Registration for the 2021 Belfer Conference has closed. Please check back in Fall 2021 for more information about the 2022 Belfer Conference.
CONFERENCE DETAILS
Earn 18 professional development hours in a convenient virtual platform while exploring content and educational resources with US Holocaust Memorial Museum historians and educators. Participants will also meet other teachers in their region and interact live during the sessions with teachers from across the country and the world. Participants will receive free classroom-ready resources.
Keynote speaker: Derek Black
Growing up among one of the leading families of the white nationalist movement in the United States, Derek helped advocate for and support the white nationalist cause—until he went to college and was invited to join in Shabbat dinners with Jewish classmates. Hear more from Derek and learn about his experiences during his keynote presentation.
Holocaust survivor speaker: Dr. Arie Kruglanski
Dr. Kruglanski, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, will share his experience as a child living in the Lodz ghetto and how he and his family survived the Holocaust. Later in life, he was inspired to study human behavior and what motivates people to embrace extremist ideologies. Learn more about his work and his incredible Holocaust survival story.
Register for the virtual session that best describes you:
Session I: Wednesday, July 7–Friday, July 9
Session I is for secondary school and community college faculty participating in US Holocaust Memorial Museum educational training for the first time.
Do you want to learn about the Museum’s resources to support your classroom? Session I of the Belfer Conference is for you. Participants will discuss guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust, discover classroom-ready resources for English and Social Studies curriculums, and learn how to teach this topic for various time constraints, including one day.
Session II: Wednesday, July 28–Friday, July 30
Session II is for secondary school and community college faculty who are conference alumni.
Have you attended the Belfer National Conference in the past? Session II is for conference alumni. Participants will receive updates about the newest Museum resources for educators, including online lessons, hear from Museum historians, and discover updates to legacy Museum lessons.
Session III: Monday, August 2–Tuesday, August 3
Session III is for school administrators, curriculum coordinators, librarians, curriculum developers, CHEC partners, HITE professors, online curriculum providers, AHO members, or other Holocaust education partners.
Are you involved in school curriculum? Session three is for curriculum coordinators and school administrators interested in integrating the Holocaust into their curriculum. Participants will learn how teaching about the Holocaust seamlessly supports anchor curriculum goals in English and Social Studies programs. They will network with other thought leaders and discover free resources and support for professional development to assist with meeting state mandates.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will be held virtually. Virtual event access details will be provided in your email registration confirmation.
About the Conference
Funded by a grant from the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation, this conference is designed for pre-service teachers, middle and high school educators, and community college faculty. This conference introduces participants to the Museum's pedagogical approach to teaching about the Holocaust, as well as Museum resources.
While the conference is designed for teachers who have less than five years of experience teaching about the Holocaust, we welcome all educators to the 2021 conference.
During the conference, Museum educators and scholars share rationales, strategies, and approaches for teaching about the Holocaust. Participants have the opportunity to network with other educators, hear from Holocaust survivors, and explore the Museum’s full range of resources. Those who complete the conference receive educational materials from the Museum.
Please direct any questions to Chelsea Halling-Nye at challing@ushmm.org.
Video of highlights from the 2015 conference:
