Once the meeting ended and the school day officially started Emily and I were lucky enough to experience a 10th grade assembly. The 10th grade humanities classes are studying Hitler and the Holocaust and had a Holocaust survivor come in and speak to them about her experiences. The woman happened to be a relative of one of the students and still lives in Amsterdam. The speaker, Betty, was a child- 6 years old when her family went into hiding (where they lived in 14 different tiny, secret spaces in 12 months) and 8 when her parents were taken to the concentration camps. In Amsterdam the Nazi's put Jewish families found in hiding in a Jewish theatre for holding until they could be shipped off to the camps, however because of the noise the children under the age of 15 were separated and put into a child care building across the street called the creche. With the underground resistance group were nurses in the creche and those working to smuggle children out. Betty's parents gave their permission and on the morning that they were taken away, she was smuggled out a back door instead of being put onto the truck with her parents. She was then given to a German Catholic family to be raised as their daughter. She later found out that her entire family had been killed in the concentration camps but was later reunited with a distant uncle. It was an unbelievable story and the entire room was silent through her story, a look of awe on everyone's face. It is one thing to read about people or watch them in documentaries, but to actually meet her and listen to her story gave me goosebumps.
We were then brought to observe 7th grade classes. We first watched a one block (40 minute) class taught by Ken Hansberry, who we have been working closely with. The students were working on how to write a 5 paragraph essay. While he was on the field trip with us to Naarden, they had been coming up with ideas, going along with their Rise of Islam unit. Once they were given time to work on building a skeletal outline on their own, I walked around to see what they were writing about and was blown away. While I know the teacher helped them word their thesis statements, it was still amazing to see their ideas, which included the treatment of women in the Koran compared to the Bible, who had the advantage in the 1st Crusade, artistic images during the 1st Crusade comparing the Bible and the Koran, and comparing the value of science in the Bible and the Koran. Listening to these 7th graders made my jaw drop and take mental notes of good college essay topics! It was incredible. All the students worked hard, were great kids, and were extremely friendly, I know Im going to have fun with this class.
The other class we observed was Brian's double block (80 minute) 7th grade geography class. The students were giving presentations on volcanos that they researched. Students were given the option to do a presentation through PowerPoint or Google Docs or could make a booklet and not have to present to the class. Many also made working models of a volcano to blow up to go along with their presentation. The ones we saw in class were great, the students spoke loudly, clearly, and professionally and knew more than I could ever hope to about PowerPoint and the Smart Board. But what really impressed me were the questions the students asked their peer who was presenting. The questions were intelligent and made it clear that they were actively listening and wanted more information. It was a teacher's dream.
Fridays end with TGIF in the teacher's rooms. This is when all the teachers get together to relax after a long week. One of the teachers acts as bar tender and you can get anything from beer to mixed drinks to wine. So after school we sat there with the teachers and had a drink, laughing and socializing. It was great, and I'm sure many more teachers would love their jobs if this was a part of every school!
TGIF in the Teacher's Lounge
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