Abstract:

This project will address the issue of technology and its uses in the classroom. There has been a massive proliferation of Web2.0 programs on the Internet, and these media have changed the way that people interact with each other. Students use programs such as MySpace and Facebook to interact with the world around them. In doing so, they become technologically literate. It is very important for teachers to incorporate these media into their classrooms and this project will show how it is possible for teachers to effectively include Web2.0 programs into their classrooms.

Rationale:

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, I taught an ethics course that was based around the textbook The Holocaust and Human Behavior, which was created by the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation of Brookline, Massachusetts. There was very little technology in the course aside from two videos shown each quarter. Students were required to read and annotate multiple readings each night. During class we would discuss those readings. The students would answer short essay questions in their journals. A discussion would follow, and we would read together and discuss the material. I graded how well they contributed to the class discussions, their journal entries, their annotations, and the four to five essays that were required each quarter. While I would have enjoyed incorporating more technology into the class, the principal who had taught the course for the past eight years, did not recommend it, and I followed his lead. While I do believe that the class was successful as it was conducted, and I am convinced that the class would have been more beneficial had I incorporated these Web2.0 programs into the curriculum. For one, students would have become more proficient with them. Secondly, using technology during the class day would have narrowed the division between those students who have and a computer and Internet connection in their home and those students who lack do not have access to the Internet in their homes and can only use it in the schools. Students will connect the Web2.0 websites they visit and create on their own, such as MySpace and Facebook with the ideas of education that we propagate in the classroom. In other words, they will see the similarities between MySpace.com and their Wikis, for example. By doing this, they will see the overlap and will remember using the websites for an academic project every time they use the Web2.0 programs for their social networking. The class was designed to answer questions of power and responsibility, as we understand those terms in light of the Holocaust. While a lot can be learned from the Holocaust, I believe that even more can be learned when we open our inquiry to include members of those victim groups which are sometimes overlooked. Students will focus on the experience of the Roma and Sinti, the communists, homosexuals, Jews, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others. In this project, students will become more proficient in using technology; they will address issues of racism and classism, and they will take an active role in their own learning.

Proposal:

In this course there will be two primary assignments. The first assignment has much in common with the typical assignments that teachers assign and students complete year in, year out in many classrooms all around the world. It will be a very typical assignment


Holocaust Studies:

Project One (Created with Meghan McNeeley):

The Holocaust occurred in Europe between 1939 and 1945. However, much of the discrimination began earlier. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they passed many laws that sanctioned discrimination against Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, members of the Roma and Sinti communities (Gypsies), Jews, and communists.

You are invited to explore books, articles, movies, and other resources that you find helpful and interesting.

- Consider the ways in which the Nazi’s used the ideals of democracy against the German citizens.
- Apply your knowledge of civics and psychology to better understand how the Nazis maintained power in spite of protest.
- Find current examples of discrimination against homosexuals.
- Consider the two Supreme Court cases: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette and Minersville School District v. Gobitis.
- Research any one of the numerous treaties that the United States has broken with various American Indian tribes.

For each of these issues, prepare a short summary of what you find most interesting, create a PowerPoint presentation, and, with a partner, create a 3:00 minute news story about it.


Suggested resources:

Books:

One Survivor Remembers (Teaching Tolerance)
Triangles, Badges, and Stars: Remembering the Mosaic of Victims of the Holocaust, 1999 Teacher Resource Guide (The Holocaust Remembrance Project)
Stars, Triangles, and Markings (Picture and Information)
Railway Car (Picture and Information)
Shoes (Picture and Information)
Hollerith (IBM) Machine (Picture and Information)
Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Red Hat, by Nancy Patz (Dutton)
Salvaged Pages, by Alexandra Zapruder (Yale NB)
Witnesses to War, by Michael Leapman (Scholastic)
Tell Them We Remember, by Susan Bachraach (Little, Brown)
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow (Scholastic)
The World Must Know, by Michael Berenbaum (USHMM)
Holocaust, by Angela Gluck Wood (DK)


The Internet:

1) A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/
“Amazing...simply amazing. Student activities, timeline, links, and much more. "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust" offers an overview of the people and events of the Holocaust. Extensive teacher resources are included.”
2) Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
English Version:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm
“One of our most important projects is mounting the full proceedings of the Trial of the Major German War Criminals. We have so far mounted volumes 1-4 as well as numerous supporting documents.”
3) Books and Websites about the Holocaust For Young Adults
http://www.euronet.nl/users/jubo/holocaust.html
“I have just recently put up a website for young adults which you may want to list in your excellent site. The URL is: http://www.euronet.nl/users/jubo/holocaust.html It is a joint project between myself (a children's librarian and book reviewer in Chicago, Illinois) and Jurren Bouman, my friend in Holland who was inspired to put something on the Net after visiting the US Holocaust Museum here.”
4) Shoah-Projekt
http://homepages.muenchen.org/bm374879/holocaust
“On our site Shoah Project we provide, besides a huge range of commented links, information about the concentration camp in Dachau, about the Resistance group "The White Rose" and others.”
5) Holocaust Teacher Resource Center
http://www.Holocaust-trc.org
6) "Women and the Holocaust."
http://www.interlog.com/~mighty/home.htm
7) Literature of the Holocaust
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/holhome.html
8) I*EARN's Holocaust/Genocide Project
http://www.igc.apc.org/iearn/hgp/
“Plus visit Project Advisor David Dickerson's Page for the following: Holocaust/Shoah”
9) Holocaust Education in Germany
http://members.aol.com/SMHeyl/index.htm
10) Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
http://www.catholicleague.org
“This Web Site has the entire text of the book "Pius XII and the Holocaust" A Reader which contains documentation on the Catholic Church's role in the Holocaust. About 50% of this volume was written in 1963 by Dr. Joseph Lichten, a Jewish Polish lawyer who served as the Director on International Affairs Department for the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai N'rith.”
11) The Beast Within
http://www.fred.net/nhhs/html/beast.htm
12) Social Studies School Service Holocaust Learning Materials at: http://www.socialstudies.com/holo.html
“They announce: "We have just developed a web site with social studies educators in mind. Part of what we offer is an online catalog from which individuals can order charts, posters, books, videocassettes, cd-roms, etc for teaching about the holocaust."
13) Berkeley Student's Research on Survivors
http://garnet.berkeley.edu/~hzaid/studentindex.html
14) Life Unworthy of Life: A Holocaust Curriculum for High Schools:
http://www.holocaust-curriculum.org
”This curriculum, for high school students, is a member of the U.S. Department of Education's National Diffusion Network, a program recognizing and supporting the dissemination of exemplary curricula. The Life Unworthy of Life curriculum is a flexible, self-contained, innovative program that engages, challenges, and guides students through the historical and ethical issues surrounding the Holocaust. It addresses issues of prejudice, racism, and democratic values. The 18-lesson program incorporates a 62-minute videotape, based on interviews with survivors, used with 5 of the lessons. The authors of the curriculum are Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Dr. David Harris, and Betty Rotberg Ellias.”
15) "Women Writers of the Holocaust"
http://129.79.33.36/Projects/Group7/Default.htm
“I created a multimedia resource guide for a Digital Library project this past semester.”
16)"Reach & Teach" Holocaust Education:
http://www.rio.com/~holcaust
17) Dickinson State University's Internet Holocaust Course
http://www.dsu.nodak.edu/course/artscience/socbehav/holocau.html?
An excellent online education resource center.
18) Anne Frank Exhibit New Mexico Home Page: http://www.viva.com/nm/anne1.htm
Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945, a nationally renowned exhibit, comes to New Mexico.

Taken from: http://remember.org/educate.htm


Project Two:

Throughout this course, we will rely on resources that use technology. Technology is becoming newer, better, and more advanced; it is important for all of us to learn how to use it to our benefit. This is a natural progression, and it is not dissimilar from the technological invention of writing. After all, in the distant past, there was no writing. There was simply speaking and listening. Once writing was developed, teachers incorporated reading and writing into their curriculums. Then with the advent of video, teachers and students incorporated movies and documentaries into their classrooms. Now we have so much more technology, and it is very important for us to remember that the technology we use is not unrelated to the use of writing. They are quite similar. Technologies are developed, and it is important for teachers and students to stay up-to-date.

In this course, the students will be required to establish an RSS feed, a social bookmarking account, an online photo sharing site account, an online video site account, a blog and a Wiki (website). They will be required to share some videos and pictures on the Internet. I would be sure to inform the students that they will find this difficult and that I too found it difficult when I first attempted to do these things. I would strongly encourage them to collaborate with each other.

These are the following deadlines:

• By the end of September, students should have established an RSS feed that aggregates information from blogs about modern European history.
• By the end of October, students should have established a social bookmarking account.
• By the end of November, students should have established an online photo sharing account.
• By the end of January, students should have placed at least twenty (fair-use) photographs that are historically appropriate for Europe between 1900 and 1950.
• By the end of February, students should have established an online video site account, which includes at least two videos that they made for the first project.
• By the end of March, students should have made and posted a online video about the Holocaust.
• By the end of April, students should have established a blog that includes at least twenty pieces of their writings.
• By the end of May, students should have established a website that includes (or hyperlinks) to all of these other Internet sources.

(I set the due dates according to the difficulty I experienced while learning about these tools during the RCWP Technology Institute.)


Final reflection:

The Red Clay Writing Project Advanced Institute for Technology and Literacy was extremely educational. I learned so much about technological resources that I had heard about quite often. I had, however, never taken the time to use them. I thought about this many times throughout the week. I would hear of these technologies but not think that they were worthwhile. While I did not doubt my abilities to use them, I was loath to make the attempt. Now however, I realize that these tools can both make my life so much easier. Beyond that, these technologies can greatly benefit classroom teachers and their students. While my curriculum did not allow to use much technology in my own classroom, I now realize how much my students were missing out on. I remember watching the video Paige’s two students made about their family’s heritage. It was great, and it would be so much powerful if an entire class had a Wiki where each student could publish their work. So many people talk about the depersonalization of technology but, in light of these Web2.0 tools, that particular threat seems to be more reminiscent of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Now, teachers can use these Web2.0 tools to increase the connectivity between the students and the teacher, the material, and the other students. And students will become proficient in this new technology.