Technology Lesson

Virtual Field Trip

The students will use a web site to complete the activities for the virtual field trip. A rubric has been created to assess the students participation.

The web site that the students should visit is Children of the Holocaust: The surviors speak out!

The teacher needs to remember that the stories that are reported in this web page are true, yet very emotional. These stories are meant to be read by children. The teacher needs to allow some time for the students to respond to these stories. Before sending the students to this site, the teacher should ask a few questions to the class. These questions are pulled straight from the teacher section of the web site. The questions that should be asked to the class follow:

1. What elements do children need to succeed (e.g., good home, loving parents, stable environment, praise to build self-esteem)?
2.What are some vital physical components and emotional components?
3.What might be the immediate consequences of depriving children of these elements?
4.What might some of the long-term consequences be?

Activity #1:
The students will keep a journal about what goes on in the three stories they will read. The students are to keep careful tabs on who was involved and what happened. They are also to make sure they not only include acts of discrimination, but also acts of kindness shown to the children. Who were the people that did these acts? What happened to the people who showed kindness? The children should be as specific as possible.
After the students read the stories, the teacher should allow the students to discuss what they found. The logs should be collected to make sure the students did the work.

Activity #2:
This activity was pulled right off the activites page of the web site.
Using words and pictures from current newspapers and magazines, have students create a collage to make a connection between "then" and "now." Images and metaphors should express feelings and attitudes as well as behaviors and events. The overall effect should reflect their viewpoint on whether the present world has learned the lessons of history. Students may focus on only one theme or on several issues that they find particularly relevant to their own lives.

Activity #3:
The teacher will put Lili, Krystyna, and Alexander's names on sheets of paper. Each child will pull out a strip of paper. There will be someone's name on the paper. The students will reread the story about that child. They will write a simulated journal article pretending to be that child. In this journal article, the students will use the examples given in the story to write this article. All information should be factual. This will be like a report on the child they choose. The students will read their article in from on the class. They will only be graded on their presentation of the report. They will not be graded on the actual written information they have.

Pre/Post Test Questions

5. All children need
    a. good home
    b. loving parents
    c. self-esteem
    d. all of the above

6. Compare and contrast what happened during the Holocaust and what is going on today.

Rubric for questions 5 and 6

	5	3	1	0
question #5	answered correctly (D)			answered incorrectly
	5	3	1	0
question #6	compared and contrasted several events correctly and effectively	compared and contrasted a few events that were mostly correct		did not compare and contrast any events correctly