Today has been an exciting day personally and professionally.
This morning, we left the hotel with our bags packed for our transfer to Krakow. When we arrived back at Polin Museum, we had a debriefing session and began our work for the day. Four of us had been asked to serve on a panel for a presentation to the other educators and the mission group from The Shoah Foundation (their donors). As the main part of the group continued working on their pitches for “shark tank” and toured the beautiful exterior of the museum and discussed the significance of the landscape and sculptures around the building.
Matt from Kentucky, Karen from Arkansas, Christine from Australia, and I were the teachers who were asked to serve on the panel. We spent our morning working with Beth Meyerowitz, VP of Faculty affairs at USC. We discussed our potential responses and tried to arrive at a broad-spectrum approach.
We then rejoined the group for the “shark tank” presentations. Many teachers had excellent ideas for ways to incorporate IWitness testimony and lessons into their curriculum. The junior interns served as the “sharks” and raised excellent questions and offered insights into increasing student engagement with the activity. During that time, we were joined by the founder of The Shoah Foundation, Mr. Steven Spielberg, and Mr. David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery Communications. What an honor it was to have them join our group!
After “shark tank” wrapped up, we heading to the museum’s beautiful auditorium for the panel. There, the mission group from The Shoah Foundation, the educators’ group, and staff from The Shoah Foundation and Discovery Education were in the audience. The four teachers I mentioned earlier served on the panel, as did four members of the youth interns group and a regional consultant for The Shoah Foundation, Michelle Clark.
Kori Street, the Director of Education at The Shoah Foundation, moderated the panel. Each teacher was given two minutes to speak, and each student had about thirty seconds to respond to a question. Teachers started the day with a debrief about our work and meetings yesterday. At the end, Michelle did an excellent presentation - including an original poem - to conclude that portion of the panel. Then, Kori opened the floor for questions from the audience. Here is a brief summary of what I presented (at least this is what I think I said!):
I am so honored to be a part of such an amazing group of educators working to make the past become present in our schools. I regularly use Discovery Education in my classroom. The partnership between IWitness and Discovery Education brings together two experts to enhance classrooms in the digital age. Both of these platforms are essential in a technology-oriented school system like mine where students are on devices much of the time. My students have already been using IWitness - participating in the 70 Days of Testimony and completing projects like an Information Quest and “My Story Matters.” Next year, I will incorporate IWitness into my larger Holocaust unit that spans seventh and eighth grade and students will be able to make a connection with real survivors as they study historical fiction and some nonfiction about the Holocaust. I also mentioned how I like that students have choice in many of the activities that are already available, and I like the flexibility of creating my own activities for students to complete. I can reach several literacy and technology goals through IWItness.
After we completed the panel discussion, we headed up to lunch. Due, I suppose, to the arrival of additional special guests, our menu was a little more elaborate. I made the mistake of selecting some type of pate, and I certainly would be okay with not ever tasting that again!!
Toward the end of lunch, Mr. Zaslav, from Discovery, invited me and the other panel teachers to come speak with Mr. Spielberg. He called me by name and said how pleased he was with what I said and how Mr. Spielberg was so engaged with my statements and even tapped him on the leg while I was talking. (AAHHHH!)
Mr. Spielberg was so kind and genuine. As many of you know I had been concerned about what I would say to him; I worried unnecessarily. He asked us all why we became teachers, and we talked quite a bit (thanks to Karen!) about the changing model of the classroom from a teacher-centered to a student-centered focus. It was such a pleasant and easy conversation, and it is certainly one I will never forget. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs with him, but there was one group photo that I hope to post later.
*****
After lunch, we quickly gathered our things and headed to the bus for an ever-so-quick drive around part of Warsaw. We saw the monument that commemorates the deportation of the Jews from Warsaw.
We also had a short stop at the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw that dates back several hundred years. I wish we had been able to stay there longer. The cemetery had beautiful monuments; they were quite close together and had a variety of shapes and sizes. Most were in fairly good condition for their age.
We then had a longer-than-anticipated drive to Krakow. It had started snowing today, so we had to take a less-direct route in order to stay on major thoroughfares. We just had a very late dinner (It’s 11:00 p.m.) here. We will have a very early start tomorrow. We meet at 7:10 in the morning to depart for our tour at Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. I know it will be an emotional experience.
I apologize for no pictures tonight. I will try to upload many tomorrow to share.
We are so excited to read and follow your blog! We love seeing all the pictures and videos! :)
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