Literature teacher Linda McGowen wants students to see what they read is often more than a story - she invited Holocaust survivor Tom L to her classroom.Debbie Cafazzo / News Tribute
Published 03/11/10 8:19 am
Talking about the Holocaust is hard, emotional work, says teacher Lisa McGowan. But she believes it’s important work.
That’s why she devotes about a month of every school year to exploring the historic tragedy through literature with her sophomore English students at Tacoma Baptist High School. She also helps students understand how what happened during the 1940s relates to their world today.
“These kids are the last generation who will be able to hear the (survivor) stories firsthand,” McGowan said.
In time, all the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps will die. Then, only the young people who have heard or read their stories will be left to remember.
McGowan’s sophomores read “Night,” the haunting memoir by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. They learn about propaganda and stereotyping, how the Nazis employed the techniques, and how the techniques appear in modern media. They produce art projects that relate to themes from the Holocaust. They write essays and submit them to a scholarship contest.
McGowan said growing up as a white girl on the Colville reservation in Eastern Washington helped shape her views on the importance of teaching teens literature that focuses on social justice.
Although she spends a lot of time on the Holocaust, she also has her students read other works that explore inequities throughout world history. Read article...
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