Teaching the Holocaust: Middle School Students' Experiential Learning

When I was in 7th grade, I had an amazing English teacher. Ms. Mote was her name and she, along with many other amazing teachers, are a huge part of why I became one. We read and performed A Midsummer Night's Dream (I was Puck, unsurprisingly), she taught me about archetypes and the hero cycle, but the most lasting learning experience I remember was what she called the Blue Dot Project.
In this project, students were given a blue dot, and for a week or so, they had to wear the blue dot and were restricted to talking with only other Blue Dots, and had many privileges and rights taken away during class. This was done in order to mimic the treatment of the Jewish population during the Holocaust. While this project went on, we read MAUS, by Art Spiegelman. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about a son interviewing his father about his time in Nazi Poland and how he survived the concentration camps. The imagery, symbolism, and emotion in the book present a very difficult subject in a manner that is fun and easy to read. The work is powerful and exciting, and although a little racy for 6th grade, is the right compliment to the Blue Dot project.

This year, I made the choice to read the MAUS (not without some parent uproar over the content, which includes Postpartum Depression, suicide, and an insinuation or pre-marital sex) and do our own version of the Blue Dot project. I had students randomly assigned to be "Blue Dots," and for one class period, they were made to sit on the floor, while their books and pencils were taken and given to students who forgot theirs, and they weren't allowed to use the bathroom, or even answer questions. They were still expected to complete the day's assignment on time, despite their disadvantages. I asked the other students to report to me if they saw any of the Blue Dots speaking, and would reward the reporting students with chocolates, while punishing the Blue Dots with further isolation.
The results were fascinating. Within minutes, the students knew what I was doing (I made it clear that it was an experiment so as not to upset our very concrete thinking 11 year olds), and yet many of them were quick to take on the same roles of the characters in the book we read about. Several of the Blue Dots were quiet and depressed, while others resisted. The non-Blue Dots, almost without exception, took on the many roles played by the non-Jewish German and Polish citizens during the Holocaust, just as they were presented in the book. Some students attempted to help the Blue Dots, sneaking them paper, pencils, even food when I "didn't see," or complained to me that it wasn't fair what I was doing. Other students took on the roll of the Nazi conspirators when seeing the reward and were hawks as they watched the Blue Dots, not allowing them to do anything I had instructed them not to do. The pleasure that some students took in being in a position of relative power was mesmerizing and frightening, and gave me a unique look into how the environment of Nazi Europe could have been created.
At the end of class, we debriefed the experience. I asked the students about how they felt about me, the Blue Dots, and the non-Blue Dots. Their words gave life to the complex emotion, action, and inaction of a society where violent and pervasive discrimination was literally the law of the land. Some students were able to experience the helplessness and self-loathing of one who is discriminated against, while most students felt the guilt and power of those who of no fault of their own, find themselves on the better side of the prejudicial practice of law. We talked about how similar the students were to the characters, and I saw what had been the joy of being make-believe oppressors and the despair of being the make-belive oppressed turn into learning and character development.
The discussion following our Blue Dot experience was one of the most relevant, engaged, passionate and interesting discussion of the year. To the ire of those who read my lesson plans, the objectives may not have been particularly measurable or data-driven, but every teaching bone in my body knew that the students were learning through experience and reflection. My students, many of who are from ethnic minorities, have experienced modern day discrimination and are just learning how to articulate it. From getting called Sesame Chicken by one of their teachers (yes, I know, awful) because they are of Korean descent, to being called a terrorist because they cover their heads and/or are Muslim, my students are unfortunately exposed to discrimination more than the average American student, which made this book all that more real to them, and the learning more impacting.
I am forever grateful for teachers like Ms. Mote, who taught with a furious passion and threw herself into everything she did. I am thankful for experiments like Blue Dot, that teach through action and experience, rather than memorization and regurgitation. I was blessed to see such great teaching throughout my years, and hope that I can continue to find ways to teach real life lessons in the classroom.