Facing History Foundations: Examining Moral Universe and Choices

Join us for an interactive online workshop designed to help you foster critical social analysis and ethical/moral consideration in a study of the Holocaust, historical literature, memoir or other difficult histories.  In this workshop, we will: 

• Introduce ways to support nuanced discussions with students about choices within historical, literary and contemporary contexts 
• Introduce analytical frameworks that middle and high school students can utilize to examine historical and contemporary societies through a critical and ethical lens
• Explore the concept of “moral universe” through an examination of the conditions that led to the Holocaust and consider how time and place influence our identities, sense of belonging and moral decision-making processes
• Model ways to engage students in rich, interdisciplinary academic scholarship and primary source texts in Facing History and Ourselves’ resource book, Holocaust and Human Behavior, and excerpts from Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night
• Consider how the choices people make in moments of injustice, individually and collectively, shape history

This is the third workshop in the Facing History Foundations Series, which intends to invite interaction with Facing History and Ourselves’ core ideas and Holocaust and Human Behaviour resource. Through sharing practices and dialogue, each workshop will hone specific teaching topics and practices, and prepare participants to engage students more effectively with the Holocaust or other histories of identity-based violence.

The prior sessions introduced ways to discuss identity in the classroom, and teach about the long history of antisemitism leading to the Holocaust.  The following session will focus on taking students safely into and out of survivor testimonies and other difficult personal sharing.  This will take place on April 13th.

Who should attend this workshop: 

• This workshop is intended for middle and secondary school History, Humanities, Language Arts or English teachers who are interested in learning a transformative approach to teaching about the history of the Holocaust and other challenging moments.  
• Teachers who teach Elie Wiesel’s Night in English/Literature or History classrooms