Saving History

The article “‘Time Is Running Out’: Museum Curator In Florida Races To Preserve Holocaust Items” is discussing the potential lose the world faces as the survivors of the Holocaust are passing on. The museum curator explains how she spends her time talking to these survivors in their homes in southern Florida. She also mentions that she is looking for new items that can be donated to the museum from the Holocaust time period. This is important to pay attention to, because the most recent world wide genocide that scared the people of this planet is becoming simple history now. It needs to be learned from so that it never happens again.

The content standards that connect with this article and activity are the third, “Content Standard 3 — Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions),” and the sixth, “Content Standard 6 — Students demonstrate an understanding of the impact of human interaction and cultural diversity on societies.” The Grand Challenge that this connects to is “Understanding the American Experience.” After reading this article I would expect students to ask questions like, “When did the Holocaust happen?” or “Where did the Holocaust happen?” or “How many people died during the Holocaust?” The routine I would use for this activity is the split-page note taking method found in our 50 Routines book. I think this will help students tale more organized notes, as well as help them remember the important facts from this article.

When executing this activity I would start by reading through the whole article with the entire class to make sure that they understand the main points. Then I would show them an example of how I wanted them to take individual notes on this article as they read through it again. I would project a word document with faux notes that I previously wrote on the board for the duration of the activity. I would emphasize that students should be rereading through this article quietly and writing down what they think is important in the format provided on the board. At the end of class I would collect the notes and take participation points for a grade.