TEACHING A HOLOCAUST ELECTIVE – RESOURCES
Teaching a Holocaust elective in the state of North Carolina is now more supported than ever before! With the passing of the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act in 2021, one of the provisions of the legislation was for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to develop a curriculum for a Holocaust studies elective for those districts who choose to offer it to their students. Districts who already had a Holocaust elective in place before the 2024-2025 school year can keep their course numbers, names, and outlines and do not have to use any of the provided materials from NCDPI, though it is recommended that teachers of those courses do access all of the materials that have been prepared, as they can supplement their current instruction with the wealth of resources provided.
In August of 2024, NCDPI released its course framework for a Holocaust Studies elective, which can be taught in middle or high school. Teachers who teach the course must be certified in either English or Social Studies 9-12, even if the course is offered in middle school. This course framework is comprehensive and provides objectives to guide teachers in setting their learning goals. We highly recommend that teachers begin their preparation for teaching a Holocaust elective with the NCDPI documents, which will provide a useful framework for organizing the course.
Other organizations such as the Stan Greenspon Social Justice and Education Center in Charlotte, NC at Queens University of Charlotte have also provided a Holocaust elective curriculum outline that is recommended for Holocaust elective teachers to consider when preparing their course outlines.
The NC Council on the Holocaust has prepared two new resources to be used in conjunction with all of the other documents listed above. The suggested outline for a Holocaust and Modern Genocide elective is provided below. This outline blends the NCDPI course framework objectives and topics into a pacing guide, materials suggestions, and links to presentations, student handouts, and curriculum materials from reputable organizations. The Council also has a Google Slides presentation shared below that has advice from teachers who have taught a Holocaust elective, and it has links to Canva templates for posters to use during registration to convince students to sign up for the elective. As more relevant and appropriate resources are discovered, we will post them on this page!
If you find any broken links in the curriculum resource documents, email Regional Director Amy Clark at uncgirl1989@gmail.com with the details of the links that need to be corrected.
We are also developing supports for those teaching a Holocaust elective, including a private Facebook group and monthly Zoom support meetings. Those links will be posted here once our networking plan is complete. Please contact us if you have any questions or need support as you build a Holocaust elective in your classroom!
