Paula Ellico

Professor Teri Wyckoff

Edu 280
Feb. 21, 2016
DBP Project - Night by Elie Wiesel
This book/lesson would be appropriate for grades 9 and up. From this lesson, they should learn
in more depth about what many Jewish people went through during the holocaust. Theyre learn
all about concentration camps and what happened within those brutal walls. With a better
understanding of this, I hope they can then realize that its not fair to subject anyone to
discrimination, even on a smaller scale.
Summary: This book follows young Elie Wiesel through the holocaust. It starts in his home, a
ghetto and follows him when he was taken by the gestapo, stuffed into a train with both alive
and dead people, then throw into a concentration camp. There, he was separated from his
family, beaten, worked nearly to death, and exposed to so many other devastating things that no
young boy should have to. Between the smell of melting skin and dirty bones, this boy battles
loss, struggle, pain, agony, illness, grief, and so many other things. After a much too long
journey, he has to say goodbye to one of the most important people to him, but in the end, he
survives and lives to tell his story.
Questions: 1. What is a Gestapo? 2. What were some of the things that the Jews in the camp
were forced to do? 3. What could be a reason that they were forced to cut off their hair? 4. Why
did they get tattoos? 5. What have you taken away from this book? 6. How did the characters
Elie and his father end up switching roles from start to finish of the book?
Activities: The first activity would involve the students using their imagination. After the kids
heard about much of what happened to those victims of concentration camps, Id have them
write ideas of what it would be like if they were in a concentration camp. Where did they get
taken from? Who were they separated from? Did their hair get shaved? Were they killed right

away for being a woman? This would help them to understand the reality of this life so many
lived. The second activity would require some money or resources. I would have the whole
class dress in the same color outfit, all wear a bald cap, and give them their arm marks. Theyd
have to go around school all day with their identity stripped of them and feel how the Jews did,
in a sense. Then the third activity would be them writing a reflective short essay on what theyve
learned from it.