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She would separate students into corners of the classroom and take away watches and personal items — to simulate the Holocaust.
After more teaching experience, she sees that simulation is not a good strategy.
“There is no way we can make our students feel what it was like to be a victim during the Holocaust,” said Clott who now teaches the same topic at Viterbo University.
Many other Holocaust educators make similar mistakes, so teaching such a topic requires guidance and collaboration, Clott said.
That is why Clott decided to form a Midwest Holocaust Education Consortium, which met for the first time earlier this week in La Crosse.
Clott decided to form the group after being asked to join a consortium of Holocaust educators on the East Coast headed by Karen Shawn, a educator who has taught about the Holocaust for 22 years.
“I realized that I have the power and needed to do this in the Midwest — for networking, problem-solving and to have a group we can trust and rely on for teaching our passion, which is the Holocaust,” Clott said.
The Ethics in Leadership Institute at Viterbo helped make the consortium possible by sponsoring the group and helping pay for some of the expenses, such as renting rooms, travel and other expenses, Clott said.
The group is by invitation only and includes expert educators on the topic, she said.
These educators will use what they learn not only in their own classroom but also share it with other local educators, said Clott.
The consortium is a “living laboratory” or a space that allows constructive feedback about ongoing research and projects, Shawn said.
“People are working on projects alone and have no place to get feedback because local colleagues may not have any background or experience in teaching the Holocaust,” Shawn said.
She was inspired to teach on the Holocaust, Shawn said, after a tour in Israel guided by two Holocaust survivors, Benjamin and Vladka Meed. Along the tour they met other survivors who she said depend on this generation to pass on their story.
“They impressed upon us the importance of passing along the torch of memory,” she said.
KJ Lang can be reached at klang@lacrossetribune.com.
