Holocaust Memorial Teachers' Institute Provides New Perspectives for Miami-Dade Educators
For Yosef Yativ, a teacher at Scheck Hillel Community School in North Miami Beach, the Annual Holocaust Memorial Teachers’ Institute at Yad Vashem was an “eye-opening experience” that provided new perspectives about teaching the lessons of the Shoah to today’s students.
“We learned how to make the Holocaust relevant to today’s kids through art, painting, music and photography,” Yativ explained. “We examined many aspects of the Holocaust that I wasn’t even aware of. They also shared with us many materials that will allow us to teach without traumatizing.”
Yativ was one of seven Miami-area educators who participated in the Annual Holocaust Memorial Teachers’ Institute, held July 7-16 in Jerusalem. The Institute is a cooperative program between Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust museum and educational center, and the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, with the goal of helping teachers discover new ways to communicate the lessons of the Holocaust with their students, using multimedia tools and techniques that will be relevant to today’s youngsters. This year’s program featured classes taught by internationally respected Holocaust educators who focused on “Approaches to Teaching the Holocaust.”
Golda Retchkiman, a teacher at the Bet Shira Congregation religious school in Pinecrest, said the Institute’s classes provided a very modern perspective about Holocaust education today.
“When I learned about the Shoah, everything was different because the lessons were very dark,” she explained. “Our teachers were focused on the gas chambers, the bodies and the concentration camps. The new method of teaching is different because it describes the light before the darkness – the vibrant Jewish communities as they existed for generations, the family life and the heritage. We touched on every aspect of Jewish life in Europe that you could think of and we also examined what happened to Jewish life after the war.”
Chanie Mandel, a teacher at the Bais Yaakov School of North Miami Beach, was impressed by the quality of the instructors, including many of the academics from Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies. She explained that classes were well coordinated and provided innovative ideas about teaching students at different levels of student development.
“They also offered a remarkable array of resources – books, videos, posters, Powerpoints, testimonials – that I plan to use in the classroom,” Mandel said. “Everyone was very passionate. The whole program really inspired you to convey the message of the Holocaust to the next generation.”
The Institute is open each year to a limited number of teachers from Miami-Dade Jewish schools, with priority given to instructors of sixth- to 12th-grade students. Upon completion of the program, participants must complete one educational project for Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach. They also will meet twice as a group after returning to Miami, bring their students to the Holocaust Memorial and meet with a Holocaust survivor living in South Florida.
For more information about 2016 summer registration for the Annual Holocaust Memorial Teachers’ Institute at Yad Vashem, contact Daniel Reed, Education Coordinator of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, at 305.538.1663 or [email protected]. Only a limited number of teachers can be accepted.
Institute participants Randy Groffman, Golda Retchkiman, Chanie Mandel, Yossi Yativ, Aley Sheer (Miami’s Leo Martin March of the Living), Daniel Reed (Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach) and Jonathan Miniello.
