Making Sense of the Holocaust: Lessons From Classroom Practice

What lessons are conveyed implicitly and explicitly in teaching and learning about the Holocaust? Through three very readable case studies, the author reflects on the lessons taught, highlighting strengths and missed opportunities and illuminating important implications for the teaching of other historical episodes.

Features:

• The close examination of different narrative treatments of the Holocaust by experienced teachers working with diverse groups of students in American public high schools―all teachers were recommended for being pedagogically innovative and for affecting their students deeply.
• A focus on curricular enactments within particular classes that examine what students in each class learned from the Holocaust course.
• A nonpartisan assessment that identifies the ideological debates surrounding the teaching of the Holocaust and provides guidance for navigating them.
• A critical assessment of many authoritative organizations and authors whose positions currently dominate Holocaust education.

Simone A. Schweber is the Goodman Professor of Education and Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.