8.11 Holocaust PREVIEW

Nonfiction Article of the Week Table of Contents 8-11: Surviving the Holocaust

Table of Contents 3

List of Activities, Difficulty Levels, Common Core Alignment, & TEKS 4

Digital Components/Google Classroom Guide 5

Teaching Guide, Rationale, Lesson Plans, Links, and Procedures: EVERYTHING 6-9

Article: Surviving the Holocaust 10-11

*Modified Article: Surviving the Holocaust 12-13

Activity 1: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Multiple Choice w/Key 14-15

Activity 2: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Open-Ended Questions w/Key 16-17

Activity 3: Text Evidence Activity w/Annotation Guide for Article 18-20

Activity 4: Text Evidence Activity & Answer Bank w/Key 21-23

Activity 5: Skill Focus – RI.8.6 Author’s Purpose and POV; Conflicting Viewpoints 24-27

Activity 6: Integrate Sources –Video Clip & Questions w/Key 28-29

Activity 7: Skills Test Regular w/Key 30-33

Activity 8: Skills Test *Modified w/Key 34-37

Activities, Difficulty Levels, and Common Core Alignment

List of Activities & Standards Difficulty Level: *Easy **Moderate ***Challenge Activity 1: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Multiple Choice* RI.8.1 Activity 2: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Open-Ended Questions* RI.8.1 Activity 3: Text Evidence Activity w/Annotation Guide for Article** RI.8.1 Activity 4: Text Evidence Activity w/Answer Bank** RI.8.1 Activity 5: Skill Focus – Purpose and POV; Conflicting Viewpoints** RI.8.6 Activity 6: Integrate Sources – Video Clip*** RI.8.7, RI.8.9 Activity 7: Skills Test Regular w/Key** RI.8.1, RI.8.6 Activity 8: Skills Test *Modified w/Key** RI.8.1, RI.8.6

Activities, Difficulty Levels, and TEKS Alignment

List of Activities & Standards Difficulty Level: *Easy **Moderate ***Challenge Activity 1: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Multiple Choice* ELAR.5(F) Activity 2: Basic Comprehension Quiz/Check – Open-Ended Questions* ELAR.5(F) Activity 3: Text Evidence Activity w/Annotation Guide for Article** ELAR.5(F), 6(C) Activity 4: Text Evidence Activity w/Answer Bank** ELAR.5(F), 6(C) Activity 5: Skill Focus – Purpose and POV; Conflicting Viewpoints** ELAR.9(A)(B)(C)(E) Activity 6: Integrate Sources – Video Clip*** ELAR.12(D)(F) Activity 7: Skills Test Regular w/Key** ELAR.9(A)(B)(C)(E) Activity 8: Skills Test *Modified w/Key** ELAR.9(A)(B)(C)(E)

All student activities are available in digital format compatible with Google Classroom. They are available in two formats: Google Slides and Google Forms. Google Slides First, I have made all student pages (excluding assessments) in Google Slides format. Students can simply add text boxes to any area they wish to type on. To access the Google Slides for this article, copy and paste the link below into your browser. *Note that you’ll need to make a copy of the folder or slide before you can use it.*

link omitted in preview

Google Forms I have made the assessments available in Google Forms. Here, they are self-grading, and I have set them all up with answer keys so they are ready to go for you. You’ll need to find these two files in your download folder to use Google Forms. The first file contains the links to the Forms, and the second file is explicit instructions for use. Look inside the Google Forms folder.

A Couple of Options for Teaching Article of the Week Units Here are my favorite suggestions for organizing these units with your schedule. *Please note that thumbnails show article 6.1 and activities.

Option A: Quickie Unit Simply complete all lesson activities in order OR pick and choose the activities you want to complete in order. Time Needed: 2-3 fifty-minute class periods Pros: Super flexible; perfect filler around your other units; makes it easy to assign easier components for homework; ideal no prep sub plans if you have to be out for 2-3 days in a row. Cons: Fitting them all in around everything else you’ve got to do.

Option B: Daily Model Use as a class starter or specific routine in your classroom everyday at the same time. Time Needed: 15-20 minutes/day, 5 days/week Pros: IDEAL for block scheduling when you need to always change it up; Great way to fit nonfiction articles in with what you’re already doing. Monday Cons: There are 25 total articles for each grade level, so some weeks you’ll need to skip the articles (I’d skip when doing projects, novels, during short weeks, and plan to finish up right before testing); May be difficult to commit to something Tuesday rigid like this if you’re a type B teacher like myself ;)

Here’s how the daily model works:

Monday: Read article & complete basic comprehension Wednesday activity Tuesday: Text evidence activity Wednesday: Skills focus activity (based on one key skill for each article) Thursday Thursday: Integrate information (other sources) Friday: Assessment

Friday

©2018 erin cobb imlovinlit.com Nonfiction Article of the Week Teacher’s Guide 8-11: Surviving the Holocaust Walkthrough I have discussed here how I use each activity and included hints and links to help you, too. Feel free to take or leave what you like. Even if you don’t plan to do every activity, I still recommend reading through this section to get the most out of these activities. Looking for a schedule to follow? Check the previous page for two suggested scheduling options.

These lessons and activities were designed to meet the needs of eighth graders during the middle part of the school year. The articles, activities, questions, and assessments will become increasingly rigorous and challenging as we progress through the year.

Modified Article Article

Activities 1-2 • *There are no higher order thinking questions included here – only basic, literal comprehension. • These activities are designed to be completed on an either/or basis, meaning your students should Activity 1 only complete one of them, not both. • Use Activity 1 for a quick cold-read assessment or after you’ve read the article together. I use these to hold students accountable for reading carefully. I recommend having students complete activity 1 without the article as long as they’ve just read the article (so not the next day), unless you’re providing a testing accommodation. • Use Activity 2 for an open-ended option for the Activity 2 same exact questions. Students may have a harder time answering this one without the article, so choose this one if you want students to use the article but still prove that they’ve understood the content.

Activities 3-4 • Again, these activities are either/or, so choose one or the other but not both. Activity 3 • Activity 3 requires students to annotate text evidence in the article and includes an article annotation key. • Activity 4 requires students to choose text evidence from a bank at the bottom. This format prepares students to choose from and distinguish between pieces of text evidence on a state assessment. I recommend mixing it Activity 4 up and going back and forth between these among units until your students are proficient at both methods.

Activity 5 • This activity is focused around the main Activity 5 skill for this article: RI.8.6 – Analyze Purpose and Point of View, primarily conflicting viewpoints • Complete answer keys included, as always.

Activity 6 • This activity requires students to integrate information from another source or media. • Here, students view a video clip from the Educator Video Toolbox aligned to Echoes & Activity 6 Reflections about Liberators and Survivors. • Youtube: https://youtu.be/kOIHRQlQqwU • Backup: https://goo.gl/FFdJoJ

Activities 7-8 • Skills assessments should ALWAYS be given with access to the text. ALWAYS. This is always the case on standardized tests, and hey, in real life too, right?! • What’s the best way to make sure your students Activity 7 are prepared for the state assessment? Assess them regularly with that format. I always let my students practice for the first few before I start counting them for a grade, and I always use the basic comprehension assessment (activity 1 or 2) as an easy grade so it levels the playing field. Google Forms assessments • Activity 7 is the regular assessment. always included! • Activity 8 is the modified assessment. The modified assessment offer students only two answer choices instead of four. Note that only the multiple choice portion of the modified test is different from the original. Simply put, only page one is different. Complete keys included as always (not shown). • In a hurry? I always include only multiple choice questions on the first page in case you’re Activity 8 in a hurry and need to skip the open-ended portion of the test. I don’t recommend skipping regularly but every now and then, I need a grading break.

Self-grading Google Forms assessment always included for: • Activity 1 (Comprehension Quiz) • Activity 7 (Skills Test) • Activity 8 (Modified Skills Test)

©2018 erin cobb imlovinlit.com talk about their ordeals. It is hard to say for sure if Holocaust Other noteworthy findings include that survivors had built-in traits that helped them survivors had more successful careers and survive, or if they developed these traits as a earned higher incomes, despite being less result of their experiences. But it is clear that educated overall than the Jews already living in living through unspeakable suffering greatly the U.S. And strikingly, almost no survivors impacted the direction of their lives and shaped have been convicted of crimes. Studies have who they became. also found that survivors are more likely to do volunteer work than other people. Major General Sidney Shachnow It is theorized that enduring the terrors of Maj. Gen. Sidney the Holocaust caused survivors to become Shachnow was a more adaptable and resilient, more likely to Lithuanian who survived take action, and perhaps to have gained the Holocaust and went on to attain the rank of Major perspective on what matters most in life. But General in the United some also theorize that people who already States Army, serving for 39 had traits like resilience, adaptability, and years. tenacity were simply more likely to survive in At the age of seven, Shachnow was imprisoned in the Kovno Ghetto the first place. Complicating these theories, because his family was Jewish. Enduring three many survivors themselves credit their years of heavy manual labor under harsh survival to sheer luck. conditions, he lost almost all of his extended family members before narrowly escaping death Hidden Stress? himself. Shachnow escaped the ghetto days before the children’s death march, living in It should also be noted that other research hiding for months and almost dying of starvation has shown that many Holocaust survivors and malnutrition. displayed symptoms of posttraumatic stress At the age of fifteen, Shachnow immigrated to disorder throughout their whole lives. So while Salem, Massachusetts. There, he attended school for the first time in his life and enlisted in the they may have succeeded based on external U.S. Army just before graduation. After seven markers of success, they still dealt and continue years, he volunteered for the U.S. Army Special to deal with internal pain that is not visible to Forces known as the Green Berets, widely the outside world. For example, 80% of regarded as the smartest, most lethal fighters in the world. Shachnow fought in Vietnam and survivors reported having frequent twice received the Silver Star for valor. He later nightmares. served as the Army’s commanding officer in Another trait that has been noted in Berlin, Germany, where his headquarters had survivors is that of psychic numbing. This is formerly been occupied by the very Nazi leaders the ability to shut off one’s emotions and who had put his family in the camp and killed many of his family members. memories during a challenging situation. This General Shachnow has stated publicly that skill may have made it possible for survivors to flexibility, tenacity, and assertiveness were endure the horrors inside the camps as well as among the qualities that helped him survive the move on with their lives afterwards. But Holocaust. “Unavoidable suffering can give you meaning in life. For me, my military experience, researchers are not sure if this is a positive or my experience in a concentration camp, and my negative trait. It may be a helpful survival relationship with my wife gave me meaning.” mechanism, or it may be a part of Shachnow died in 2018 at the age of 83. posttraumatic stress disorder that survivors developed after the events. ©2018 erin cobb imlovinlit.com Nonfiction Article of the Week Informational Text 8-11: Surviving the Holocaust Skill: Text Evidence

Finding Text Evidence Find each piece of text evidence in the article and highlight OR underline it with the color specified. Be sure to choose the piece or pieces of evidence that most strongly support the statement.

For items 1-4, you’ll be citing textual evidence to support what the text says explicitly. 1. Find the sentence that explains why many concentration camp prisoners died after liberation. Highlight it in blue. 2. Find the 3 sentences that reveal some horrors experienced by concentration camp survivors. Highlight them in green. 3. Find the sentence that tells when Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated. Highlight it in purple. 4. Find the sentence that tells where Sidney Shachnow was imprisoned. Highlight it in gray.

For items 5-8, you’ll be citing one piece or multiple pieces of textual evidence to support inferences drawn from the text. 5. Find a piece of text evidence that explains why psychic numbing might be a negative trait and highlight it in orange. 6. Find one piece of text evidence that supports the idea that many Holocaust survivors had difficulty sleeping. Highlight it in yellow. 7. Find one piece of text evidence that supports the idea that many Holocaust survivors did not take the time to go to college. Highlight it in pink. 8. Find a piece of text evidence to support the statement below and highlight it in red: Holocaust survivors care deeply about the well-being of others.

Activity 3 ©2018 erin cobb imlovinlit.com Nonfiction Article of the Week Informational Text 8-11: Surviving the Holocaust Skill: Analyze Point of View & Purpose A. Conflicting Viewpoints Read each point of view from the article in the left column. Then, look back at the article for a conflicting viewpoints. If there’s a conflicting point of view in the article, write it in the space to the right of the original point of view. If there is not a conflicting point of view, write NONE in the space provided. You may use NONE for an answer only twice.

Point of View Conflicting Point of View

1. Holocaust survivors were less likely to seek mental health care because they have a remarkable ability to adjust.

2. After liberation from camps, survivors first had to physically recover before beginning to rebuild their lives.

3. People who had traits like resilience and adaptability were more likely to survive the Holocaust.

4. Psychic numbing is a positive trait that allowed survivors to endure horrors of the Holocaust and move on with their lives afterward.

5. Holocaust survivors are more likely to do volunteer work than other people.

6. Holocaust survivors appear successful, and studies show that overall they’ve been very successful in life.

Activity 5 ©2018 erin cobb imlovinlit.com Nonfiction Article of the Week Informational Text 8-11: Surviving the Holocaust Skill: Analyze Point of View & Purpose B. Purpose and Point of View Read the text excerpt from the article in the left column. Then, read the inferences made about the author’s point of view in the right column. Circle the two inferences for each excerpt that can be made about the author’s point of view based on the text excerpt in the left column only.

Text From Article Inferences Made About Author’s POV

7. The Holocaust of World War II was one of A. Those who orchestrated the horrors of the the most extreme and horrifying events in our Holocaust deserve harsh punishment. shared history. Many millions of lives were lost during this indescribable event. Among the B. 6 million Jewish people were killed during horrors experienced by concentration camp the Holocaust of World War II. survivors was constant terror. Many witnessed the deaths of their loved ones. Survivors C. Hitler bears the most responsibility for endured months or years of semi-starvation, what happened during the Holocaust. forced to live and work in filthy, disease-ridden conditions. Prisoners who were not murdered in D. It is difficult to describe how terrifying the mass shootings or gas chambers often died of Holocaust was for those who experienced some combination of physical exhaustion, it to those who didn’t. starvation, and disease.

8. The author’s main purpose in the article is to ______. a. persuade b. entertain c. inform d. describe 9. What is the author’s purpose for including the photograph near the bottom of the first page of the article?

______

10. What is the author’s purpose for including the profile of Maj. General Shachnow on the second page of the article?

______