Académique Documents
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This lesson plan will be the same for both the Monday/Wednesday section and the
Tuesday/Thursday section.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Holocaust
o How and why did the Holocaust happen?
o How can some people resist injustice and others obey authority?
o How can an individual be upstander?
History and today
o How can the past affect the present?
Primary/Secondary Sources
o What is the purpose of using both primary and secondary sources?
o Why do we need to critically evaluate what we read?
Graphic novel
o How can graphic novels depict historical events?
o How are themes utilized in graphic novels to tell a story?
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Content/Enduring Understandings:
o Students will learn how and why the Holocaust happened.
Students will understand the Holocaust was not an accident in historyit
occurred because individuals, organizations, and governments made choices
that not only legalized discrimination but also allowed and promoted
prejudice, hatred, and ultimately mass murder to occur.
Students will learn what it means to be an upstander vs. a bystander.
Students will understand silence and indifference to the suffering of
others, or to the infringement of civil rights in any society, can
however, unintentionallyperpetuate the problem.
Students will learn how to become upstanders in their day-to-day lives.
o History and today
Students will come to understand that the past affects the present on
individual, familial, community, national, and global scales.
o Graphic novels
Graphic novels allow authors another level of expression compared to
traditional books.
Graphic novels blend text with art to create a new form of literature.
The artwork in a graphic novel is a form of text that conveys additional
information to the reader.
The art in a graphic novel allows a deeper level of expression; this concept is
a valuable tool for the reader to utilize.
Skills/Goals/Objectives:
o Students will develop skills in analysis of primary and secondary sources.
o Students will draw explicit connections between graphic novels and history to
understand deep knowledge of the Holocaust and how it affects today.
o Students will learn how to create their own thematic graphic novels.
STANDARDS
N/A
MATERIALS
I will need my lesson plan, PowerPoint, the documentary, and my copy of Maus.
Students will need a piece of loose-leaf and a pencil to take notes, the guiding questions
handout, and a classroom only copy of Maus.
PROCEDURES
OPENER- 5 minutes
Students will be lined up in 2 quiet lines.
I will explain that there is a Warm Up on the board.
Happy Womens History Month!!!
Making the journey with two teenage girls, Natalia and Lydia, Kitty tells them her story of
daily existence. In her narrative, themes begin to emerge: the ever-present threat of death,
friendship, human resilience, resistance, and living like an animal, while still remaining
human. The two teenage girls ask questions and Kitty provides answers, passing her legacy
to the next generation.
Source: Purcell, Steve, director. One Day in Auschwitz. USC Shoah Foundation Institute,
2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWKyo1R1_xo.
Guiding Questions:
1. How does Kitty describe Auschwitz and its prisoners when she first arrived?
a. Within the first minute- answers
b. First night- quarantine, German gypsy, running from train to location
c. Sauna
d. Hair
e. Tattoo
2. What were some tactics for survival in Auschwitz? (Hint: there are _____).
a. Luck, chance
b. Taking clothing and belongings
c. If young and able-bodied and they needed workers
d. Depended on place of work- outside= dead- work parties- commando
e. Shoes- wooden clog
f. Bowl- food or toilet
g. Think like an animal- what does it do, what does it think
h. Get away from predators kapo (prisoner in the Nazi camp who was assigned to
supervise forced labor allowed less SS personnel)
i. Where stand in line for food, knowing the person handing out food
j. Warmth of other bodies to stay less cold penguins and huddle
k. Something to eat, something to sleep, somewhere to shit
l. Language- German and Polish slang hat you had to understand
m. Friends- mediate a situation where you were not to live organize, work different
jobs to have access to various things- 4- mutual support and friendship
n. Do not touch fence
o. Relationship with mother
p. Try not to be emotional
Questions:
6. Reflection:
a. What types of primary sources did you see in this documentary?
i. Images
ii. First person testimony
iii. Drawings
iv. Historical film footage
c. Did this documentary enhance your understanding of the Holocaust and death
camps? Why or why not?
Students will complete the reflection to turn in. As students complete, they can read the
end of chapter 4 of Maus.
Maus- time remaining if any
o We will finish reading Chapter 4 as a class. I will call on students to read 1 page
each.
o Throughout the chapter, I will ask questions to the class.
CLOSURE- 5 minutes
Homework:
o Graphic novel
o Create 3 questions for Sarah and submit through Google Form on Google
Classroom
Sarahs blurb:
You will have an opportunity to ask your questions during her visit.
I will ask students to pack up. Once they are seated and quiet, I will dismiss them.
ACCOMODATIONS
I have made accommodations for students who learn best through lecture, independent
work, group work, and/or whole class discussion.
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
To gauge students learning that the Holocaust was not an accident in history, we will
have the lecture and group and class discussions about Maus.
To gauge student understanding about what it means to be a bystander, we will have
group and class discussions about Maus.
To gauge student understanding of the idea that history and today are interconnected
on individual, familial, community, national, and global scales, we will have group and
class discussions about Maus, which highlights this idea through the use of the dual
narrative and flashbacks.
To gauge student understanding of the Maus and the graphic novels form as a graphic
novel, I have planned group and class discussions about the artwork and how the art
and text (captions/dialogue between characters) interact.
To gauge student ability to make connections between graphic novels and history, I
have planned group and class discussions.