(Gr. 9-10) Elie Wiesel’s memoir on Night is a powerful look at the Holocaust and a relationship between father and son. Before reading the book, I have my students look at the historical context (pre-reading) on the Holocaust and go into detail about those involved in the war.
The first thing I teach is The Pyramid of Hate which is the very first slide in this unit. I apologize that this isn’t a clear photo; WordPress will not allow me to make it any clearer and I’m still experimenting with this layout. You can Google-search “The Pyramid of Hate” and you will come upon a myriad of similar images. This is a useful guide when I teach the historical background on Adolf Hitler; the students are able to determine which stage he is at before reaching the top of the pyramid, which is “Genocide.” They also research other leaders who “climbed” this pyramid. The pyramid helps develop an understanding of how leaders in the past and present have an effect on people and their lives. Many times my students will discover — for themselves — that racism is a “system” that exists through this pyramid.
The lessons I provide are rich and powerful. There are tons of ways to teach this delicate unit, but in the end, my students have developed awareness about the world going on around them.
Lessons for Night: character development, foreshadowing, tone, figurative devices, author’s purpose/message. Background/context: The Holocaust, bystander apathy, Dr. Stanley Milgram’s “The Peril’s of Obedience”, racism, systemic racism. End of unit: synthesis essay.
AAPI Teacher 