Butterflies...

I teach three different classes a day. In the 2nd half of the English 9, we are getting ready to read Elie Wiesel's Night, which is a memoir about his experiences in the Holocaust. If you haven't read it, you need to! Anyway, I've heard a lot about this "butterfly" poem that has to do with the Holocaust. I Googled it and this is what I found:

"The Butterfly"

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone. . . .

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
 kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
in the ghetto.

                  Pavel Friedman 4.6.1942

I really liked it--and I really wanted my students to be invested in the book--so I decided I wanted to do a class activity with it.

I put my daily agenda on the board everyday and the students immediately wanted to know what "The Butterfly" meant. I heard comments like "What in the world are we gonna do with butterflies?" and "What are we, in kindergarten?" It was kind of humorous that they were wondering so much. I just kept my mouth shut though, and told them "You'll see," which has to be the most annoying response ever.

I gave each student a biography page of a person who somehow experienced the Holocaust. I then gave the students blank butterflies. The students were instructed to turn their butterflies into the person. I told them they could decorate the butterflies in any way, shape, or form, but that it somehow needed to identify the person. The results were amazing and I really think the students got a lot out of it. I took some pictures of a few of them. My favorite butterfly is the second one. I apologize for the low quality pictures!