The Troy University Library will present a free teacher workshop on April 12 to better equip educators to teach students about the Holocaust.

Held in conjunction with the library’s visiting exhibit, “Americans and the Holocaust,” the workshop will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Troy Campus Library located in Wallace Hall. While the teacher workshop is free, registration is required at https://ahecinfo.org/teacher-workshop-registration-basics-of-teaching-the-holocaust-troy-university/.

Logan Greene, a teacher at Berry Middle School in Hoover since 2021, will lead “Basics of Teaching the Holocaust: U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum Guidelines and Timeline,” the workshop, along with Amy McDonald, a teacher at Shades Valley High School. McDonald will discuss her book, “Determined to Survive: A Story of Survival and One Teacher’s Passion to Bring that Story to Life,” from noon to 1 p.m. in a portion of the workshop that is open to the public.

“Logan Greene has been trained by both the Alabama Holocaust Education Center and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on how to teach people specifically about this exhibit but also how to teach in a sensitive and diplomatic way about the Holocaust,” said Dr. Chris Shaffer, Dean of Library Services at TROY. “He is considered a Master Teacher in terms of the Holocaust.”

Dr. Dan Puckett, Professor of History, said Greene and McDonald are among the state’s best on how to teach about the Holocaust.

“There are probably no better high school teachers in the state than those two, and they both partner with the Alabama Holocaust Education Center in Birmingham to lead workshops,” Puckett said. “We are trying to reach out to teachers in the Wiregrass and the Black Belt areas to come learn about how to teach about the Holocaust.”

Greene is an educator with more than 16 years of experience in both social studies and English language arts. Prior to his stint at Berry Middle School, he previously taught at high schools in Calera, West Blocton and Pinson.

Greene earned his bachelor’s degree in History and English in 2006 and a Master of Education with a concentration in Secondary Education from the University of Montevallo. He is currently pursuing his Educational Specialist degree from the University of North Alabama. He has received local and national training in Holocaust education and has been a recipient of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellowship, the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University’s Goldring Teacher Fellowship and the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Teacher Fellowship. He has also been a participant in the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Advanced Seminar on several occasions and has attended the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Belfer National Conference for Educators.  

McDonald is a teacher at Shades Valley High School, currently teaching advanced placement U.S. History and Holocaust Studies. She received a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master of Education in Secondary Social Science from the University of Montevallo.

In addition to teaching, McDonald was also the co-founder and co-director of Honor Flight Birmingham. From 2007-2012, she helped to raise funds that took more than 900 World War II veterans on 15 Honor Flights to Washington, D.C. to view the World War II Memorial. For her work with the organization, she received the 2011 Natalie Molton Gibbons Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Montevallo, Special Commendation from the Alabama Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, the GAC Youth Leadership Program Veterans Supporter Award and the National Veterans Day 2012 Soaring Eagle Award.

In 2013, McDonald received the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous’ Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education. In 2014, she was accepted into the U.S. Holocaust Museum Teacher Fellowship Program and is recognized as a Teacher Fellow of the Museum.

In 2017, she authored the book, “Determined to Survive: A story of Survival and One Teacher’s Passion to Bring that Story to Life,” that details the life and experiences of Holocaust survivor, Max Steinmetz, who lived in Birmingham before passing away in 2021. She published her second book in 2021, “Word Smugglers: A Story of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto,” that chronicles the story of Emanuel Ringelblum and a secret archive in the ghetto known as the Oyneg Shabes archive.

The Americans and the Holocaust exhibit will be on display in the Troy Campus library through April 20. The traveling exhibit was made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine. Additional major funding was provided by the Bildners – Joan and Allen z”l, Elisa Spungen and Rob, Nancy and Jim; and Jane and Daniel Och. The museum’s exhibitions are also supported by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990. The Troy University Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host the Americans and the Holocaust exhibit.