Collaboration as the Key to Successful K-12 Holocaust Education: A Case Study from Kentucky’s University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Sponsor: University of Kentucky

Abstract

In 2018, the Commonwealth of Kentucky passed the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act mandating that every public middle and high school provide instruction on the “Holocaust and other acts of genocide,” but only offered teachers a 13-page pamphlet as “guidance for curriculum implementation.” In 2021 and with the generous support of the Jewish Heritage Fund, our team created the UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative to bridge the gap that exists between this legislative mandate and its unfunded mission to teach about the Holocaust with excellence and empathy in a state where fewer than .04% of the population identifies as Jewish. This roundtable addresses both the challenges K-12 teachers confront when attempting to meet the mandate and the collaborative strategies for professional development that our team created to meet them: the recruitment and training of teacher leaders (60+ to date) to be effective Holocaust educators and peer mentors, the design and implementation of teacher-led workshops for other teachers (more than 30+ to date), and a model for collaborative learning at all levels.

Our model depends upon the successful collaboration of a flagship R-1 university’s Jewish Studies program with K-12 educators to implement state mandated Holocaust education. Panelists include two Jewish studies professors who co-direct the initiative, one associate director and National Board certified middle school teacher of English Language Arts, and one high school teacher of English Language Arts and Holocaust and Genocide studies who is also a 2017 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellow.


Discussants will address the following questions:
What are the biggest challenges K-12 teachers face in meeting Holocaust education mandates?
How might partnerships between university Jewish Studies programs and K-12 educators best support effective Holocaust education?
What are some strategies for mitigating the dangers of having non-Jewish students whose first encounter with anything Jewish is learning about the Holocaust?
What is the relationship between Holocaust education and antiSemitism?
What are the most effective pedagogical strategies for addressing antiSemitism in the K-12 classroom?
How do you incorporate education about Jewish life, practice, culture, and history beyond the Holocaust in K-12 curricula?

Sub Unit

• Pedagogy & Professional Practice

Moderator

• Jill Abney, University of Kentucky

Discussants

• Janice Fernheimer, University of Kentucky

• Karen Petrone

• Lauren Hill, UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative

• Lisa Miller Henry

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 02