Middle School Students Making Meaning
It is no secret, with the ground swell of technology at their fingertips, students today are generally reading less and finding books less appealing. In response to this reality, our eighth grade literacy teachers have enhanced their pedagogy to include book clubs to shore up reading, engagement, comprehension and social interaction.
When visiting their classrooms, I observed students learning about the Holocaust – one of the required units within the literacy program. They had been assigned to discussion groups to process the content. While it was apparent the book club model yielded higher student engagement and sense making, the real understanding would happen with a field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Farmington Hills.
The goals for the visit were for the middle school students to learn up close about the culture and way of life destroyed by the perpetrators of the Holocaust, to rekindle an awareness of the moral, spiritual, educational and cultural contributions of the Jewish people, and to promote an intercultural understanding. Students were able to study up close the Jewish culture through the artwork, maps, photographs and audio and visual demonstrations, along with a presentation by a second-generation survivor.
During the debriefing session the following day, I was convinced our eighth-grade students had undergone a powerful emotional and cognitive experience – and truly had made meaning. Hearing the story of the second-generation survivor, at least for many, definitely changed how they viewed the Holocaust. It made history feel more alive and revealed how it affects families even today.
Kudos to our faculty and to the district for going the extra mile and securing the resources to ensure our students don’t just ‘do school’ and go through the motions. Making meaning promotes actions. It is our hope that such learning opportunities lead to enhanced understanding and civic responsibility, thus promoting a more peaceful world.
