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By Kaitlyn Pekarski_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents:Introduction………………………………………..page

2Supportive Books………………………………….page

3Supportive Songs………………………………….page

6Supportive Articles……………………………….page

8Supportive

Websites……………………………..page10Supportive

Movies………………………………..page12 Small Group Activities…………………………..page14

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Large Group Activities…………………………..page15Independent Assignments……………………...page16

Conclusion…………………………………………page18

Bibliography………………………………………page19

Introduction_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This chapter is dedicated to the enhancement of student learning and understanding of the life of the well-known 14 year old girl, Anne Frank, and the diary she wrote while hidden in an attic of an old office building. Included in this chapter are supplemental materials for educators to use to provide to their students.The Holocaust and the genocide of nearly 6 million Jewish citizens during World War II are very big concepts, and sometimes a bit overwhelming for students to understand. However, the contents and the activities planned in this chapter will hopefully give students a closer glimpse into the life of a teenage girl, not much younger or older than them. After listening to the songs about genocide, or completing the

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independent activities where they get to create their own piece of history, perhaps students will comprehend the terror and horror that was the Holocaust, and leave Anne Frank’s diary behind with a sincere appreciation for her courageousness.Within this chapter, you will find suggestions for young adult novels, songs, news articles, websites, and movies that can be incorporated into the teaching of the diary of Anne Frank. Included is also suggestions for small group, large group, and independent activities that can be completed to enhance student comprehension of the time period, the extremity of the situation, and the boldness of the young girl who documented it all in a cardboard covered notebook.

Supportive Books_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Supportive young adult novels are a great way to get students interested in the canonical text your class is reading. An even greater way to grab students’ attention prior to reading your novel is to read aloud a children’s book pertaining to the topic discussed in the text. A great children’s book that can be read alongside Anne Frank is titled The Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting.This children’s book tells the tale of a forest full of happily cohabitating animals. However, one day, the “terrible things” come and take over the forest. One by one, the different groups of animals are taken away by the terrible things according to the different features they have. For example, the birds are taken away because they have feathers on their backs. The only forest creature to survive is a little rabbit, who hopes that the other survivors believe his story of the terrible things.This book is an excellent supplement to your students’ reading of Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl because it portrays the horror of the Holocaust in such an innocent way. I believe that students will understand the message the author is trying to relay to the reader. This book should also spark students’ interest levels in reading about the Holocaust because they will want to find out more about these “terrible things.” This children’s book also has great illustrations that will captivate your students’ attention while you read it aloud or they each read a copy silently at their desks.

Supportive Books (Cont’d)Page 4

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The young adult novel I Have Lived a Thousand Years is an extraordinary fictional account of a young girl growing up during the Holocaust. This novel is exceptionally valuable for your students to read because it depicts, Elli Friedmann, a thirteen year old girl from Hungary, as she fights for survival in a Nazi concentration camp. This powerful novel allows readers to peer into the life of a Jewish citizen in a concentration camp. The author herself is a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and the depictions are therefore horribly accurate and tragic. Elli manages to adjust to life in this crowded ghetto, although food and privacy prove themselves to be no longer existent. She narrates the book with a conviction as if this fictional character really experienced the despair and cruelty of the Holocaust.This young adult novel is so great to pair with your students’ reading of Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl because unlike Anne, Elli tells her tale from the confines of a concentration camp. The emotion portrayed in this book is very different from the emotion Anne writes about in her diary. Although there are similar themes in both girls’ accounts, the emotion is much more outspoken in I Have Lived a Thousand Years.The title of this novel is also very significant itself. I would strongly suggest facilitating a class-wide discussion on the meaning and significance behind the title of this text.

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Supportive Books (Cont’d)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rose Zar’s young adult novel, In the Mouth of the Wolf is a superb text for your students to read as a supplement to Anne Frank’s diary. This novel is a non-fiction text based on the actual occurrences of the author, Rose Zar’s, life. The story is written and narrated as her 19 year old self and the horrors she faced during the Holocaust as a young Jewish woman on the confines of escape.This book has many parallels to Anne Frank’s diary. Not only are the two texts non-fiction, but they also depict a major part of the Holocaust that many people do not hear much about: hiding. Although Anne and her family hid in the Secret Annex for nearly two year, Rose also hid from the Nazi officer and their awful threat of containment in a concentration camp. Instead, Rose hid from the Nazis by maintaining a false identity. She travelled alone and posed as a non-Jewish citizen for the many jobs she worked. Along her path, she discovered many obstacles. Many of her obstacles consisted of people suspecting she was Jewish.This book is such a wonderful supplement to your teaching of the diary of Anne Frank because it tells the tale of a girl whose experience during the Holocaust was similar to Anne’s, but also in a

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sense entirely different. I believe that this novel will be a great option for your students who only enjoy reading non-fiction because it is as realistic as a book can get.

Supportive Books (Cont’d)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anne Frank and Me is a young adult novel written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and it is a perfect complement to your students’ reading of Anne Frank’s diary.This novel, originally adapted from a play, is about a young girl, Nicole Burns, who believes that the Holocaust is old news and does not understand why she and her classmates have to learn about it in school. Nicole, who is not Jewish herself, goes on a field trip to the Anne Frank exhibit and finds herself transported back in time, living as the eldest daughter of a Jewish family in Paris, France during the Holocaust. Nicole and her new family are taken to a concentration camp, and she meets Anne Frank in the back of a cattle car. Nicole finally learns to appreciate the horrors and tragedies that were the Holocaust.

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This novel is targeted for young adult readers. I think that middle school students will most likely benefit from reading this novel, but high school students will certainly enjoy reading it.This novel is so great to read as a supplement to Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl because there are accurate historical references to the life of Anne Frank. This novel will allow students to experience the Holocaust through the eyes of a modern-day teenager, which will certainly capture their attention.

Supportive Songs

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Music is a great way to grab your students’ attention when teaching on a particular subject! Although music played an important role in the citizens’ lives contained in concentration camps during the Holocaust, nearly all of the music is naturally written in a foreign language. There are, however, countless amounts of songs written about parallel topics to the Holocaust, such as genocide in general. A great song to play for your students in the hopes to capture their attention and turn their interest to the diary of Anne Frank and the horror of the Holocaust is Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side” off his album, The Times They are A-Changin’. This song, about genocide in our world, depicts the glorification of murder by the claim that “God was on their side.” The powerful music and the deeply emotional lyrics will certainly captivate the student listeners. Dylan, in regard to the Holocaust, sings, “When the Second World War Came to an end, we forgave the Germans and we were friends. Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried, the Germans now too, have God on their side.” Your students will certainly have an overwhelmingly emotional response upon listening to the music and the lyrics of this song. I suggest printing out a copy of the lyrics for each student in your class to read along to as the song plays aloud in your classroom. There are also many great YouTube videos that people have created about the Holocaust that this song practically narrates the awful horror.

Supportive Songs (Cont’d)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” is another wonderful song to have your students listen to before or during they read the diary of Anne Frank. In this song, Marley sings about the importance and preciousness of one’s own freedom. This song is extraordinarily liberating, something that was certainly stolen from the 6 million Jewish citizens killed murdered during the Holocaust.

I believe that this song is a good supplement to the teaching of Anne Frank’s diary because it puts a momentous emphasis on something that all Jews lost during the Holocaust: their freedom. The word “redemption” is synonymous with freedom, liberation, emancipation, and rescue. These are all things I am certainly sure the victims of the Holocaust wish they could have had while they waited their turn to be

killed in whichever concentration camp they were thrown into. For me, the Holocaust is such an emotional learning experience, and I feel as if your students will get so much more out of reading the diary of Anne Frank if they realize how significant of a tragedy this historical event was.

Bob Marley uses deeply moving lyrics mixed with a soft hint of background music to express his feelings of redemption in this song. If you wish to have your students listen to this song prior to reading the young adult novel, I would suggest you map out the clear connections between this song and the events of the Holocaust. However, if your students happen to listen to this song during their reading of Anne Frank’s diary, I would advise that they attempt to make the connection themselves using the feelings Anne exposes in her diary and any additional background

they have of the events and tragedies of the Holocaust.

Supportive ArticlesPage 10

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Current events are a great way to relate the topic studied in class to students’ lives. Students might automatically associate the Holocaust with the past and think that no similar event would ever occur in today’s world. However, if they assume this, they are incorrect, and this is important information to bring to a student’s attention. I strongly suggest using the internet to search for current events at popular news websites, such as CNN.com. It is advised to not search for articles that are too outdated because they will consequently lose their relevance. Therefore, I suggest searching for articles that are no more than five years old.One great current event article that I found with relative ease was published on the CBS News website (CBSNews.com). The article is titled, “Malnutrition a Growing Concern in Darfur,” and was written on September 1st, 2007. The article discusses the issue of malnutrition of children in the region of Darfur. Darfur is, unfortunately, a great way to make the Holocaust relevant to students. It is unfortunate because the events in Darfur are horribly tragic and because of this, relatable to the events of the Holocaust. I believe that this article, along with any other current event article (and there are many) about Darfur, will open students eyes to a world of genocide parallel to the Holocaust. This is especially significant because it is occurring in our world presently. I believe that this is a great way to get students interested in reading the diary of Anne Frank, and will hopefully encourage students to further research the collapsing society of Darfur. Perhaps your students will feel so strongly about this region that they will want to take action, such as collecting money or spreading awareness.

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Supportive Articles (Cont’d)

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Another great idea for a current event article that will supplement your students’ reading of Anne Frank is the idea of Holocaust deniers.

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I found an article on Foxnews.com, another excellent source for current events, titled, “Bishop Convicted for Denying Holocaust” published in April of 2010. The article describes the conviction of British Bishop Richard Williamson for denying the Holocaust in a television interview in Sweden in 2008. Williamson was ordered a hefty fine and was frowned upon by viewers all over the globe. In many countries, such as Germany, it is considered a criminal offense to deny the events of the Holocaust.I believe that this article will be most effective and eye-opening to students if it is

presented to them after they have read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and learned about the history of the Holocaust. I think that your students will be absolutely outraged to learn that there are people who are self-proclaimed, “Holocaust deniers.” I think that this article, or a similar current event, will certainly strike up a great discussion in your class about the reality of the Holocaust. If you have any students in your class who were raised to be Holocaust deniers, perhaps you should let them speak to the class and explain their reasoning.

Supportive Websites_______________________________________________________

Our students today have been raised with the world of technology at their fingertips. As a teacher, you should certainly use this to your advantage to assist your students and their learning! There are a bountiful amount of websites on the internet that can enrich your students’ understanding and

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comprehension of a canonical text, such as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Use a search engine, such as Google.com or Bing.com to help you narrow down your search for a relative website. One great website that I found to supplement the teaching of the diary of Anne Frank is The Official Anne Frank House Website. At AnneFrank.org, students can do and learn so much by just clicking a few buttons. It gives accurate information about Anne Frank’s childhood, her life in hiding, her life in a concentration camp, and her ever-famous diary. The website also gives information about the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, the actual place of Anne’s hiding in the secret annex! The site even allows the viewer to adventure through a virtual tour of the museum.This website is so wonderful and important for students to be introduced to because it is extremely informative and interactive. It is a great source for reliable information regarding Anne Frank’s life. However, I believe that the most valuable aspect of this website is the capability to put a picture to the place where the brave 14 year old girl wrote the diary that students have the privilege to read in the virtual tour of the Secret Annex. www.AnneFrank.org

Supportive Websites Cont’d_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Another great website to use as a supplement to the diary of Anne Frank is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website (USHMM.org). This website is dedicated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, DC. This website is a wonderful resource for both teachers and students. On the site, the viewer has access to the history of the Holocaust, a Holocaust encyclopedia, information about genocide, online exhibitions, ideas for student activities, and so much more! This website is absolutely age appropriate for students and helpful for teachers. There is even an entire section of this website dedicated to teachers who have never taught about the Holocaust before. On this website, teachers and students can find external sources relative to the Holocaust, such as additional websites, novels, podcasts, and even personal stories of victims! The website also includes Holocaust Remembrance days, and information on how to organize your own Holocaust Remembrance Day.The picture above is a picture of the actual United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and I strongly encourage you to browse their website if you and your students are not able to go visit the museum in person.www.USHMM.org

Supportive Movies_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Movies are certainly a guaranteed way to capture the attention of your students. Movies can supplement and

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support your students’ learning because the imagery sets a place and time for the topic you are discussing in class.One great movie you can show to your students to support your teaching of Anne Frank’s diary and the Holocaust is The Devil’s Arithmetic. This film, made in 1999 and starring Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy tells the tale of a young 14 year old girl who travels back in time to the 1940s in Poland. Hannah Stern, played by Kirsten Dunst, is completely uninterested in her family’s Jewish religion and heritage. However, after she is transported back in time to find herself captured in a Nazi concentration camp, Hannah learns more than she could have ever expected about the extremity of the Holocaust and the extent of which her family had gone through to survive. This film is based off of the novel The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. The novel is based on actual historical occurrences.I believe that your students will enjoy this film because they will find themselves relating to the protagonist, Hannah. This film also includes a lot of historical references and accuracies that will enhance their learning of the Holocaust while reading the diary of Anne Frank. Students will learn, and be entertained!

Supportive Movies (Cont’d)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Life is Beautiful is another extraordinary film and will bring added value to your discussion of the Holocaust and Anne Frank’s diary with your students in your classroom. The original film, released in 1997, was produced in Italian. However, it is

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very possible and easily accessible for you to show your students this film with the use of subtitles. You should not let the fact that the actors and actresses speak Italian steer you away from showing this film to your students. It proves itself to be very valuable.Life is Beautiful is a tale of an Italian Jewish book keeper named Guido. He and his wife have a beautiful son, Giosué. Father and son are shipped to a Nazi concentration camp, and Dora, Guido’s wife, voluntarily follows. To keep his son’s spirits up while contained in the concentration camp, Guido plays a game with Giosué. Guido leads his son to believe that their containment in the concentration camp is all a game, and the victorious player in the game will take home their very own tank. This film is a fabulous film to show to students reading Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl because it gives the viewer an image of the Nazi concentration camps that Anne Frank talks about, but never visits. Students will be able to see the varying ways Jews dealt with their containment, and the positive and optimistic thoughts that sometimes kept the imprisoned Jewish citizens alive.

Small Group Activities__________________________________________________________

Small group activities are great for students to gain the opportunity of collaboration and teamwork. The possibilities for creating small group activities for reading the novel Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl are endless. I strongly suggest you use a great deal of thought when creating your small group activities

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because students will probably get the most value out of these activities if they are engaging and organized.One small group activity that will further your students learning of the Holocaust in general is to have your students facilitate false interviews. There are many great websites dedicated to commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (go to www.USHMM.org, click on “education”, click on “for students,” click on “materials and resources,” click on “browse all IDs” under “Identification Cards). Students can then browse through the list of over 700 Holocaust victims and chose one for their interview.In their small groups, students can read about their Holocaust victim and then start writing the script for their interview. Students should feel free to make up their own interview questions, but you can supply them with example questions to make sure they are on target. Students should be encouraged to be creative with their interview; they can have their victim be reincarnated and a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show if they wish.Students should present their interviews to their classmate. Whether they want to act it out in front of the class, videotape themselves performing their interview, or any other means of presentation should be required. Students should be reminded to keep in mind all of the facts and information they have learned about the Holocaust from their reading of Anne Frank’s diary and any other resources they have been exposed to. Students should be sensitive to the tragedy that was the Holocaust, but also be as creative and interpretive as possible! This activity should allow students to think outside of the box and enjoy themselves during class.

Large Group Activities_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There are so many wonderful ideas for activities that your class can participate in as a whole to enhance their learning of the text Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. One activity that sparks communication and

collaboration amongst all of your students is the organization of an “Anne Frank Remembrance Day.”

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Students will need to complete a lot of research for this activity prior to it actually occurring. You should strongly consider using a whole class period for this activity because students really benefit from it. Students can be broken into different committees. Each committee should be responsible for researching and supplying the rest of the class with all element of Anne Frank’s life that will celebrate her courageousness and boldness. For example, one committee can be in charge of researching the types of food that Anne Frank and her family would have eaten during their stay in the Secret Annex. Other committees should include music, fashion, traditions, or popular activities. The day should be focused on the positive elements of Anne Frank’s life.Students can use the library, the internet, or a copy of Anne Frank’s actual diary to research their information. Students should be permitted a portion of the day to meet with the other members in their

committee for about a week before the actual Remembrance Day.

The day should be committed to celebrating the memory of Anne Frank. The day should be enjoyable, but students should also not lose sight of what the day of remembrance is all about.

Independent Assignments

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Although reading the diary of Anne Frank and learning about the history behind the Holocaust might be intriguing and enjoyable for many students, they still need to provide evidence of their learning. However, the assignments you give to your students to complete during or after reading Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl can be just as enjoyable for your students as the actual reading of the text.One great idea for an independent assignment for students is the idea of taking on the persona of Anne Frank. Students will be advised to create their very own “diary.” Students should have the option of

purchasing a composition notebook for $0.99 at an office supply store, or creating an account with a website version of a journal, such as Wordpress.com, where students can create their own blogs. Students should be advised to write in their journal every day for seven days. The teacher should supply his or her students with guidelines to follow for their entries, and topics they should discuss in their writings. The topics should evoke personal feelings, but the students should be assured that their “diaries” will not be read for content. Along with their diaries, students should also be asked to gather several items that are significant to them in the present, past, or future. Examples of these items are photographs, ticket stubs, CDs,

posters, or drawings. Students should provide a two-sentence explanation as to why the artifact is so important to them. Students will then find a secure container that they can store all of their artifacts in. There are many ways that students can store their “time capsule” for future reference. You, the teacher, can keep the student diaries and artifacts until their ten year reunion. Students can also research the International Time Capsule Society, which allows organizations to register their time capsules. You and your students can find more information at www.Oglethorpe.edu/ITCS about registering the time capsules.This assignment is so valuable for students because it gives them the opportunity to capture the most important elements of their lives, and they will be practicing their free-lance writing.THIS IS NOT AN ORIGNIAL IDEA: Hofbert, M., & Bobb, S. (n.d.). Life in shadows: hidden children and the holocaust. Retrieved from www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hiddenchildren/pdf/StudyGuide.pdf

Independent Page 20

Assignments (Cont’d)

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Another idea for an independent assignment for your students during their reading of Anne Frank’s diary involves research. Students should be informed of the fact that the Holocaust did not only affect Jews, but also many other groups of individuals who would affect the “superior race.” Included in these groups were homosexuals, people with disabilities, Polish citizens, Jehovah Witnesses, and gypsies. Students should choose one of these groups to research extensively. Students should use books, newspapers, and the internet as resources for finding their information.

Students should write a two to three page paper about the particular group they have chosen. After they have completed their short research paper, students will need to present the information they have discovered to their classmates. Students can complete a PowerPoint Presentation or create a decorative poster to inform their classmates about the information they have learned during their research of their particular subgroup. During this assignment, students will have the opportunity to teach other students about the research they have done and the information they have discovered.

Conclusion_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl should never be feared by teachers across the nation. The diary of this young girl is so inspirational and such a valuable text to teach to your

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students. There are so many ways to present the information, but I feel that the more interactive and engaging it is, the better of a response you will receive from your students. If you decide to follow the suggested resources and activities cited in this chapter, I promise that your students will enjoy learning about the era of the Holocaust and reading Anne Frank’s diary.You should not, however, just limit yourself to the suggestions and sources noted in this chapter. If you do your research through books at the library or on the internet at your home computer, you will certainly help your students learn and you will find that teaching this subject to your class is a rather enjoyable experience.I would like to leave you with a quote from Anne Frank herself. She says, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before beginning to change the world.” Keep this quote in mind when you are teaching this canonical text, or another. As a teacher, you have the power to mold your students’ future; do not let them down. Make sure their learning experience is just as good as your experience while teaching. Anne Frank and the Holocaust are very important topics to be covered in school; teach your students well.

Bibliography_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anne Frank. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from www.annefrank.orgAnne Frank - The diary of a young girl. (1953). New York: Pocket Books.Benigni, R. (Director). (1998). Life Is Beautiful (English Version) [Motion picture]. Italy: Miramax.Bishop convicted for denying Holocaust. (2010, April). Retrieved April 27, 2010, from

www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/16/bishop-tried-allegedly-denying-holocaust-2046685445/Bitton-Jackson, L. (1999). I have lived a thousand years: Growing up in the Holocaust. New York:

Simon Pulse. (Original work published 1997)

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Bunting, E. (1989). Terrible things: an allegory of the Holocaust (Revised ed.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.

Bennett, C., & Gottesfeld, J. (2002). Anne Frank and me. New York: Putnam Juvenile.Deitch, D. (Director). (1999). The Devil's Arithmetic [VHS] [Motion picture]. United States: Showtime

Entertainment.Dylan, B. (1964). With God on our side. On The Times They are A-Changin’. [CD] Columbia. Hofbert, M., & Bobb, S. (n.d.). Life in shadows: Hidden children and the Holocaust. Retrieved from

www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hiddenchildren/pdf/StudyGuide.pdfMalnutrition a growing concern in Darfur. (2007, September). Retrieved April 27, 2010 from

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/01/world/main3227090.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;9Marley, B. (1980). Redemption songs. On Uprising [CD]. Island/Tuff Gong. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Retrieved April 26, 2010, from www.ushmm.orgZar, R. (1983). In the mouth of the wolf. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.

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