Guidelines for Teaching

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9. Make careful distinctions about sources of information

Guideline:

Students need practice in distinguishing between fact, opinion, and fiction; between primary and secondary sources; and between types of evidence such as court testimonies, oral histories, and other written documents. Hermeneutics—the science of interpretation—should be called into play to help guide your students in their analysis of sources. Students should be encouraged to consider why a particular text was written, who wrote it, who the intended audience was, whether there were any biases inherent in the information, whether any gaps occurred in discussion, whether omissions in certain passages were inadvertent or not, and how the information has been used to interpret various events.

Because scholars often base their research on different bodies of information, varying interpretations of history can emerge. Consequently, all interpretations are subject to analytical evaluation. Only by refining their own “hermeneutic of suspicion” can students mature into readers who discern the difference between legitimate scholars who present competing historical interpretations and those who distort or deny historical fact for personal or political gain.

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• Welcome and Introduction
• Before you start teaching
• 1. Define the term ‘Holocaust’
• 2. Contextualize the history you are teaching
• 3. Translate statistics into people
• 4. Strive for precision of language
• 5. Avoid simple answers to complex history
• 6. Just because it happened does not mean it was inevitable
• 7. Try to avoid stereotypical descriptions
• 8. Strive for balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study of the Holocaust
• 9. Make careful distinctions about sources of information
• 10. Do not romanticize history to engage students’ interest
• 11. Be sensitive to appropriate written and audiovisual content
• 12. Select appropriate learning activities
• 13. Reinforce the objectives of your lesson plan
• 14. Avoid comparisons of pain
• Topics to Teach
• Sample Lessons
• Conclusion

• Guest Lecture: Dr. William Meinecke Jr. discusses the topic "Nazi Ideology and Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution."

• Personal Testimony: Nesse Godin, a survivor of the Siauliai ghetto in Lithuania, the Stuffhof concentration camp, four labor camps, and a death march, shares her memories.