Creating Classroom Stations for Night by Elie Wiesel

Looking to help your middle school students process and engage with  Night to further explore its themes, lessons, and universal relevance? 

Stations are the perfect way to dive into key concepts like faith, survival, and dehumanization while keeping things dynamic and student-centered. 

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of creative stations tied to specific chapters of the book, along with quotes, videos, and deep discussion questions.

Station 1: Chapter 1 – The Ghettos & Deportation

• Discussion Idea: “What is identity?” Explore how Elie’s identity begins to shift with the increasing restrictions on Jews in Sighet.
• Video: Elie Wiesel Reflects on People’s Denial (2 min)
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion.”
  • “Night fell. There was nothing else.”
  • “Our eyes opened. Too late.”
  • “I was almost thirteen and deeply observant.”

Station 2: Chapter 2 – The Cattle Cars

• Discussion Idea: “Dehumanization.” Discuss how the conditions on the train contribute to the breakdown of spirits and humanity.
• Activity: Ask students to journal about what they would feel and think in those conditions.
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “Look at the fire! Look at the flames!” – Madame Schächter’s cries signal the horror to come.
  • “The world had become a hermetically sealed cattle car.”
  • “She received several blows to the head, blows that could have been lethal.”
  • “We no longer had the strength to complain.”

Station 3: Chapter 3 – Arrival at Auschwitz

• Discussion Idea: “Loss of Faith.” Have students consider how the horrors of Auschwitz might make someone lose faith.
• Video: Oprah and Elie Wiesel Visit Auschwitz (3 min)
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp.”
  • “The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames.”
  • “The smell of burning flesh.”
  • “Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion: ‘Men to the left! Women to the right!’”

Station 4: Chapter 4 – The Hanging of the Pipel

• Discussion Idea: “Symbolism of Innocence.” Discuss the significance of the young boy’s death and its impact on Elie’s spiritual journey.
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows.”
  • “I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows.’”
  • “For God’s sake, where is God?”
  • “The soup tasted of corpses.”

Station 5: Chapter 5 – Jewish Holidays & Elie’s Rebellion

• Discussion Idea: “Rebellion Against God.” Explore Elie’s internal rebellion and discuss the broader question of faith in dire circumstances.
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “I no longer accepted God’s silence.”
  • “I did not fast.”
  • “The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent.”
  • “I was the accuser, God the accused.”

Station 6: Chapter 6 – The Death March

• Discussion Idea: “What keeps you going?” Explore the theme of perseverance and the bond between Elie and his father as they struggle through the death march.
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “We were masters of nature, masters of the world.”
  • “Death enveloped me, it suffocated me.”
  • “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me.”
  • “We received no food.”

Station 7: Chapter 7 – The Open Cattle Car

• Discussion Idea: “Survival of the Fittest.” Have students discuss whether those who survived were stronger or simply luckier.
• Quotes to Pause On:
  • “I could see a shape…then I would lose consciousness again.”
  • “My father and I were thrown to the ground by the others.”
  • “No one wept.”
  • “The dead stayed in the train.”

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Wrapping it Up

These stations not only help students engage with the complex themes of Night but also give them the space to reflect on the human condition. 

For a quick station setup, pair discussion prompts with videos and key quotes, so students can rotate through meaningful tasks. 

You’ll love how this helps make the heavy content of Night more accessible and engaging while allowing you to run a smoothly organized, reflective classroom.

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NOTE: These^ tips and steps are just a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes setup of how I build out my entire set of station materials that lives inside my monthly themed station collection. While I don’t have Night stations specifically, my goal with this article was to share how you can repurpose what might normally be a whole-class activity into a breakdown or “chunks” that are more easily digestible for students. 

Get an entire collection of monthly middle school stations when you join Ready, Set, Stations —> Each month’s set includes a fiction, nonfiction, poetry collection so that all the activities (reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar) go together thematically!

Let me overthink stations so you don’t have to😉

INTRODUCING:

I’ll send you 12 fresh, themed station activities loaded up ready-made style each month: 

✅One fiction passage + one nonfiction passage + one poem

➡️ One reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary station for EACH passage

🙋🏻‍♀️ That’s 3 thematically-linked passages with 4 stations per passage = 12 stations each month!