A new Holocaust resource has been produced by the HSFA. Based in Leeds, the primary aim of Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, is to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and use its lessons to work towards a more tolerant society in which difference and diversity are celebrated. The Holocaust Learning website contains survivors’ stories in both text and video formats together with other learning materials. A resource provides an important legacy for today’s students.

Do you know that March 2011 is Celebrating RE month? Click to go to the website and find out how religious education can be celebrated.

Watch the movie and get involved!

Are you involved in teaching RE in a secondary school in England or Wales?  If so, REsilience is for you.

Many of the most interesting issues that arise in RE lessons are contentious, and the REsilience programme is being developed to help boost teachers’ confidence in handlng them.

Whatever your level of experience, and whatever your qualification in RE, REsilience has been designed to help you identify where (if at all) your confidence needs boosting and then to plan just what to do about it.

Want to find out more? Click here to visit the website.

Click here to download a glossary to support teaching the Holocaust to students of Key Stage 3 and above.

It contains photos, sections of survivor testimony, and a special feature on one Holocaust survivor, Zdenka Fantlová. A photo of the suitcase Zdenka used when being transported to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz appeared in a booklet produced by the Guardian in September. Zdenka’s story is about to be published for the first time in the UK on Holocaust Memorial Day 2010.

Her book is dedicated:

To an unknown member of the British Army,
who, through his humanity, saved my life in
Bergen-Belsen in April 1945.

Watch a video.

You can find out more Zdenka’s story in the glossary.

Click here to find out more about buying Zdenka’s book “The Tin Ring“.

Anyone who can shed light on the identity of this officer is asked to get in touch.

A FREE Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme in Holocaust Education is now available to secondary school teachers across England. The HIGH-QUALITY, high-impact CPD will be delivered by internationally recognized experts from the Holocaust Education Development Programme (HEDP), part of the world renowned Institute of Education, University of London. The CPD content has been strongly informed by an in-depth national survey that has highlighted exactly where many teachers are facing issues or constraints to their ability to teach about the Holocaust effectively. The CPD is delivered in workshops and will also provide age-appropriate and effective classroom-ready materials and RESOURCES.

Sign up or find out more online at www.hedp.org.uk

Four new videos on the Holocaust made by TrueTube. Created through a joint project between TrueTube and Haringey Council.

Click here to view.

This is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) 2010. There are many useful resources, both primary and secondary, to be found on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website. There are ideas for assemblies and a range of subject areas including PSHE/Citizenship, Maths and Science, RE, Music and Drama, ICT, English, Humanities and Design and Technology.

Click here to find out more.

Check out Wordle. This is a useful tool for creating word pictures. Text can be looked at and analysed in new ways. The frequency of words in the text increases the size. Instead of uploading to the public gallery, I take screen shots and then paste into a document. Here is a small screen shot of one “I created earlier”.

A word of caution if you are using with students, Wordle is open to anyone to post anything. However, Jonathan Feinberg, who works for IBM and has created Wordle, has posted some very helpful advice for Making Wordle Safe for Classroom Use.

Animoto is a great tool for creating audio/visual presentations.

If you want to be able to see a full screen version, then click here.

Prezi is another very useful Web2.0 application for creating dynamic presentations.You can use a variety of media – sound files, animotos, text and make it really dynamic. Here is one on Learning Outside the Classroom in Sacred Space.

I’m forever talking about RE having the HOTS – Higher Order Thinking Skills! These applications would certainly lead to a huge variety of ways in which learners can understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create. They can also be used for PLTS – personal learning and thinking skills – e.g. independent enquiry, creative learning, reflection, teamwork and effective participation.

BeFunky is a great little program where you can “cartoonise” images. Learners could upload images of themselves and cartoonise them. In this way, they can be one step removed from themselves. Their cartoon selves could be used to create a graphic novel/comic presentation of, for example a visit to a place of worship, with word or thought bubbles added for text of their thoughts, questions or ideas.

Much of western society seems to be very concerned with image and conforming to expectations which are constantly thrust at us by the media. When confronted with something which does not meet the expected ideals, there is often surprise that such-a-person could possibly be capable of ….

I’m not a viewer of the many talent shows and competitions broadcast on television, but having heard a snippet on Radio 4 about the phenomenon that is Susan Boyle, I was intrigued. For the few of you who haven’t yet seen it, the YouTube video of Susan’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent is definitely worth watching. Why? Well, first, to hear Susan’s voice, but also to look at the smirks, scepticism and ridicule initially seen in the faces of judges and audience. It is good that this was caught on camera. Within five seconds – 5,000 milliseconds – of Susan beginning to sing, the audience were applauding and the expressions of disbelief as to how “someone so ordinary looking” could possibly have talent, had melted to be replaced with expressions of amazement at her talent.

Once can only hope that with all the media adulation surrounding her, Susan will manage to maintain her integrity, sincerity and genuineness and that the dream she dreamed is fulfilled.

How does this relate to wider society? As you will see if you have looked at other items on this blog, I am involved in education and have a passion for the value of the individual irrespective of creed or colour. In society, we often make judgements or sweeping generalisations about whole groups of people on the basis of a word or the actions of a small sector from within a group. It is so easy to lose the individual and forget that we are all unique with our own set of characteristics and talents. So perhaps, the fleeting 100 milliseconds should be replaced by giving a person a fair chance to reveal their true worth before making inaccurate judgements.