Why I Love My Job - A Mini-Museum Experience

My eighth grade students are just beginning their reading of Anne Frank - Diary of a Young Girl. Any time any class begins a unit on the Holocaust, I get very nervous because I know how crunched for time teachers are in terms of their curriculum calendar and this is one unit you just can't rush.  I am lucky enough to work with teachers who are willing to devote some additional time to prepare their students for this novel.  Several years ago I experimented with creating a "mini-museum" experience for my students.  I contacted  The Southern Poverty Law Center and requested their FREE Teaching Tolerance teaching kit titled, One Survivor Remembers. The kit was an excellent start to my museum project, as it contained incredible images and documentation that would help give students information about the experience of one survivor, Gerda Weissmann Klein.  Since my initial use of the kit, I have added additional pieces from Discovery Education Streaming video collection (this is a paid database available to our district).  These video clips provide a great introduction to a discussion on the mindset of the German citizens prior to WWII,  how WWII began and how Hitler managed to gain power.  The mini-museum experience takes 90 minutes and from the feedback I receive, it provides students so much information to use during their study of the book.   

This year the museum was the introduction to their unit and based on the discussions I had with the 500 8th graders that experienced the museum, I believe it has already generated questions about events, topics, and ideas they want to explore or research.  How wonderful to be able to provide that spark!  Those discussion were a high point of my week last week - you could just see their minds considering the various points that were brought up during the discussion. During the discussion there were several books I mentioned that covered the Holocaust or events related to that time period and it had me thinking.  I wish we had genre or theme requirements instead of specific title requirements.  If we had themed units like injustice or diversity or perseverance and asked students to find titles based on that, I can only believe they would be more motivated to read a self selected book and go beyond that one text and research the common theme.

The week ended with an amazing guest speaker, Mrs. Rose Williams, a Holocaust survivor who lives in our city.  She has visited our campus the past three years, and each time I am moved to tears by her story.  This tiny woman experienced the worst horrors of the Holocaust and has only recently begun sharing her story.  Her message is one of hope for our young people.  She encourages them to live without hate because hate is the worst kind of disease.  She implores them to speak up when they see injustice and discrimination and not be a bystander.  The students were moved by her speech and lined up after her presentation to take pictures with her. She was a celebrity of the day on the various social media platforms my students use. I know her presentation is an experience the students will never forget.  As I drove Mrs. Williams home that afternoon, I watched her slowly walk up the stairs to her condominium.  This woman had a strength that belied her diminutive frame.  She took her time walking up the stairs, placing both feet on a step before moving to the next one.  As she reached the top, she turned around and blew me a kiss and waved goodbye.  With tears in my eyes I returned the kiss, waved and walked to my car.  It's days like that one that I know I have the best job in the world.

Mrs. Rose Williams photo by Chuck Barksdale

In My Toolbox - Over

Last year I made a big effort to use Social Media more as a means to promote the library.  One of the early tools I used to help with that was the app Over.  When I purchased it  it was $2.99, but you can now buy it for .99 and it is definitely worth it.  The app allows you to add text and "stamps" to your photos.  There are a TON of fonts available, some are free, but the bundle packs are very reasonably priced.  Features include the ability to easily increase or decrease font size (pinch gesture on the iPad), position (and rotate!!) text on the image with a simple tap and drag gesture, and a variety of font colors.  You can also add "art" stamps, which are artistically designed phrases such as "OMG, "your story matters", etc  These stamps also include design flourishes and a variety of symbols.   All of the stamps can match the color of your font or you can choose a coordinating color. You can save the finished image as a jpg or post directly to various social media accounts like twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.  I've used Over to help create images to use on my Instagram account to promote events or books.  I enjoy pulling book quotes and designing an image that reflects the mood of the book. You can see more examples of how I've used it here. The best part of this tool is its ease of use and that's why it's a popular tool in my toolbox.