Guided Imagery Activity
Night by Elie Wiesel
Purpose:
The purpose of the guided imagery activity (Samples, 1977) is to allow students to explore a
concept visually and arouse their curiosity about upcoming reading. It can be used to build an
experience base for inquiry or discussions, exploring concepts, working through problems,
exploring history and the future, and exploring other lands and worlds.
Rationale:
I chose to use this before reading strategy in conjunction with Wiesel’s
Night because it allows students to emotionally connect to the material
while bringing up issues that will be discussed during and after the
reading of the novel. It enables students to think personally about
history and the situations people in the past found themselves in.
Steps:
Prior to doing this activity I would have posted a variety of photographs from the Holocaust around
the room to allow students to gain a little more understanding of the Holocaust and be able to
visualize the experience Holocaust victims may have gone through.
STEP 1
Have students either sit in their desks or allow them to spread around the room as you read the
following passage/directions. Before you start reading turn on music from a film about the
Holocaust (it should be instrumental only) such as Schindler’s List or The Pianist. Be sure to allow
pauses during which students can think about their emotions and reactions to the situation.
Close your eyes…tell all your muscles to relax. You are a member of a small village in Eastern
Europe in 1943. You have lived there your entire life. Sometimes you are mistreated because you
are Jewish, but most of the time your life is happy and joyful. Even the current world war has not
made a huge mark on your life; the fighting is far away and you know no one who has gone to fight.
Until one day…when you wake up to find your village occupied by German soldiers who tell you to
pack a single bag because you are being deported to work in a brick factory run by the Nazi army.
What is your reaction to the news? What about your family? Your friends?....You, along with other
friends and family members from the village, are crowded into a cattle car and travel for two days
without food or drink. There are so many people you are unable to even sit down. Look at the
people around you. How are they acting?....You ask yourself where am I truly going? What will it
be like?....By the time you reach your destination, the stench of the cattle car is unbearable, but as
you exit the car you smell an even worse one. You look up to see smoke rising from tall chimneys
and a sign that says Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp in Poland…What is going to
happen to you? Your best friend? Your brother? Sister? Mother and Father?....Fortunately for you,
you begin to drift back to where you started…tell your muscles to move….open your eyes.
Karma Sue Mitchell, 2005
STEP 2
After giving students a moment to “return to earth” ask them to get into groups of 3-4 and discuss
at least two of following questions. (These should be on an overhead or handout.) Some sample
responses are listed below each question.
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How did you feel when you were told you had to leave your home?
o Scared, angry, sad, excited, nervous....
While you were in the cattle car, what were your emotions and thoughts about
what was happening to you?
o Uncomfortable, claustrophobic, wanted to scream and push people,
uncertain, fear, anxiety…
Where did you think you were going to be sent?
o A brick factory, to a concentration camp, to die…
What were some things that you “saw” while getting on to the cattle car? What
colors were they?
o Soldiers, guns, greens and browns, wooden ramps, people crying…
What was your reaction when you stepped out of the cattle car?
o Terror, horror, fearful of death, relief…
What were the reactions of those around you?
o Sobbing, screaming, fearful, terrified…
STEP 3
After allowing students to discuss the questions, have a
brief class discussion about the experiences they had (base
this off of the above questions) and then ask why they think
you had them imagine this horrible situation. They should
give responses such as “we’re going to study the
Holocaust” or “we’re going to do something with
experiencing a traumatic situation.” Transition into
introducing Night and briefly describing what the story is
about (a 15 year old boy who is sent to a concentration
camp and survives. It deals with his emotions about the entire experience). Be sure to tell them
that it is a true story and the “boy” is still alive today.
Assessment:
Most of the assessment of this strategy is basically done through listening to the discussions that
the students have among themselves. Did they connect to what was being read? How did they
respond to the imagined situation? Is their curiosity aroused about the book we’ll be reading? What
information do they need to know about the Holocaust in general? Do they need specific or more
general information?
Karma Sue Mitchell, 2005