Resources

Sharing Circle

Facilitate a classroom discussion to help students process their learning, share perspectives and reflect on the significance of the testimony. Creating a respectful and supportive environment encourages thoughtful dialogue and allows students to deepen their understanding by listening to one another's ideas and questions.

Consider using prompts such as:

• What is one new thing you learned today?
• What part of the presentation stayed with you most? Why?
• What surprised you?
• How did hearing the survivor’s own voice through video testimony affect your understanding?
• What questions do you still have?
• What lessons from this family’s story are important for people today?
• If you could speak directly with the survivor, what would you ask? Why?
• What does it mean to be an upstander rather than a bystander?

These questions can be adapted to suit the age, prior knowledge and needs of your students. They may be explored through whole-class discussions, small-group conversations, think-pair-share activities or individual reflection before discussion.

Letter Writing Activity

Invite students to write a letter to the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presenter expressing their reactions to the presentation and reflecting on what they learned. Letter writing provides students with an opportunity to thoughtfully process the experience, make personal connections to the testimony and the speaker and communicate their appreciation while consolidating their understanding.

Students may wish to consider the following reflection prompts as they write:

• Why is it important to learn directly from survivor testimony?
• How did hearing a child or grandchild of a survivor affect your learning?
• What part of the story will stay with you the longest?
• What lessons do you think future generations should remember?
• How might this presentation influence your own actions and choices?

These letters may be shared with the presenter or kept as private reflections, allowing students to express their thoughts in a way that is meaningful and authentic.

If you do wish to share the letters, please email michelle@carryingtestimony.ca and mailing address will be provided.

Creative Arts Response

Invite students to respond to the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation through a creative expression activity. Throughout history, many Holocaust survivors have used visual art, writing, music and storytelling to preserve memory, communicate their experiences and bear witness for future generations. Providing students with opportunities to respond creatively allows them to process what they have learned in a meaningful and personal way while demonstrating their understanding of the testimony.

Encourage students to create a work that reflects on one or more of the following:

• How you felt during the presentation
• A part of the presentation that will stay with you
• Something that will preserve the testimony you heard
• Your perception of how the survivor must have felt during the Holocaust
• Your perception of how the survivor must have felt sharing this testimony

Students might choose to create:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Sculpture
• Poem
• Song
• Short story
• Digital artwork
• Photo essay

Ask students to include a brief artist's statement that explains:

• What inspired the work.
• Which aspect of the presentation is reflected.
• What message you hope viewers will take away.

If you choose to assess creative responses, focus on students' historical understanding, thoughtful reflection and ability to communicate ideas rather than on artistic skill. Remember that students may respond to testimony in different ways and creative activities should provide opportunities for expression without requiring students to reveal personal emotions or experiences they are not comfortable sharing.

Media Literacy Activity

Invite students to create a social media post, poster, infographic or public awareness campaign that explores the question: "What is the role of conscience? What happens when we ignore it?" This activity encourages students to connect the lessons of the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation to contemporary issues of human rights, civic responsibility and ethical decision-making while considering how media can influence public attitudes and actions.

Students should include:

• A visual image
• A caption
• A call to action

After completing their work, facilitate a discussion that encourages students to think critically about the role of media in society. Consider questions such as:

• How do messages, images and stories influence people's beliefs and actions?
• How can social media be used responsibly to challenge prejudice, combat hate and promote respect and inclusion?
• How can misinformation and propaganda spread and what strategies can we use to evaluate information critically?

Writing Prompts

Invite students to engage in reflective writing that encourages them to synthesize their learning from the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation and connect it to broader historical and contemporary issues. Students may choose to express their ideas through an essay, journal entry, speech, presentation, podcast or multimedia project, depending on their interests and strengths.

The following writing prompts are organized by theme to help students explore key ideas that emerged from the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation. Select the prompts that best align with your learning goals, your students' prior knowledge and the time available.

THEME: “Never Again”

Holocaust survivors often use the phrase “Never Again.”

• What does this phrase mean?

• Who is responsible for ensuring “Never Again”?

• Has the world succeeded in preventing future genocides?

• What actions are required to make “Never Again” more than a slogan?

• What role can young people play?

THEME: The Next Generation of Testimony

Children and grandchildren of survivors are increasingly becoming the carriers of Holocaust memory.

• How did hearing from this generation affect your understanding?

• Why is intergenerational testimony important?

• What challenges arise as survivor populations decline?

• What responsibilities do future generations have?

THEME: Human Dignity and Dehumanization

Dehumanization played a central role in the Holocaust.

• What examples of dehumanization appeared in today’s presentation?

• Why is dehumanization dangerous?

• How should society counter dehumanization in order to protect human dignity?

• Has this presentation changed your perspective on…? The Holocaust? The treatment of Jews? Antisemitism?....

THEME: Resistance During the Holocaust

Resistance took many forms during the Holocaust, beyond armed resistance.

• What examples of resistance appeared in this family’s story?

• Why were these acts significant?

• How can preserving identity and humanity be forms of resistance?

• What lessons can we apply today?

THEME: Propaganda, Media, and Social Influence

Examine the role propaganda played during the Holocaust.

• How did propaganda shape attitudes and behaviours?

• Who was influenced by it?

• Compare Nazi propaganda with modern misinformation and online hate.

• What responsibilities do social media users have today?

Consider contemporary examples involving:

• Antisemitism

• Racism

• Islamophobia

• Anti-Indigenous discrimination

• Anti-Black racism

• LGBTQ2S+ discrimination

Digital Citizenship Project

Invite students to apply their learning through a digital citizenship project that encourages them to connect the lessons of the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation to contemporary issues. Ask students to create a social media campaign, infographic, video, podcast, or digital presentation that responds to the question: "What is the role of conscience? What happens when we ignore it?"

Encourage students to:

• Use evidence and examples from the Carrying Holocaust Testimony presentation.

• Make meaningful connections between the testimony and the historical context of the Holocaust.

• Include a contemporary call to action that encourages others to promote human rights, challenge prejudice, or act with courage and compassion in their own communities.

When assessing student work, focus on the accuracy of historical content, the strength of students' analysis and communication and their ability to connect historical learning with contemporary issues. This project provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate both historical understanding and responsible digital citizenship while considering how individuals can use digital platforms to promote remembrance, empathy and inspire positive social change.

Assessment Considerations

Hearing the experiences of Holocaust survivors or their descendants is often a profound and deeply personal experience, and students require time and space to process what they have learned. Not every aspect of this learning should be, or needs to be, formally assessed. Instead, you can create opportunities for reflection that encourage students to consider the significance of the testimony, ask questions and make connections without the expectation of producing a graded response.

You can gather evidence of student learning through ongoing observation before, during and after the visit. This may include students' participation in class discussions, their respectful engagement with the speaker and their peers and/or the thoughtful questions they generate before, during or after the presentation. These observations provide valuable insight into students' understanding, curiosity and ability to engage with difficult histories in meaningful and respectful ways.

Conversations also provide rich opportunities for formative assessment. Sharing circles, small-group discussions and individual student conferences allow educators to listen to students' interpretations, clarify misconceptions and encourage deeper thinking. These conversations can help teachers assess historical understanding, empathy and critical reflection while giving students the opportunity to articulate their learning in a supportive environment.

If you choose to assess student learning more formally, consider doing so through projects that demonstrate students' understanding of the testimony and its broader themes. Students might write reflective letters, maintain journals, compose essays, create artwork, develop presentations, produce media projects, or design digital campaigns that connect the testimony to issues such as human rights, discrimination, civic responsibility or remembrance. These projects should emphasize historical understanding, critical thinking, communication and the ability to apply their learning.

Above all, recognize that testimony can evoke a wide range of reactions and there is no single "correct" way for students to respond. Some students may need time to reflect quietly before sharing their thoughts, while others may express their learning through creative or collaborative work. Providing opportunities for optional reflection, journaling or discussion without assigning grades respects students' individual experiences and reinforces that the purpose of testimony is not simply to measure learning, but to foster understanding, compassion and thoughtful engagement with the past and its relevance today.