Running Head: TEXT SET ANALYSIS

Project 2
Text Set Analysis
Meghan Starr
Michigan State University
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Introduction and Text Selection:

This school year, I am working off new Social Studies state standards. There are many

changes throughout the curriculum, however, one of the most coincidental changes is that new

pacing guides have brought me to be covering the same period of history in both classes I

currently teach (U.S. and World History). For the first time, I am covering World War II in both

classes, which did narrow down my potential choice options. However, in the past few years I

have continued to put an emphasis on the importance of the Holocaust and the messages

presented throughout. Most of my students enter into my classroom with a distinct knowledge

about the topic already, so the challenge has always been how to engage my students in a way

that is respectful and thought provoking. For this reason, I challenged myself to focus my text

set analysis on the Holocaust. More specifically, I will be focusing on content presented to my

10th grade U.S. History students.

When first considering what choices of text that I could present, I first thought of a

series of materials by TCI that present the lead up to Holocaust that were given to me earlier

this school year. The text was distinct and gave me an opportunity to generate conversations

with students, however, did present information that is familiar to my 10th graders and did not

challenge them morally. In response, I became interested in focusing on texts that would

challenge my students in a variety of ways. The first text that I chose, is a poem that I have used

in prior experiences in this course. The poem, written by Martin Niemoller, challenges his

reader to consider when they should stick up for someone else or when they should keep to

themselves. The author of this poem was a German Pastor and early supporter of Hitler, which

gives him a unique perspective. His poem refers to multiple groups that were progressively

persecuted by the Nazis that he did not speak up for, however, when the Nazis eventually came
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to transport him to a concentration camp there was no one left. This haunting message appeals

to me and has been a great source of discussion with my students in the past.

After deciding on the Niemoller poem, I discovered a diary written by Dr. Haim Ginott

who was both a Holocasust survivor and a child psychologist. Ginott, in his diary, challenges

the goals of education and what educators are doing to create good human beings. His

argument is based in the fact that many educated professionals particiapted in the atrocities of

the Holocaust, so he asks what are students truly learning while in school. This piece interested

me as it can directly relate back to my students day to day life and allows me to take history

into a modern day mindset. Finally, earlier this year I was given an excerpt from a book entitled

Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher

Browning. This novel outlines the events surrounding one of the first groups (Police Battalions)

that was was sent to mass execute Jewish Germans. Browning points out the moral anguish

that many Police Battalion members exhibited, while still participating in mass murder. This

piece is not only informational, but also does something that few other Holocaust related texts

does; it tries to get students to sympathize with Nazi executioners.

Text Analysis:

When entering into this text set analysis it was evident that I was embracing the unique

challenge of working with content that is both in the state content standards, but also familiar

to my students. Even though this does present a challenge, it also gave me the opportunity to

embrace their prior knowledge and expand upon it. The reality is new knowledge is always

being created based off what we already know, so I was interested to see what new directions I

could bring this topic (Beach, et all, 2016, pg 96). When entering into a topic that is historically

familiar, my goal was to chose texts that were different in their composition as well in the moral

problem that they tackle. My students will utilize many different texts in their every day lives, so
 TEXT SET ANALYSIS Starr, 3

it was important to me to embrace multimodal literacy, which lead to the decision to choose

excerpts from a novel, a poem, and a diary entry (Juzwik, et all, 2017, Pg 133). In addition, the

three texts that I chose were also all unique in the moral dilemma that they were tackling. The

topics discussed varies from the content they learn in school, acting as a bystander, and

grappling with emotions that do not match the topic presented.

When generating ideas on how to implement these new texts into my classroom, I

began to focus mostly on critical inquiry and forcing my students analyze, assess, and ask

questions in relation to text (Beach, et all, 2016, pg 111). My goal is to ensure that my students

are always asking questions and considering the core message that could be applied to their

everyday lives. Considering the given poem and diary, I wanted to give my students an

opportunity to think independently and reflect while also opening up conversations amongst

their classmates. Both texts were presented at the beginning of a class period and students

were instructed to read, analyze, and then free write about their conclusions for 5-10 minutes.

After concluding their independent work time, students were put in small groups to discuss

their findings and generate a list of what message they could uncover. Finally, the class was

instructed to come back in the large group and we generated a discussion. My hope is to

continue to use these types of literary instructional conversations to support and add to

instruction throughout the school year (Vandeweghe, 2007, Pg 90).

When approaching my chosen longer text, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101

and the Final Solution in Poland by Chrisopher Browning, I knew more time and preparation

was needed to ensure classroom discussion went off without a hitch. With the goal of using

reciprocal teaching discussion techniques, my class began by individually reading and

analyzing the given text. The version that is attached was given to me by a fellow educator and

utilizes reflection questions and vocabulary emphasis throughout. Before allowing students to
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begin their individual reading time, we discussed reading strategies and I shared by marked up

version of the text with the class in hopes of modeling good practice (Vandeweghe, 2007, Pg

86-87). . When students returned to class the next day with their reading complete, I attempted

to facilitate my students in a discussion based off the text. I began by asking broad questions

and progressively asked for detailed commentary. In the future, I do think that this conversation

would have worked better if I would have allowed students to take time to generate questions

individually or in small groups and emphasized the importance on entering the conversation.

Students did participate in the discussion, but at times became hard to pull out further

commentary. In each hour, the conversation became most interesting when a student or myself

asked if we should have sympathy for Nazi executioners. Some of my favorite student comment

discussed how the text highlighted to them how easily our emotions can be toyed with and we

have to be on the watch for that possibility in our everyday lives.

The type of moral discussion above was the core of my goal by choosing the three texts

that I did. Since beginning my teaching career, I have had a passion for getting students to

think outside of the box or challenging their prior thinking. I remember a social studies teacher

from high school who challenged himself to do similar things, and I remember leaving class

often feeling moved or desiring to continue the conversation. This is the type of environment I

hope to achieve in my classroom. My students quickly learn that these are my goals as an

educator and it is exciting to see students really embracing this trajectory with open arms by

this time in the school year. It is true that reading can get students engaged in world problems

and in response see the world as always changing (Juzwik, et all, 2017, Pg 137) and educators

are in a unique role to to open our students eyes to that type of change. In my project 1

analysis, it was evident that students were most interested in texts that allowed them to escape
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from their day to day lives and I hope that texts such as the one chosen to analyze can reach

this goal.

As a Social Studies teacher I am in a unique place where the content I teach is coated

with possibilities for inner student growth. It was clear when approaching my text analysis that

the potential for growth and life lessons was throughout the topic of the Holocaust. In addition,

the possibilities for multimodal text use that can attract the desires of students is evident. As I

continue to move throughout my career, I hope to continue to continue searching for more

opportunities throughout my curriculum.

 TEXT SET ANALYSIS Starr, 6

Resources:

Beach, R., Thein, A. H., & Webb, A. (2016). Teaching to exceed the English language arts

common core STATE standards: A literacy practices approach for 6-12 CLASSROOMS.

London: Routledge.

Juzwik, M. M., VanDerHeide, J., Macaluso, K., Perez, N., Caughlan, S., Macaluso, M.,

McKenzie, C., & Smith, A. (2017). Constructing literacies in secondary English language

arts curriculum: Discourses, histories, ethics. Adolescent Literacy: A Handbook of

Practice-based Research. Guilford Press.

Vandeweghe, R. (2007). Research Matters: What Kinds of Classroom Discussion Promote

Reading Comprehension? English Journal, 96(3), 86. doi:10.2307/30047301

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Appendix:

Original TCI Holocaust documents:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-9-LwdQe628V8yk8fx5rVBS5tihX006q/view?usp=sharing

Diary Entry by Dr. Haim Ginott (Holocaust Survivor /Child Psychologist):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J9JtbjBBOit77PM6huXamJsP6dRmF7rkeDCyyBvpIVk/e
dit?usp=sharing

Poem by Martin Niemoller (German Lutheran Pastor & Early Supporter of Hitler):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hHBTSvDa-SI7HBIAH87FmO87gHz311NsmPZuViBCD
ps/edit?usp=sharing

Excerpts from Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by
Chrisopher Browning:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bEqihU-8PyS39fBqAeUeRTPwtGmRuusPC_HfUdrZ3TA/
edit?usp=sharing