will be given one of the three sections to read (#1: Heinrich Himmler, #2: Rita Kesselman or #3: Primo Levi) and will be responsible for debriefing the selection with their group members based on the following questions (responses and notes should go in the scrapbook):
* What are the most important points/things that this person explains to you about Auschwitz? (create a list)
* What is the person's point of view on what happens and why at Auschwitz?
* What is his/her experience like at Auschwitz?
* How does this person's point of view deepen your understanding of what Auschwitz was like?
3. As you debrief your reading selection: Using a large sheet of paper, draw what you all feel are the most important and/or lasting images that Heinrich Himmler, Rita Kesselman and Primo Levi describe in the reading selection.

HOMEWORK DUE NEXT CLASS:
At the end of the 3rd reading selection, Primo Levi tells of breaking off an icicle that hung outside a window. A guard immediately took it away from him. When Levi asked why, he was told, "There is no why here." In at least one page, respond to the following questions:
1. What does the guard mean by that statement? What does it mean that there "is not why"?
2. How is this idea expressed in Night? (please use specific examples from the book to support your opinion.)

Author Reflections

This was a lot to cover in such a short period, but having each group have a 'task master' helped to keep their discussions moving.