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The following student shows a struggle with
Anne’s optimism and an empathy with some
of her teenage feelings:
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Wondering
A Response to Anne Frank
I know how you feel,
I’ve felt the same.
I know where you are,
I’ve been there before.
I know who you are,
I hear what you say,
But I don’t see how you can
Keep all your anger locked up.
It seems you’re always optimistic.
If only you knew.
Surely somewhere inside of you
There’s a place that hates,
A place that cries,
A place that screams,
A place that dies.
You say you’re afraid of your other half,
Is this why?
Maybe you are right,
Maybe there is good in everyone.
But sometimes
I wonder.
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An excellent book that I also used to generate poetic images
in response to Anne Frank was Dear Anne Frank: Poems by
Margorie Agosin. The poems in this collection are very
accessible to teenagers and offer unique slants on Anne and
her writings. Agosin has a wonderful introduction to the
book that is filled with statements conducive to creating
images.
One of the areas that I wanted my students to look at more deeply was resistance, particularly spiritual resistance. To begin this part of the unit, I chose to use the picture book, Rose Blanche, by Roberto Innocenti which was written in memory of Sophie Scholl of the White Rose resistance group. Some Holocaust educators choose not to use fiction, but as an eighth grade language arts teacher, I find that well chosen fiction often makes some of the learning about the Holocaust very accessible to the students. When choosing a work of fiction, I ensure that information is accurate and that students are frequently reminded that the work is fictional. I also pair the book with a non-fiction work that complements it. Coupled with Rose Blanche, I used excerpts from The White Rose by Inge Scholl so that students would learn about the real Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and the other members of the group. One of the reasons that I like using Innocenti's book is that it is filled with words and phrases that have both literal and symbolic meanings. Students can readily identify how often the author uses the image of winter, of being cold or frozen, or of everything being gray or dark. Another image of importance is that of the coming of spring at the end of the story. As we discuss why Innocenti might have wanted to end with the unsettling image of spring at the end, I read Promise of a New Spring: the Holocaust and Renewal by Gerda Weissmann Klein. Rose Blanche can also be useful for discussing types of human behavior since Rose can be seen as both a rescuer and a victim.
I often used the Parts of Speech Poem Pattern for Rose Blanche. An example of this pattern follows:
Parts of Speech Poem Pattern
Noun
Verb Prepositional Phrase
Prepositional Phrase
Conjunction Prepositional Phrase
Like
Adjective Noun Prepositional Phrase
Adjective Noun Prepositional Phrase
Conjunction Noun Prepositional Phrase
Verb (ing endings often used here)
Adverb Prepositional Phrase