As I start a new school year in a new school teaching a new grade level, I find it slightly ironic that the first theme that my textbook series addresses is courage. As I start another school year, I have thought deeply about courage and mix of emotions that come into play that very first day of school. Many may not readily admit it, but the first day of the school year for both teachers and students is filled nervousness and unease. A first impression is extremely important, and a good first day can set the tone for a very productive school year.

A Modern Germany history course taught by Longwood University Professor Melissa Kravetz received an honorable mention for “Interesting Assignment” from the H-German online network for its IWitness-based final assignment.

The question “How do you teach this stuff?” is what brought me to USC Shoah Foundation in 2010 to begin my training and work as a Master Teacher. I was beginning to understand that survivor testimony is the formative center of Holocaust education, that once a student begins to see Holocaust education content through the lens of testimony, the education and the student begin to change in ways that are profound.

Educators have two opportunities to learn about IWitness along with fellow teachers over the next two weeks: a webinar and first-ever Twitter chat.

While guests of the 2015 Ambassadors for Humanity Gala on Sept. 10 trickled into the Henry Ford Museum and enjoyed a cocktail reception before dinner began, a small group of high school students was hard at work.

As Hannah, in the novel The Devil's Arithmetic, needed to have a first-hand experience to fully understand the Holocaust; my students must be equipped with first-hand information, too. While they cannot "time travel" as Hannah does, they can hear from survivors to have a greater understanding of the Holocaust.

Students can now get even more creative with their IWitness Information Quests.

In an effort to create a deeper engagement with educators online, USC Shoah Foundation’s educational website IWitness hosts monthly Twitter chats.

Forty-eight testimony clips have been added to the popular “Watch” page on IWitness.

USC Shoah Foundation and Facing History and Ourselves have established a partnership in order to develop meaningful and engaging learning resources centered on Holocaust survivor testimonies.

Laura Pritchard Dobrin, an IWitness Teaching Fellow and educator who participated in Auschwitz: The Past is Present, gave a presentation about IWitness at the Virginia Association of Teachers of English (VATE) 2015 Annual Conference last weekend.

IWitness has published a new activity about Kristallnacht just in time for its 77th anniversary this November.

Educators looking for strategies and best practices for teaching using testimonies from the Visual History Archive can refer to a new guide published on the IWitness website.

Members of the USC Shoah Foundation Board of Councilors got creative during the annual board meeting in New York, Oct. 14-15.

I teach at an Islamic school, and I am in awe of how testimony has opened the eyes and hearts of my students and inspired them to fight injustice. This is particularly amazing considering the Shoah is not even part of the curriculum in many Arab countries. When I asked my class why testimony has affected them so deeply, their response was: “Testimony teaches us that the world isn’t about us vs. them. It is about how WE can make the world a better place by not being bystanders.”

The IWitness Watch page has been redesigned in order to enhance user experience for educators.

Special education teacher Tony Cole introduced teachers to IWitness at an orientation for University College London (UCL)’s Beacon School in Holocaust Education program on Oct. 27.

Through a partnership with the National Jewish Theater Foundation, IWitness has added a brand-new activity that guides secondary students to develop historical narrative monologues using testimonies of Holocaust survivors, witnesses and liberators.

I found as a teacher that the most challenging task when teaching about the Holocaust and genocide, is how to do it not using material that shocks the students to the point that they do not want to look at the content, study the history or listen to present day issues due to the emotional shut down that can occur.

The IWitness team has added 52 new clips to the Watch page. These clips cover a wide range of topics, from the Armenian Genocide to the Nanjing Massacre.

As 2015 comes to an end our education team takes a look at the 10 IWitness activities most assigned by educators.

As educators, when we go into teaching, we go in with what some might call ideological visions: This concept that we can and will make a difference; this idea that the children we teach will take the lessons we’ve taught and use them to become productive people long after they leave the four walls of our classroom. As we sit here now, reflecting on our most recent efforts to teach the Holocaust in a profound manner that gives justice and honor to the victims of this atrocity, we feel fortunate that such ideologies are being lived in our classroom.

The first IWitness Twitter chat for educators of 2016 will be hosted by Facing History and Ourselves, on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. PST/7 p.m. EST.

Middle and high school students have the chance to win scholarships of up to $5,000 – and additional money for their educators and schools – by entering the third annual IWitness Video Challenge.

USC Shoah Foundation International Training Consultant Martin Šmok presented the new Czech version of the popular educational resource Holocaust and Other Genocides in Prague on January 13.

A graduate of USC Shoah Foundation’s teacher training programs in Hungary is constructing and pilot-testing the first-ever original Hungarian-language IWitness activity.

USC Shoah Foundation's Chicago Regional Consultant Brandon Barr has been busy introducing IWitness to educators in the Midwest.

Parks’ story is insightful, inspiring and a powerful education tool for discussing racism, intolerance and the Civil Rights Movement. IWitness includes Parks’ story and many other voices and resources that you could use in your classroom. Discover five resources from IWitness for discussing Black History Month and Civil Rights with your students.

IWitness users looking for secondary source material can now use keywords to search "The Holocaust and Other Genocides: An Introduction," the first digital book to be integrated into the IWitness platform.

Happy Digital Learning Day! Led by Alliance for Excellent Education, the day is an effort to engage students and empower educators through effective use of digital tools. Educators, schools and organizations around the world will be sharing the power of using digital resources in the classroom.