This past November, The Olga Lengyel Institute (TOLI) and the Memorial Library offered an interactive workshop at the annual meeting of the National Writing Project (NWP), held in Atlanta, Georgia.
The session, entitled Looking Back, Looking Forward: Teaching about the Holocaust and Social Justice, was well-attended by participating educators. It addressed the challenges inherent in linking the study of the Holocaust with an exploration of contemporary social justice issues.
Session leaders Sondra Perl, Jennifer Lemberg, and Wendy Warren demonstrated the power of writing and inquiry to inspire interest in the past as well as meaningful action in the present. Participants had the opportunity to work with passages from a wide range of texts, all selected to help them engage their students with the specific history of the Holocaust, while enabling them to formulate critical questions about local and contemporary examples of injustice.
The Library has presented at the NWP event since 2007, when it offered its first summer seminar on the national level. Participation in the Annual Meeting gives the Library a chance to connect with both new and veteran educators from across the country.
Following the NWP annual meeting, TOLI and the Library hosted a reunion dinner in downtown Atlanta for past participants in their New York City and Satellite Seminars. More than 20 teachers were able to reconnect with fellows from their summer cohort and to meet new colleagues within the Library’s nationwide network.