Preparing for Emotionally Challenging Content | Holocaust Literature Introductory Lesson 4

About This Lesson

Many teachers want their students to develop the capacity for emotional engagement when learning about the Holocaust and therefore teach its history and literature with the goal of fostering empathy. However, like any examination of difficult histories, Holocaust literature can include content that some students may find intellectually and/or emotionally challenging. Conversations about identity-based persecution and violence can also bring up deeply personal experiences and complex connections. It is essential to establish and maintain a classroom environment that balances honest engagement with sensitivity, ensuring that all students feel supported as they process this difficult history in their own ways. 

This lesson prepares students to engage responsibly and compassionately with emotionally challenging content, particularly related to the Holocaust. Students collaboratively establish guidelines for reflective dialogue and use poetry and writing to explore their responses to the content. These activities support students in developing empathy, perspective-taking, a supportive learning community, and personal strategies for safe emotional engagement when confronted with difficult content.

Guiding Questions

• How can we safely, responsibly, and compassionately engage with emotionally challenging content in literature and history?
• In what ways can understanding our emotional responses deepen our comprehension of literature and history and our empathy toward others’ experiences?

Learning Objectives

• Practice perspective taking in order to develop empathy, understand conflict, and recognize the limits of any one person’s point of view
• Seek and engage with a range of perspectives during classroom discussions to develop a nuanced understanding of complex issues.
• Recognize that your decisions matter, impact others, and shape your communities and the world.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Establish a Classroom Contract for Reflective Dialogue 

Explain that the book unit that the class is about to begin will include difficult topics that require thoughtful and compassionate dialogue. In order to facilitate the inherent challenges of engaging with emotionally intense content in the classroom, you will begin by collectively creating a class contract. This contract will name the expectations and considerations for engaging with difficult content and establish ground rules to ensure a safe and supported space in which to grapple with this content. 

If you feel comfortable doing so, you may briefly share your own reflections on what it feels like to engage with challenging content as a way to model vulnerability and openness.

Take a moment to address any questions, and then divide students into small groups. Ask them to brainstorm what makes them feel supported when discussing heavy or difficult topics. Offer prompts such as:

• With your group, generate a list of 5 to 10 different ways that people may respond to challenging or uncomfortable topics. 
• What does safety look like, sound like, and feel like in our class when we share personal reflections and thoughts on challenging topics? 
• What guidelines and strategies help us feel supported during tough discussions?

Circulate and help facilitate small-group discussions, encouraging the inclusion of everyone’s voice. If students struggle with the first prompt, you may want to provide examples of varying emotional responses, such as silence, displays of anger, crying, laughing (as a reaction to discomfort), a desire to verbally process with others, or a desire to be alone.

Regroup and compile ideas on the board. Together, draft a class contract that includes agreements such as the these: ¹

• Show respect for self and others.
• Listen actively and without interruption.
• Hold space for differing opinions and emotions.
• Embrace challenge.
• Request a “pause” if emotions become overwhelming.
• Expect and accept uncertainty. 
• Use designated words or signals to indicate that someone needs a break.

You may also choose to start with a sample contract and modify it as a class. 

Write the contract visibly on the board, a poster, or a digital document that is accessible to everyone throughout the unit. 

Explain to students that this is an evolving document and that you will revisit it often and revise as needed. Emphasize that the contract is also a shared commitment by all members of the class and that this commitment is integral to processing challenging material responsibly.

Activity 2: Reflect on Poetry Through Journaling

Introduce the poem “Take this Giant Leap” by Sonia Weitz by reading the brief paragraph that precedes it. Then read the poem aloud to the class. Afterward, have students reflect independently in their journals on two or three of following questions:

• Choose a “golden line” from the poem. Why did you choose this line? What thoughts or emotions does this line evoke?
• What does this poem mean to you? What questions does it raise for you?
• Why do you think Weitz chose the metaphor of taking a giant leap? What might it mean in the context of the poem?
• Do you think that Weitz believes it is possible to understand the horrors of the Holocaust? 
• How might the idea of “taking a giant leap” help prepare us for engaging with a book about the Holocaust?

Invite students to form small groups to discuss their answers and to reflect collectively on the poem’s message or meaning.

After the discussion, ask students to jot down new insights, questions, or thoughts that emerged from their small-group discussion.

Ask volunteers to share their responses with the rest of the class.

Activity 3: Process Through Exit Tickets

Hand out small slips of paper to each student and invite them to share a brief independent reflection on the day’s learning as an exit ticket. You can draw from the following questions or allow students to choose one: 

• What was the most challenging part of today’s lesson, and why?
• What questions or ideas have emerged for you about engaging with this material?
• How do you feel that we can support each other better in processing this content?
• Is there anything else you would like to share with me before we begin the book study?

Emphasize that every student’s input is valuable and that there are no “wrong” answers. It is also important to assure students that their responses are confidential and will be used only to help guide your understanding of how the day’s discussion and content affected them both emotionally and intellectually.

• 1Some examples adapted from “Facilitating Hot Moments in Classroom Discussion,” handout created by Dr. Aaliyah El-Amin and Kimberly Osagie on behalf of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Teaching and Learning Lab.