Foundations for Teaching the Holocaust

Appalachian State University’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies, in partnership with the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust, will host Foundations for Teaching the Holocaust, a free professional development workshop for current and pre-service K–12 teachers in North Carolina, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will take place in Reich College of Education 124ABC, located at 151 College St. in Boone. The workshop will introduce educators to curriculum resources developed for the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act and provide training on how to teach foundational lessons about the Holocaust. Sessions will cover the Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust, the historical photo narrative lesson, constructing a Holocaust timeline, and instructional approaches for Alexandra Zapruder's Salvaged Pages, a collection of young people’s diaries written during the Holocaust. Each participant will receive a copy of Salvaged Pages. In addition to modeling classroom strategies, the program will prepare attendees to train other educators in using North Carolina’s Holocaust curriculum materials, including resources for the Holocaust elective course. Public school classroom teachers who attend will have their substitutes paid at the state rates for certified and non-certified substitutes. Space is limited, and early registration is encouraged. The workshop portion of the event, held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., requires advance registration at https://bit.ly/october6foundations. The concluding survivor testimony session, scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m., is free and open to the public. Attendees will hear from a Holocaust survivor or descendant, who will share their story and participate in a question-and-answer session. Questions may be directed to Center Director Dr. Darci Gardner at gardnerdl1@appstate.edu or 828-262-2928.