Making the Connection: We All Have a Story to Tell

My goal in how I present curriculum and literature to my students is to show and model that we all have a story to tell and we have the ability to connect to the literature we read/study on some level. My philosophy of English Language Arts instruction is to have students connect to literature. When students/readers connect to the text, they will formulate a greater understanding of what they have read and be able to demonstrate their understanding through a reflective practice.

My first unit this semester with my ELA 10-2 class is "Adversity and Empowerment." We began this unit with some reflective writing regarding adversity or hardships. Students wrote in their Common Place Books about hardships - what a hardship is, how to cope, and, ultimately, what can be learned from a hardship. Of course, this was a pre-reading activity and many students indicated that they have never experienced a hardship. On the other hand, many had wrote about being bullied, growing up in a single parent family, or difficulties in school.

The first text of study was an excerpt of "The Diary of a Young Girl." I was surprised that many students were unfamiliar with Anne Frank but familiar with the Holocaust. I was able to activate background knowledge and provide information about Anne Frank via You Tube clips. After reading the excerpt, we discussed the ways in which we could connect to Anne Frank's diary. Some students affirmed that there is no way they could connect because:

1. They have never lived in a war
2. Are not a girl
3. Have never been locked up for two years

I asked my class to take a step back and think about the following:

• Have you ever experienced bullying? Either as the victim or observed a peer being bullied?
• Have you ever felt over powered by another individual or group?
• Have you ever felt that all your rights or belongings were taken from you?

From that starting point, we were able to have a more positive conversation about Anne Frank and our connection to her story. At that point, I decided to share my connection to Anne Frank.

My parents are Dutch and were born in the Netherlands. In the 1960s they immigrated to Canada. During World War II, my maternal grandparents chose to hide a Jewish family in their home similar to how Miep Gies helped to hide the Franks. I explained to my students how the Nazis occupied The Netherlands during WWII and what life would have been like at the time. In 1944, the SS started to round up Jews by searching through towns, streets, and homes. Dutch citizens who "gave up" information on Jews were somewhat rewarded with food or money. However, there were many Dutch citizens who chose another path and decided to help Jewish families at their most vulnerable. My maternal grandparents were such people. In the photo below is a pewter plate given to my grandparents in gratitude for their sacrifice.

The Jewish family had no money or anything of value to give to show their appreciation. Instead they gave two pewter plates, a copper kettle and iron. A few days later, the SS rounded up Jews in the town my grandparents lived in and found the Jewish family my grandparents helped to hide. They were transported to the train station and later taken to Auschwitz.

These plates have become precious to my family. My grandmother had them in her home with great pride. Now my mother has them hung in her home with pride as well. They represent the strength my grandparents had in their convictions to stand up for what is right and protect the vulnerable.

As a young girl, I loved to hear and read stories. I remember one year when my grandmother visited from The Netherlands she told me of Anne Frank. She explained to me that Anne Frank was a Jewish girl and Jewish people were being captured and taken away. She explained that the Frank family hid with a home for over two years with the help of Miep Gies. The very next day, I went to the library and signed out "Diary of a Young Girl" and read it from cover to cover. Much later, after my grandmother had passed away, I was told that she had the same heroism as Miep Gies and had hid a Jewish family in her home. Since that time I have always been interested in Jewish and Holocaust stories and literature. Some of my favourites include: Night, The Book Thief, Schindler's List, Joop: A Novel of Anne Frank, Man's Search for Meaning, Sarah's Key, Milkwood to name a few.

To encourage and engage students to connect to Anne Frank, I brought these plates into school to show my class. I told them my story and my connection to Anne Frank. I explained in detail how I "bonded" with Anne Frank through her story and how her story has led me to journal. I posed this question to them: What if my grandparents or the Jewish family had written a diary of their journey through this time in our history? Or alternatively, what if Anne Frank had not? At first, some students did not respond, however, I could tell by their quiet reaction that they were reflecting upon Anne Frank and the questions I posed to them. The evidence of this was the reaction to looking closely to the plates as I walked them up and down the rows and the written responses.

One reaction of a student that stayed with me was when a student, who I later realized struggles with reading, came to me and thanked me. I had recommended The Fault in Our Stars by John Green for her to read. She read it in a week. When I asked her about it, she told me she loved it. After this class, where I had shown my plates, she came to me and thanked me again. She said, first I had recommended Green's book, then we read about Anne Frank, and then the characters in The Fault in Our Stars went to the Anne Frank House in the novel. She was so excited about this - she said: "You recommended this book... and then you taught us about Anne Frank... and then the characters went to Anne Franks' house..." I smiled and I told her - that is what it is all about: connecting. By doing that for one student, I can give myself a pat on the back for a job well done.