12th Biennial Shafran Teachers’ Conference
Sponsored by the David & Lil Shafran Endowment Fund of the VHEC
TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST
Multiple Perspectives and Best Practices in Holocaust Education
Date, Time & Location
Friday, February 14, 2025
8:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, 950 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, 2nd Floor, Dayson Boardroom
Registration Options
Registration includes lunch, refreshments, and conference materials.
$50 TEACHER
Early Bird registration by January 31, 2025
$75 TEACHER
Registration after January 31, 2025
$25 STUDENT TEACHER / RETIRED TEACHER
Space is limited. Registration closes on February 7, 2025.
Opportunity for subsidized fees available by request.
About the Conference
- Learn about new teaching resources to support Holocaust education in the classroom.
- Offers best practices for educators in teaching the Holocaust, as well as how to teach the Holocaust within the updated Social Studies 10.
- Recommended for teachers of grades 6 to 12.
- Recommended for teachers in various disciplines including Social Studies, Social Justice, World History,
- Political Studies, Human Geography, Comparative Cultures, English Language Arts, and Arts Education.
- Provides opportunities for teachers to share their best practices and experiences in Holocaust education through break-out sessions and Q&A panel.
Presenters
Kristin Thompson, Keynote Speaker – “Oath and Opposition: Education Under the Third Reich”
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, HUMANUS NETWORK: HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND CONSULTING
Kristin is the founding director of Humanus Network, an educational consulting firm dedicated to professional development training and creating Holocaust and human rights educational resources. Previously, Kristin was Education Program Coordinator at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. For over five years, she led the Museum’s flagship teacher training programs. There, she researched and created a learning module for teacher training which critically examines the role of teachers during the Holocaust and its applicable lessons for today. Kristin was a classroom history teacher in Minnesota for 19 years. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science, Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies Education, and specialized licensure in Curriculum and Instruction.
Dr. Kristin Semmens
UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, GERMAN AND EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Kirstin specializes in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Her most recent book, Under the Swastika in Nazi Germany (2023) is a brief introduction to Nazi Germany. Her other works include Seeing Hitler’s Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich, an in-depth look at state-run and commercial tourism under the Nazi regime. A graduate of the University of British Columbia (BA in Honours History), University of Victoria (MA in History), Kristin received her PhD in History from the University of Cambridge.
Dr. Sebastian Huebel
UNIVERSITY OF THE FRASER VALLEY, SESSIONAL INSTRUCTOR
Sebastian is the author of Fighter, Worker and Family Man: German-Jewish Men and their Gendered Experiences in Nazi Germany. Sebastian earned his PhD at UBC specializing in modern European history. His dissertation examines German-Jewish men in Nazi Germany. In addition to the University of the Fraser Valley, Sebastian has taught at Thompson Rivers University, Simon Fraser University and Alexander College.
Dr. Andrea Webb
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF TEACHING, DEPARTMENT OF CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY
Andrea spent a decade as a high school teacher before returning to higher education as a teacher educator. Her research interests lie in teaching and learning in higher education and she is involved in research projects related to Threshold Concepts, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and Social Studies Teacher Education. Currently, Andrea is part of a multinational SSHRC-funded project, Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives.
Break Out Sessions
Graeme Stacey, Kelowna Secondary School and Mike Wolthuizen, Rutland Secondary School, winners of the Kron Sigal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education (2005 & 2024 respectively), will discuss the development and delivery of their board-approved elective course, Holocaust 12: Beyond the Shoah.
Marc-Olivier Cloutier, Manager of Education Initiatives, Azrieli Foundation, will present The First Step, a program for preparing educators to teach about the Holocaust for the first time.
Lise Kirchner, Director of Education, and Ellie Lawson, Education Coordinator at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre will present the VHEC’s new teaching resource, Fragments in Focus: A History of the Holocaust.
Daniel Panneton, Associate Director of Education, VHEC will present the workshop, Antisemitism and Conspiratorial Thinking.