Challenges and possibilities of Holocaust education and critical citizenship: An ethnographic study of a fifth-grade bilingual class revisited

This classroom ethnography examines the engagement of fifth-grade children in a year-long study of rights,respect,and responsibility,which culminated in a focused study of tolerance and intolerance organized around literature regarding the holocaust. a close examination of one teacher's approach to teaching about the holocaust,the study highlights the importance of long-term engagements,a layered curriculum that supports children in building understandings over time,and varied opportunities for making meaning together. this approach included empathy-building,a focus on rescue and resistance and the bystander response,building a knowledge base about the holocaust,stories of individual experiences,and opportunities to make personal connections. drawing on samples of student talk,writing,and art,the article illustrates how children built upon academic and social practices established from the first days of school to expand their repertoire of meanings,language,and actions of (in)tolerance,gaining more complex understandings of the social,political,and moral implications of the holocaust. students in this bilingual class also developed individual and social actions in speaking out against social injustice in their own communities. the author argues that this classroom experience supported students as critical citizens who conscientiously and compassionately participate in the day-to-day building of more equitable communities. © 2010 unesco ibe.