The mission of The Herbert and Leonard Littman Families Holocaust Resource Center (HRC) at Rutgers University is to teach future generations about the Holocaust by training educators and providing educational materials to teachers, students, and scholars. Its programs are designed to enhance public awareness of the Holocaust and promote discussion of racism, genocide, discrimination, and the importance of protecting human rights. The HRC is an important part of the Bildner Center’s overall mission of prejudice reduction and outreach to the broader community.
Master Teacher Institute in Holocaust Education
New semester-based program beginning September 2011
What past participants say about the MTI:
“The teaching of tolerance must be made a priority if our learning community’s cultural diversity is to remain one of our strengths.”
- Zhanna Pikman Rilof
The Master Teacher Institute (MTI) in Holocaust Education is an advanced training program to develop expert teachers in Holocaust studies who will serve as resource providers in their schools, districts, and communities. The MTI will engage teachers in a wide-ranging study of the history of the Holocaust and its remembrance and will address the complex methodological issues involved in teaching about this subject.
The MTI prepares teachers to:
- Teach the Holocaust with primary documents
- Teach Holocaust literature
- Teach the Holocaust with film, photography, art, and other media
- Prepare students for visits to Holocaust exhibits
- Teach about the Holocaust within the broader framework of other genocides, prejudice, and intolerance
Participating teachers will receive:
- Resource materials for classroom use and professional enrichment
- Access to leading scholars of the Holocaust
- Assistance in curriculum development from experts in Holocaust pedagogy
- Access to supportive teacher network
- Access to Shoah Visual History Archive
- 15 Professional Development credits per semester
- Teachers who complete both fall and spring semesters are eligible for a $250 stipend.
Beginning in September 2011, the MTI will offer its distinguished series of teacher enrichment programs in a new format, designed to enable greater flexibility of participation by more teachers.
Each semester, the MTI will offer a series of five afternoon sessions, organized around a specific topic in Holocaust history or in how the Holocaust has been remembered and represented. These sessions will each feature a presentation by a scholar in Holocaust studies or a related field, followed by a pedagogical workshop using materials related to the scholar’s presentation. Each session generally will last from 4:30 to 7:30 pm, with a dinner break.
In addition, the MTI will offer a five-day intensive workshop on the history of the Holocaust during a week in late June.
Course Schedule:
- Fall 2011 / Spring 2012
- June 2012 (June 25-29)
- Fall 2012 - Spring 2014
Two Tracks
Teachers (including alumni of the MTI) can sign up for individual semesters, for which they will receive fifteen professional development hours. Those teachers who wish to be recognized as Master Teachers in Holocaust Studies by the MTI will be required to do the following:
- complete a cycle of any four semesters within a period of three years.
- take the History of the Holocaust mini-course in June (if teachers have not already taken a college-level course on this topic).
- prepare a pedagogical project for their school, under the supervision of the MTI’s pedagogical and academic advisors. Successfully completed projects are eligible for awards to teachers’ schools to help implement the project.
Applicant Requirements/Registration
The MTI is open to middle and high school educators teaching in New Jersey. Applicants must have a minimum of three years teaching experience and three years of involvement with Holocaust/genocide education.
Please return the completed application to
The Bildner Center, 12 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Application deadlines: Spring semester by December 20, 2011; June workshop by February 1, 2012
There is no fee to participate in this program.
Seminars meet at the Bildner Center. Free parking available nearby.
For further information please email
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or call 732-932-2033. For updates and announcements, please join our teacher email list.
Past presenters include:
Omer Bartov, Brown University • David Engel, New York University • Henry Greenspan, University of Michigan • Jan Gross, Princeton University • Atina Grossman, The New School • Marion Kaplan, New York University • Samuel Kassow, Trinity College • Harry Reicher, University of Pennsylvania •
Hanna Yablonka, Yad Vashem & Ben Gurion University
