1. Why was denial so persistent among the Jewish community? optimism? 2. Why does Eli lose his faith? How do suffering and loss of faith correlate? increase or decrease? 3. Why are the roles of perpetrators so difficult to understand in the book? victims may be the same. 4. Why does Eli become mad at his father instead of the Kapo when he is beaten by an iron bar? on page 52 Response to Adam Our questions were basically the same as both focused on how suffering can lead to a loss of faith. However, mine focused more on how faith can either increase or decrease depending on suffering and not how it can aid someone through suffering. These questions are important for students to focus on because it forces them to put themselves in the authors shoes. Only then will they know how their own faith would be tested. Also, faith is reiterated many times through the beginning of the book and influences Elies decisions. I took an entire class on how to teach difficult topics within the classroom and Night became a central focus throughout the entire semester. This particular book forces students to look at the dangers of genocide and feel empathy for the main character. It is important when teaching topics like the Holocaust to have students realize the suffering and mistreatment of others during this time. As a teacher I definitely want to focus on creating a classroom in which the students are not afraid or nervous to talk about such difficult topics.
0 Comments
Sacrilization is the idea that a topic is so sacred and important that it is given an air of awe. This means that people surround the topic with hushed tones and seriousness. However, this is also a very dangerous idea. This is because it creates a fear of investigating and questioning as the public is afraid of appearing insensitive. On the other hand of the spectrum is trivialization. Trivialization is the idea of making a topic seem less important or significant. This is also dangerous because it can downgrade the difficulties of the past. For instance, the Holocaust is a very difficult topic and therefore should be more of a serious discussion in class. It would be very inappropriate to turn this particular event into a game within the classroom. This topic is discussed in length within the article Holocaust Fatigue: Teaching it Today where the author, Simon Schweber, claims " Where I once worried that the sanctification of the Holocaust stifled learning, I now worry that trivialization of the Holocaust impedes its understanding".
Within many areas of the world the role of Israel is vexed in public opinion. This means that discussing the country can be problematic and difficult. This is because there has been a lot of criticism surrounding Israel and their governments role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the middle east. As a result, teaching about the Holocaust has suffered. This is because teachers are afraid of discussing the topic in fear of seeming supportive of Israel. Teaching the Holocaust is also linked to current middle eastern conflict. Textbooks are useful for making lesson plans, especially for first time teachers. This allows them to know which material should be covered and which details are important to incorporate in the classroom. Also, textbooks are extremely organized. However, one of the most important reasons why a textbook is so useful is because it is chronological. Seeing all of the information in order is very useful for teachers when making a lesson plan. Textbooks also have their downfalls with inaccurate or left out information. Also, some teachers may depend on the textbook too much when teaching their students.
The standard 6.2.1 Political Revolutions- analyze the age of Revolutions is the one I used for my micro-teaching. I came up with an interesting question surrounding that standard and the Haitian revolution. This question was what success factors led to the slaves victory? This was important because the students would need to know background information and be able to use this to make inferences. It is very important for teachers to focus on essential questions in the classroom because this helps frame the unit or lesson plan. Also, looking at a question can help students see what knowledge they need to achieve by the end of the unit. |