"In this current moment, marked by political pressures, censorship, and ongoing genocides and mass violence, how can educators and students center care and ethical responsibility in teaching and learning about genocide? In Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms: Language to Remember, Witness, and Repair, Sarah Donovan offers a critical and student-centered response to this question. Drawing on her extensive experience as a teacher and teacher educator, as well as sustained collaboration with practicing teachers, the book outlines ethical literacy as a sustained and embedded practice in ELA classrooms. This provides a fresh and much-needed critique of the ways traditional genocide education too often appears in middle and high schools: episodic, depoliticized, and narrowly centered on the Holocaust. Particularly powerful is the book’s refusal of simplicity or certainty around genocide, inviting educators and learners into sustained inquiry, ethical witnessing, and deep self-reflection. This work also meaningfully centers the voices and experiences of individuals and communities that have long been absent(ed) from teaching and learning about genocide, especially those of Black and Indigenous peoples. Most importantly, Donovan’s framework for ethical genocide education centers students, not as passive recipients of traumatic histories, but as ethical readers, writers, and witnesses. This is the book I longed for as a teacher; namely, a courageous framework and rich classroom reflections for teaching toward responsibility rather than spectacle, and toward ethical action rather than comfortable neutrality.”George Dalbo, Assistant Professor, Education and Youth Studies, Beloit College; Research Fellow, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, USA"Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms: Language to Remember, Witness, and Repair is the key new resource for Genocide and Holocaust educators, and this is true beyond ELA classrooms. The lessons imparted and the lesson plans shared are applicable and adaptable at any level of Genocide and Holocaust education. Moreover, from the perspective of a critical genocide studies scholar, I cannot overstate the importance of the book’s breadth in terms of cases covered."Jeffrey S. Bachman, Associate Professor, School of International Service, American University, Washington DC, USA"With an unwavering focus on justice and humanizing pedagogies, Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms: Language to Remember, Witness, and Repair centers the voices and lived experiences of survivors of the atrocities it examines. Reflecting a deep respect for teachers and their work, Donovan and colleagues offer an extraordinary collection of curricular and pedagogical resources to support educators and students to thoughtfully engage with these crucial, complex, and always-unfolding histories."Elizabeth Dutro, Professor of Literacy Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, author of The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy: Centering Trauma as Powerful Pedagogy"I fully endorse this book; it is helpful and a useful guidance to all teachers and educators who are and will be teaching genocide and mass atrocity studies. It is also extremely timely given the current state of our world — “Othering” is permeating our societies at great speeds and one way to remedy this is through teaching. Giving students the safe platform of the classroom to build skills necessary to be critical is essential."Fiza Lee Winter, PhD, Institute for International Law of Peace & Armed Conflict (IFHV), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany"This book provides a deeply thoughtful and carefully developed approach to teaching genocide and Holocaust education in English language arts classrooms. Rare among professional resources, it is not only a guide to ethical pedagogy but also an exemplary model of it. Informed by decades of teaching, research, and collaboration with practicing educators, the author presents a clear ethical literacy framework that helps teachers guide students through complex historical and contemporary realities. The chapters weave together scholarship, classroom experience, and practical strategies, inviting teachers and students to read, write, and think critically about how language shapes memory, responsibility, and human dignity. For educators seeking meaningful ways to engage students with the past while reflecting on the ethical responsibilities of the present, this book is a crucial and timely resource.—Leilya Pitre, Director, Southeast Louisiana Writing Project, Department of English and World Languages, Southeastern Louisiana UniversityIn Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms: Language to Remember, Witness, and Repair, Sarah Donovan doesn’t just advocate for moving beyond relegating Genocide and Holocaust studies to one segmented unit in ELA classrooms. She does do that expertly in this book, but she also gives the practical advice for everyday classroom teachers like me.Luke Bensing, Merrillville High School English Teacher, Indiana, USA"Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms is a powerful and deeply thoughtful guide for educators seeking to engage students with some of the most difficult histories we teach. The Holocaust and other genocides should never be taught in a vacuum, and this text gives teachers the opportunity to paint a holistic picture of these incredibly challenging topics. Grounded in ethical literacy and practical classroom wisdom, this book moves beyond isolated units to offer a sustained, humane approach to genocide education; one that allows for teachers to lead discussions on these topics with confidence. With trauma-informed strategies, steadfast curriculum, and a commitment to empathy, it equips teachers to help students examine language, confront dehumanization, and consider a more just future; one that allows “never again” to be a reality. This is an essential resource for ELA educators committed to meaningful, responsible teaching."Sofia Thornblad, Chief Curator & Director of Collections & Holocaust Education, The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Oklahoma"A comprehensive resource for ELA teachers who want to engage students in deliberate, thoughtful study of the Holocaust and genocide, but also focus on the ways literature can be used to go beyond meeting curriculum requirements, while supporting students as they explore complex human emotions. Donovan thoughtfully weaves together the pedagogical foundations with the hands-on application for effective implementation in the secondary classroom."Shaun Ingalls, MEd, Southeast Career Technical Academy, Nevada, USA"In an increasingly volatile world that also challenges educators and students, this book is an extremely timely and highly relevant contribution to genocide education, providing a unique and powerful toolkit centred around care and responsibility in teaching and learning about genocide."Roland Moerland, Associate Professor of Criminology and Law, Maastricht University, Netherlands
