Who Is Emmie Arbel? Analyzing Historical Testimony
Emmie’s Holocaust experience does not seem to have a clear ending, every trivial daily gesture carries the indelible marks of her losses. Students will expand their knowledge of the Holocaust by placing her story within its larger context. This lesson covers life in different internment camps, survivor guilt, and PTSD.
This lesson could potentially stretch over two classes.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- analyze historical graphic narratives
- expand their understanding of the Holocaust
Guiding Questions
- How can historical narratives teach us about history?
- What are the components of a graphic narrative?
Preparation
Review the jigsaw procedure. Ensure that there are enough jigsaw analysis sheets for each student.
Introduction
Upon reviewing the exits slips from a previous lesson, choose one or two of the images students found most powerful based on majority.
Project these images and start a class discussion. Why did they find these images powerful? Take it one step further and draw specific attention to the details of the image: colour choice, word choice, content, historical connection, etc.
This activity demonstrates how students will approach analyzing key story components in the next jigsaw activity.
Lesson Activities
Jigsaw
(For full explanation of this activity, please refer to the guide provided in the materials.)
Divide students into five groups; assign each a specialization to analyze. The specializations are covered in the specialization sheets below. Each group will take time to learn, discuss, and become experts in their area.
The 4 Themes
- Emmie
- Camps
- timeline
- graphic narrative analysis
The expert will then teach that specialization to other groups.
Conclusion
End with Exit Slip; a written reflection asking students the prompt “What have you learned?”.
