Think Higher Feel Deeper: Holocaust Education in the Secondary Classroom

By Mark Gudgel 

Approaching the Holocaust in your classroom can be a difficult, often daunting task. This practical guide for English and social studies teachers features lessons learned from the author’s 17 years of experience teaching the subject in public schools, as well as his work with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Using anecdotes and empirical data, Gudgel offers advice for teaching the Holocaust in a way that is nuanced, socially responsible, and historically accurate. He provides guidance on common challenges and questions teachers will encounter, such as correcting misconceptions, using films, and discussing genocide with secondary students. While World War II grows ever more distant in the past, the lessons of the Holocaust are perhaps more relevant today than ever before. It may never be easy to teach about the Holocaust, but it can be done in ways that make it edifying and empowering, rather than causing despair. This approach is as important for educators as it is for their students.

Book Features:

• Uses a conversational tone with classroom examples and actionable teaching advice.
• Designed to make a difficult topic more accessible for teachers at all levels of experience.
• Helps teachers think about best practices through a lens of inquiry, pedagogy, and personal experience.
• Focuses on what the author believes would have been most helpful when he began teaching about the Holocaust.

Forward by Michael Berenbaum