The Art of Listening: Practices from the Fortunoff Video Archive
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimony at Yale University
Designed for teachers instructing Grades 9-12
The Art of Listening is a set of three online lessons exploring testimonies as personal narratives and historical sources. Through guided activities, students consider how testimonies are collected, how to listen to them, and what it means to bear witness. In the final lesson, students listen to the testimony of survivor Betty Deutsch and, by observing the Fortunoff interviewing method in action, are empowered to conduct their own oral histories.
Students and teachers are welcome to explore our website (https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/), which includes edited programming, films, and podcasts featuring testimony.
Question? For advice or assistance on using the website in the classroom, please contact Eliana Swerdlow, eliana.swerdlow@yale.edu
Eliana Swerdlow is based in New Haven, CT and can participate in events via Zoom.
Additional Resources:
Lindsey Rossler, an educator at the King School in Stamford, Connecticut, was essential to developing the Art of Listening curriculum. For the past few years, Lindsey piloted and refined these materials in her classroom and empowered her students to conduct oral history projects with refugees being resettled in their local community. If there is interest in a professional development session with Lindsey, please reach out to Eliana and we will happily explore the possibility.
