Throughout my reading of Webb's first chapter in Literature and Lives, I found that teaching a historical event like the Holocaust, would be an extraordinary unit to teach. I really found that some of his ideas that he displayed, especially the guest speaker, are things that students will find most interesting and educational. When Webb had Mrs. Golden come in I was astonished to hear about his students' reactions and interest in a old woman's experiences. I find that having events like these taking place in the classroom is beneficial and gives a different light, or perspective, for students to learn from.
Webb also discussed reader response and cultural studies. I am most familiar with reader response which we have touched base on over the past couple weeks; however, cultural studies is something new and interesting to bring to the classroom. Webb states, "cultural studies spurs us also to consider how the establishment of genres and disciplines has functioned historically" (8). English and History, unfortunately for me, go hand-in-hand. However, I find events like the Holocaust to be a great genre of study to bring into the English classroom where cultural studies and reader response can both be used by the students. There are many approaches to teaching the Holocaust with varieties of literature that could be a great experience for students to do in literature circles.
Additionally, the most useful information I got out of this chapter, is the many resources Webb leaves at the end of the chapter. He provides several genres and approaches to teaching the Holocaust which will be very useful to me if I were to ever teach a unit based on this historical event. I look forward to reading more in this book, as it seems to be a very reliable resource for new teachers.
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Yes, the Holocaust is an important and unfortunate event in world history, one that must be examined sometime during a student's secondary school experience. There is so much freedom within teaching something like this, and the guest speaker idea seems like the most interesting way to have students realize the ramifications of such genocide. Additionally, primary sources, or documents written in and about concentration camps or the Nazi regime are critical for explaining what really happened. But then again, these aren't all technically literary texts, so they would probably have to be used while reading something literary. I may be a little uneasy, however, of how to ensure those students whose ancestors were involved remain comfortable discussing this issue...
i agree that teaching historical events is a wonderful way to get students interested in the literature, but i also think that it would be more beneficial if the lesson could also be intertwined with a lesson in a history class, or some other subject area to give the students even more to learn from. I think that reader response and cultural studies are probably the best theories to use with teaching historical events in an english class because it is really seen how the students respond to the situation and also has the histrorical aspect on how it relates to today and the world around us.
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