Process
The class will be divided into groups that will research and examine different perspectives of individuals who lived during the Holocaust. Prior to completing this project, you should have completed reading the novel by Carol Matas, Daniel's Story. By reading this text, you will have background knowledge on the time period of the Holocaust and what daily life was like for the Jewish people. Each group member will be given a specific role to investigate. Using the resources provided in this WebQuest, each member will write a historical journal entry from the perspective of their person, illustrate the journal, and then present to the rest of the group. Finally, the group will work together to produce a Holocaust Memory Book.
1. Join with three other classmates to create a team. Choose your group wisely, as you will be earning both an individual and group grade for this project.
2. Each team member should select one of the following roles: Member #1 will be an Adult in the Birkenau Concentration Camp, member #2 will be a Nazi leader in Auschwitz, member #3 will be an adolescent living in the ghetto of Lodz, Poland, and member #4 will be a Kapo(Leader of a work crew in a camp) leading a resistance movement within one of the concentration camps. *These roles are based on characters in the novel Daniel's Story. Look to the novel if you need additional ideas*
3. Read your job description. Click below on your assigned role to see what your role involves.
4. Upon researching the different resources, write your journal entry. Be sure to use the web resources as well as the books provided. (check out the citation page) You can also look at the experiences of the characters in Daniel's Story to help you write the entry. Also, remember to look at the rubric to make sure you are meeting all the criteria. (This can be found on the Evaluation Page)
5. Illustrate your journal entry using markers/crayons and/or images found on the web. The illustration should complement the text of the journal and depict life during the holocaust.
6. Upon completion of the journal writing. Share your entry with your other group members. Read the entry and show the illustration. Describe some of the resources you used and explain the perspective of your role and how everyday life was for them.
7. After each member has shared, bind the journal entries and illustrations together using a three hole punch and a folder with the capability to hold hole punched papers. This will be your Holocaust Memory Book.
8. As a group, write a reflective paper (1-2 pages in length) in which you discuss the various perspectives of people who lived during the Holocaust. How were they different and alike? Compare the characters in Daniel's Story with the research you did on the various roles. How historically accurate are Carol Matas's characters based on the research you did? Provide examples. Finally, discuss what some of the major themes and issues were that the people of the Holocaust faced.
9. Place this paper at the end of the Holocaust Memory Book.
10. Each group will present their Holocaust Memory Book to the rest of the class.