Technology educator Susan Van Wyhe has paired IWitness with the Freedom Writers project at her Iowa middle school, with inspiring and positive results.

After learning about at IWitness at an Echoes and Reflections workshop two years ago, Van Wyhe decided to incorporate it into a project for students that would reinforce digital citizenship, editing, research, history and ethics through learning about the Holocaust.

Central Lyon Middle School’s eighth grade literature students read the play The Diary of Anne Frank and watch the movie Freedom Writers, which tells the true story of Long Beach, Calif., high school teacher Erin Gruwell. Gruwell inspired her students to write about their tough circumstances and become motivated to succeed in life by introducing them to Anne Frank’s story and other stories of people who had to deal with difficult situations in their lives.

Last year, Van Wyhe and her students Skyped with one of the original “Freedom Writers” from Gruwell’s class. This year, they raised the money to Skype with Gruwell herself by collecting 8,000 cans.

Following Freedom Writers, Van Wyhe assigns an IWitness video project. Students choose from a list of topics and construct a video based on their topic, using testimony clips and other sources. In an introductory video Van Wyhe made in IWitness, she outlines several examples of genocide, speaks about the importance of remembering the past, and encourages students to be part of the solution.

Last year the class rated each other’s work to determine the “Best Documentary,” and Van Wyhe was thrilled to see that one of the quietest students in the class won for her fantastic video on the liberation of the Holocaust.

The students are extremely engaged by the project and enjoy watching testimony clips on IWitness, Van Wyhe said. In fact, many are so passionate about their video topics that they have trouble keeping to the recommended time limit and prefer to lose a few points rather than shorten their videos.

“The testimonies provide first source information and teach more than any other source,” Van Wyhe said. “I feel that the testimonies encourage [students] to dig deeper into the understanding of their topic. This unit encourages them to discover not only the atrocities but also the heroes.”