21st Century Learning #89
Holiday Shopping Guide and Plans for 2009
December 18, 2008

Two quick rounds of geeky holiday wishes and then some goal setting for 2009.

We wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to getting back together in 2009.

Our next show will be January 8, 2009 at 1:00pm (NOTE NEW TIME).

Photo from: http://flickr.com/photos/johnporcaro/66665612/

Click Here for the Chat Trans

On a snowy, windy night last week, Dr. Sondra Perl, Lehman College and Gradate Center, CUNY, NY and five National Writing Project  teachers from the Rural Sites Network joined us to describe their journeys as teachers of Holocaust studies.  These are the teachers who you'll hear on this podcast:

• Danielle Bethune, McCool Junction Schools, Nebraska
• Kristi Bancroft Boucher, Oxford Hills High School, Maine
• Gail Desler, Elk Grove School District, California
• Ilka Hanselmann, Wind Gap Middle School, Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania
• Susan Hodgin, Moscow Senior High School, Idaho
• Larry Neuberger, Miller High School, Springfield, Missouri

We took a look at their experiences in 10-day seminars that Dr. Perl led this summer and last summer. We learned more about how these teachers have integrated teaching about the Holocaust into their work with students. Perhaps you will be inspired by these teachers to begin your own journey into studying and teaching about the Holocaust.

The purpose of the Holocaust Educators Network (HEN) is:

...to provide a forum for faculty interested in studying and teaching the Holocaust. The Network extends the work of the summer seminars sponsored by the Memorial Library. Located at Lehman College of the City University of New York, HEN uses an inquiry-based approach to focus on how educators can engage students with difficult material and how writing and dialogue can help move students from shock and denial to empathy and action. We look to support educators from middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in the following ways:

• By examining teaching practices both critically and generously;
• By sharing resources and devising new approaches in workshops and in online forums;
• By inviting noted scholars and researchers to present new work to the group; and
• By developing and conducting workshops in teachers' own schools and communities.

(Image: Holocaust survivor, Irving Roth)

This summer the Holocaust Educators Network will once again offer a ten-day summer seminar led by Dr. Sondra Perl to middle school, high school, and college teachers from rural sites within the National Writing Project. To find out more or to apply for this summer's seminar, please send an e-mail to Holocaust.educators@gmail.com

Don't delay! Applications for this summer need to be in by mid-January.

For the 2009 summer seminar, we invite applications in two formats: 1) applications by individual teachers who are already members of the National Writing Project (NWP) and 2) applications by teams of two teachers from different subject areas in which at least one is a member of the NWP. Click here to download an individual application form; Click here to download a team application form. Please note: applications for the 2009 summer seminar must be postmarked no later than January 16, 2009. Applicants will be notified of all decisions by March 2009.

This year, rural teachers outside of the National Writing Project may also apply. Click here for a flier with more information about the program; click here to download an application form.