In Flanders Fields

The Veteran's Day holiday made for a short week. I love everything related to World War One, so I always find particularly poignant the worldwide observance of Armistice Day. In the 11th month, on the 11th day, at the 11th hour, the war ended. Of course what followed was a bit of a mess that led to World War Two, but end of the war is an event to be remembered, considering the millions that were killed in the war. I make sure my students know why we celebrate Veteran's Day on the 11th every year and we discuss the sacrifice made in general. Across the nation there were parades, wreath laying, and other tributes to veterans and/or the end of the First World War. I think the most moving tribute was the ceramic poppy display at the Tower of London. The poppy became a symbol of war dead and has remained so in part thanks to famous poem "In Flanders Fields" by Lt. Col. John McRae. For this year's remembrance, organizers set up a display of 888,426 ceramic poppies, one for every British soldier who died in the war. I really like how the display looks like blood pouring from the Tower, symbolizing the loss of life to the country. Very moving!

In U.S. history, students started work on their $35 Dollar bill projects this week. We also started reading The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as we begin discussion of slavery and the Civil War. In Ethics class we debated torture, and started learning about Euthanasia and end of life issues. I have a friend who is a nurse and will be visiting my class to talk about ethics and medicine and answer questions. This will happen after Thanksgiving.

Frederick Douglass

In History v. Hollywood we began talking about the Holocaust. Students created a wordle of important things associated with Holocaust to keep in mind as we watch the film "Schindler's List". We had a great discussion about the causes of the Holocaust, and examined pictures from the time and watched a short documentary about Alfons Heck who was member of the Hitler Youth. This is always a moving subject for students that they always find interesting. I look forward to our discussion of what happened and how it could happen.

The wordle we created

I talked with an educator from the Newseum this week about our presentation at the National conference next week. We will be talking about the Civil Rights project I did with my students last Spring. Luckily, the Newseum paid for my conference registration as a result. I am also attending the House of Delegates on behalf of the Maine Council for the Social Studies. The whole conference should be a lot of fun and I can't wait to blog about it next week. Below is the slide show we will be presenting at the National Conference, including work my students created.




Next week will be busy as I have four days of classes, then I have to prepare to leave on Thursday for the four day conference!