After learning about IWitness for the first time, social studies teacher Jane C. Moore was inspired to begin using it in her class this year and she even introduced the program to an enthusiastic group of teachers at a professional development seminar this summer.

Moore teaches sixth grade social studies at East Cobb Middle School in Marietta, Ga. Now in her 21st year of teaching, she said she loves when she finds “really interesting, practical, and relevant ways to teach, like using IWitness.”

She first learned about IWitness at a week-long class on teaching the Holocaust at the William Breman Jewish Heritage& Holocaust Museum in Atlanta this summer. During a session on using primary sources, Moore and the other participants learned how to use IWitness, USC Shoah Foundation’s interactive educational website. IWitness combined two of her interests: learning about the Holocaust, and instructing teachers to implement the Document Based Question (DBQ) Program, in which students write five-paragraph essays using primary sources. She said the easy-to-use format appealed to her, as well as the IWitness Video Editor that allows students to make videos within the site.

Moore plans to use IWitness to show her students clips of Leon Leyson’s testimony when her class reads Leyson’s book The Boy on the Wooden Box and also have them create videos on the themes of children or resistance during the Holocaust. She also intends to assign students to create a video about the activity 1936 Olympics: Race, Politics and Civil Rights and relate it to Germany’s 2014 World Cup team.

“This topic is current and relevant for the students and connects the racism against the Jews and the racism against the African Americans,” Moore said. In Marietta especially, it's important to learn about the Holocaust because this is where the infamous Leo Frank case took place, which raised questions of antisemitism in the United States, she added.

This summer, Moore led a professional development session on best practices in teaching for over 100 English and social studies teachers from grades 6-12, and demonstrated IWitness as one of seven strategies to use in the classroom. Both English and social studies Common Core State Standards require teachers to use primary sources, so IWitness fits perfectly, Moore said. After spending time exploring IWitness on their own, most of the teachers were “thrilled,” Moore said, and wanted to use it in their classrooms.

“It’s so important for teachers and students to use this website so that we can learn from the people who experienced these events first hand.  The video project is a great way for students to showcase their knowledge of the subject matter in a very creative, high level thinking format,” Moore said. “It is just as effective as a writing an essay. I can’t wait to use IWitness in my class so that students can be actively engaged in learning about this important subject.”