Bearing Witness: A Deepened Study of The Diary of Anne Frank in Middle School English

This spring, Grade 6 students at Friends Seminary have been engaged in a powerful and multifaceted exploration of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. As part of their English 1 curriculum, students have been reflecting on the enduring importance of personal narratives and what it means to serve as a witness to injustice. The unit has been grounded in a broader understanding of history, language, and empathy—integrating instruction with moral inquiry and historical reflection.

At the heart of this work is English teacher Yuxi Lin, who completed a four-day professional development trip to Amsterdam in the summer of 2024. While there, she visited key historical and cultural institutions including the Anne Frank House, the Jewish Cultural Quarter, the National Holocaust Museum, the Jewish History Museum, and the Verzets Resistance Museum. She also explored the topic of looted Jewish art and post-war recovery efforts. Yuxi documented her journey with photographs, videos, and daily journal reflections, all of which she has since incorporated into her curriculum.

Yuxi’s experience has proven especially meaningful as students grapple with questions about Anne’s world—what life in the Annex might have felt like, what was happening outside its walls, and how Jewish families in the Netherlands experienced Nazi occupation. Her firsthand insights have allowed students to engage more deeply with the diary’s content, and to better understand the stakes of bearing witness to history.

On Wednesday, April 16, the entire sixth grade visited the Center for Jewish History to view Anne Frank: The Exhibition, thanks to the coordination of English teacher Leanna Phipps. The exhibition featured a full-scale recreation of the Annex, furnished to resemble how it would have appeared during the two years Anne and her family were in hiding. Students explored Anne’s life from her early years in Frankfurt, through the rise of the Nazi regime, the family’s move to Amsterdam, their arrest, and Anne’s eventual death at Bergen-Belsen at the age of fifteen.

Later in the week, Yuxi’s students returned to class to reflect on the most impactful moments and artifacts from the exhibit. Many were struck by the physical recreation of Anne’s desk and by haunting images of Jewish children holding swastika flags, emaciated prisoners in camps, and men forced to dig their own graves. These visceral visual elements prompted thoughtful conversations about the importance of documenting history through individual stories—not only Anne’s, but the stories of others who lived, resisted, and survived. She also extended the conversation by incorporating additional survivor narratives and drawing connections to Friends Seminary’s Quaker testimonies and core values. As the semester continues, students will build on these reflections while reinforcing their grammar skills, including the use of punctuation in compound and complex sentences.

The lessons of Anne Frank’s diary—coupled with Yuxi’s professional growth and the immersive experience of the exhibit—have helped shape a transformative unit that challenges students to think critically and engage deeply with the moral weight of history.