United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The Power of Truth: 20 Years
Museum   Education   Research   History   Remembrance   Genocide   Support   Connect
Donate

Education

Home
Why teach about the Holocaust?
Guidelines for Teaching
Are you new to teaching about the Holocaust?
Online Teacher Workshop
State Profiles on Holocaust Education
Essential Topics to Teach
Resources and Materials
Personal Stories and ID Cards
Lesson, Activities, and Teacher Guides
Common Student Questions about the Holocaust
Professional Development
Contemporary Issues on Genocide and Antisemitism
Organizing a Group Visit
Feedback
E-mail Updates

Current Workshops and Conferences

Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Exemplary Lessons Initiative

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Exemplary Lessons Initiative. This program was initially funded by a grant from the Belfer Foundation in honor of the Museum's 10th Anniversary year.

LESSONS

In 2003, middle and high school educators were invited to submit lessons to illustrate or add to student understanding of individual responsibility during the Holocaust as reflected in one or more of the Tenth Anniversary themes: RESISTANCE, RESPONSE, RESCUE, and RENEWAL. A panel of USHMM teaching fellows, experienced teachers from USHMM teacher education programs and educators from Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education selected the first five lessons below. In 2007, a sixth lesson was added. This lesson, now adapted for classroom use, was originally developed by Museum staff to supplement a student visit to the Permanent Exhibition of the USHMM. Teaching for Understanding and Teaching for Transformation: An introduction to the Belfer Exemplary Lessons, by Ron Ritchhart and Veronica Boix-Mansilla, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

  1. Pre–World War II European Jewish Life Photo Project
    Lesson (printable) PDF version »
    Student Instructions PDF version »

    Aimee Young, Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools’ High School, Loudonville, Ohio


    VIEW VIDEO   HIGH     LOW  

  2. Individual Responsibility and Resistance During the Holocaust
    Lesson (printable) PDF version »
    Student Handout and Teacher's Rubric PDF version »

    Laura Pritchard, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, Virginia

  3. Bringing the Holocaust Unit to closure: Implications for the Future
    Lesson (printable) PDF version »
    Student Handouts PDF version »

    Dr. Joyce Witt, Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois


      VIEW VIDEO  

  4. A Poetic Finale
    Lesson (printable) PDF version »
    Student Handouts PDF version »

    Don Leibold, Loyola Academy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  5. Rethinking Perpetrators, Bystanders and Rescuers: The case of Max Schmeling
    Lesson (printable) PDF version »

    Dr. Joy Marks Gray, Kenston High School, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

  6. Organizing the History »
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

  7. Learning from the Early Stages of the Holocaust »
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

  8. Who is Responsible when Genocide Occurs? (Examples: Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur)
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum


Lesson Template »
This lesson template is the designated structure for all five lessons. This lesson template, designed by Ron Ritchhart of Project Zero, is provided for teachers to use as they write and refine lessons.

PDF is short for Portable Document Format, developed by Adobe Systems. This makes it possible to print formatted documents such as those above. To view a file in PDF format, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems.

Get Acrobat Reader

If you have questions about PDF and how to print these documents, please visit Adobe's customer support page.

To make a document accessible, please go to the Adobe web page, type the URL of the PDF document, and select the "Get This Adobe PDF Document as HTML" button. The Adobe PDF document will be converted instantly to a format that your screen reader can read, and will be returned to you immediately in your browser application.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html


Aimee Young, teaching a high school class.

Aimee Young, teaching a high school class. Times-Gazette photo

CRITERIA

These lessons were chosen as exemplary models of the criteria described below. The lessons also had to conform to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust (or see the Museum publication A Resource Guide for Educators: Teaching, p.3)

Historical Accuracy

Building Understanding

Engagement of Students

Innovative Approach

Demands for Critical Thinking by Students

Broad Applicability and Practicality for Most Classrooms

The teachers who submitted these lessons received a certificate from the Museum and a monetary award. The lessons are presented here and are distributed in print format at USHMM workshops and conferences.

Please help us evaluate our materials and take this brief survey about the Belfer exemplary lessons.