Pencils/pens
Paper
Night by Elie Wiesel
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
Access to Google Drive and Google Docs

In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Google Drive

The novel 'Night' includes slurs, negative depictions of groups of people, and illustrates the inhumanity of humans toward others. Additionally, themes relating to the Holocaust, suffering and death, and war play a significant role in Wiesel's work. Having taught the novel in high school classrooms several times, I recognize that 'Night' can be a challenging and emotional read for some students. While the purpose of the course is to develop literacy and discussion skills, deepen historical understanding of the Holocaust and foster social-emotional competencies such as empathy and gratitude, I want to address how unsolicited and potentially emotional expressions are handled in my class and how I intend to respond to students regarding these complex and challenging themes. 

1. Set the stage and develop classroom norms collaboratively with students:
*Students are expected to be engaged, collaborative, and respectful to one another at all times 
*Students are encouraged to read assigned passages through a lens of compassion, empathy, respect, historical context and objectivity
*Students are expected to focus on what the text says rather than subjective interpretations or opinions. Focusing on textual evidence effectively eliminates most potential occurrences for unsolicited response and expression 
*Students always have the opportunity to opt out of a particular discussion if they feel the material is too taxing emotionally
*If it is noted that a student appears struggling with the material being presented or discussed, I will inform the parent about the concern immediately.  Further, please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have about this class. 

2. Encourage students to research material on their own using reliable sources such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum online

3. Focus the discussion, encourage reflection, and make connections to lived experience. Giving the students a framework for the day's reading discussion up front aligns and focuses conversation on the ideas and thoughts presented in specific passages

4. Confront the idea, not the individual. Be the paragon of effective, purposeful, and respectful dialog

5. Facilitate actively by rewording questions posed by students, correcting misinformation, making reference to relevant reading materials or course content, asking for clarification, and reviewing main points