Mini Course: Teaching Holocaust and Human Behaviour (Canada)

In today’s global climate, it is more essential than ever to equip youth with the tools, understanding and agency to analyze and make informed, ethical choices.  Studying the Holocaust allows students to wrestle with profound moral questions raised by this history while fostering their skills in ethical and moral reasoning, critical analysis, empathy, and civic engagement - all of which are critical habits of mind for sustaining democracy.  Just as essential is to ensure students hold a foundational understanding of the Jewish identities, Jewish Canadians’ heritage and joy.  Cultivating these foundations and capacities in young people further works toward sustaining democratic societies that are pluralistic, open, compassionate, and resilient to antisemitism - and to violence. 

In this facilitated online mini course featuring Holocaust and Human Behavior you will:

1. Explore an approach and resources that help students connect history to their own lives and the choices they make
2. Discover an innovative approach and learn from sources that introduce Jewish Canadian history, heritage, and identities with students that inspires curiosity and connection to their communities
3. Learn current scholarship on the history of the Holocaust and new research focused on human behaviour, group dynamics, and bias
4. Increase your ability to facilitate respectful classroom discussions on difficult issues such as racism, antisemitism, and other forms of exclusion in a way that invites personal reflection and critical analysis
5. Experience teaching strategies, resources and lesson ideas to foster understanding for the complexity of, and appreciation for diversity of identities 
6. Engage with classroom-ready multimedia resources that enable you to bring scholarship on the history of antisemitism, the Holocaust and human behaviour to students
7. Engage with survivor testimony through a trauma-aware approach, and gain sensitive and thought-provoking teaching strategies to bring this history into the classroom

Independent evaluation has shown that implementing Facing History’s approach improves students’ higher-order thinking skills, increases students’ civic efficacy and engagement with civic matters, and increases students’ tolerance for others who hold contrary views from their own.

Who should take this mini-course:

• This course is intended for upper Grade 6 - 8 teachers looking to increase their personal understanding of the Holocaust, and learn ways to engage students in conversations about identity, community, and Jewish Canadian history and heritage
• This course is also intended for secondary History and Social Science educators who will be teaching about the history of the Holocaust and Human Behaviour.
• Please note due to our funding sources, priority acceptance into this course will be given to Canadian classroom educators.

Duration: 4 weeks. This course contains 4 modules; A new module will be introduced each week. Each module includes online self-guided work (approximately 90 minutes), optional resources to deepen your learning, and weekly live online learning classes in Zoom (75 minutes).

Time commitment: Approximately 3-4 hours each week for 4 weeks.

Format: Each week’s module will follow a similar structure:

1. Approximately 90-120 minutes of online self-guided work to complete in preparation for each week’s synchronous discussions.
2. A 75 minute facilitated live online learning class with activities.
3. Optional extension activities to be completed anytime during the week.

The 75 minute live learning sessions will not be recorded and will take place on Zoom on the following dates:

Live Online Learning Sessions:

Call #1: 17 January 2024, 7 - 8:15pm ET

Call #2: 24 January 2024, 7 - 8:15pm ET

Call #3: 31 January 2024 (Survivor Testimony) 7 - 8:15pm ET

Call #4: 7 February 2024, 7 - 8:15pm ET

Certificate of Completion awarded upon successful completion of the course, for 12 professional development hours.

ASL-English Interpretation is available free of charge. Please request this service by emailing canada [at] facinghistory.org  no later than 10 December 2023.

This mini course is funded by The Azrieli Foundation/La Fondation Azrieli.