"Teaching the Holocaust" in many schools means touching briefly on one of the most horrific chapters of human history and then moving on.
But Jim Lucot, a teacher at Seneca Valley High School in Butler County, had other ideas for his 11th grade class in U.S. history.
"You can't discuss Holocaust on Tuesday and be talking about the end of the war on Thursday," Mr. Lucot said. "That doesn't give a student any conceptual basis to begin understanding how it happened."
So he developed an in-depth curriculum that would give them that understanding. And in recognition of his efforts, he's been chosen for an international award from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York City, which has named Mr. Lucot the 2009 recipient of the Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education.
He will receive the honor, plus a $1,000 cash award, before 800 people at the foundation's annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The organization is covering the cost of the trip for Mr. Lucot and his wife.
Stanlee Stahl, foundation vice president, said the education committee chose Mr. Lucot for the depth and quality of his course, as well as his passion for extending his own knowledge through seminars, research and exploration.
"It's hard for history teachers in many school districts to teach the Holocaust for any length of time because of all the standards they have to teach to," she said. "He has been very creative in weaving the subject into his curriculum. And he's not in a school with a significant number of Jewish students."
Mr. Lucot, who is not Jewish himself, begins his World War II curriculum in 1890 with Kaiser Wilhelm II. He raises the specter of anti-Semitism in the first week of class, then weaves it all the way through World War I and the Weimar Republic, the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism and Hitler, "so students have a solid foundation on how the most educated country on that continent could begin to do something like this.
"By the time we get to Hitler, they know anti-Semitism existed way before him and was not hatched out of an egg when he came to power."
Mr. Lucot's class also looks at the Holocaust from multiple perspectives -- victims, perpetrators, rescuers, bystanders and liberators.
"We talk about all of it so they can try putting themselves in those shoes. I give them many provoking decisions to make. And I know it's working because they ask all kinds of questions, which they do not do in other sections. They are really interested in this subject."
The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous -- www.jfr.org -- was founded to provide financial support to needy, elderly non-Jews who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. It is currently assisting 1,000 such rescuers worldwide. The foundation also conducts teacher education on the Holocaust and rescue through seminars, European study programs and the Alfred Lerner Fellowships, which are five-day intensive seminars at Columbia University where participants meet survivors, rescuers and experts.
Mr. Lucot is a former Lerner Fellow, nominated to the program by Edie Naveh, director of the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh.
"Jim is indefatigable in his constant effort to learn more about the Holocaust and that period of time, and to find the best ways of teaching the subject," she said. "He has tremendous dedication."
Mr. Lucot, 43, lives in Cranberry. A registered nurse, he decided about 10 years ago to become a teacher and began substituting at a Catholic high school where state certification was not required. When then-Gov. Tom Ridge began a program for professionals to get teaching certification, he enrolled, taking a class each semester for three years. Eventually he was hired by Seneca Valley.
"I really love it," he said. "I'm fortunate to do what I do."
He has 116 students in all, with 90 in U.S. history and the rest in honors government.
"Jim gets students involved making contact with veterans, doing research, encouraging the kids to seek out memorials to put relevance to the subject, like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island," said Mark Korcinsky, principal of the high school. "His classroom is wallpapered with flags and autographed pictures of guest speakers."
Mr. Lucot said he crams it all in by going "bell to bell.
"I keep adding to the curriculum without taking anything away. My World War II component is 350 power point slides right now."
Students come into his class with an interest in the Holocaust but not much knowledge.
"They want to know about it, but they are grossly misinformed. They've read an excerpt from Ann Frank and they think they know everything."
But they soon realize how much there is to learn.
Mr. Lucot said he's passionate about the subject because of its lessons for young people in contemporary society.
"If you look at the problems in the world today, most are based on racial and religious hatred," he said.
As for the award -- he's one of just two educators in the world being honored this year -- he's still trying to process it.
"I've met some amazing Holocaust educators and I've been thinking a lot about why they chose me. I think they know I was self-educated, so I'm a good model of what they can do with a teacher like that."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09331/1016620-298.stm#ixzz0Y4GCYITv
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