Alabama Holocaust Education Training Sessions Planned

The Anti-Defamation League and the Alabama Holocaust Commission will present four teacher education seminars across the state, and are teaming with Temple Emanu-El to do a community program in Birmingham on Oct. 26.

“What Our Students Should Must Learn About the Holocaust” will be at Emanu-El at 7 p.m. Deborah Batiste from the ADL will lead a version of her “Echoes and Reflections” program, which she has done over 150 times in 33 states since 2005. She is a lead author of the curriculum, which was created by the ADL, the USC Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem.

The curriculum addresses how the large quantity of items to be taught in a given school year often reduces the Holocaust to facts and figures. “We must teach our students about the Holocaust in ways that challenge them to consider critical moral issues, human behavior, and the dynamics of being a citizen in a democratic society.”
The Oct. 26 program is open to students, teachers and the community.

The 6-hour workshop for middle school and high school teachers will be held in Birmingham on Oct. 26, Florence on Oct. 28, Montgomery on Nov. 1 and Bay Minette on Nov. 3. A multimedia curriculum guide with DVD will be supplied to all participants. After completing the entire workshop and completing an evaluation, participants will be given curriculum notebooks and teaching resources. CEU credit will be provided, and reimbursement for substitute teachers will be available.

For more information or to register for the workshops, go to bhamholocausteducation.org.