Facing History and Ourselves - New England Feed

“Boston Globe” Features Facing History Executive Director's Transition Plan

EmilyBlackie — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 15:54:51 +0000

press_type:

In the News

February 23, 2014

The Boston Globe has featured Facing History and Ourselves’ announcement of the transition of founding Executive Director Margot Stern Strom to a new role. Strom will transition to President Emerita and Senior Scholar, following the identification and appointment of her successor. Facing History’s Board of Directors has established a search committee and will retain an executive search firm to assist in recruiting the next executive director, whose appointment is expected later in 2014.

“This is an exciting time for Facing History,” Strom said in a recent press release. “It is also a time for me to express my gratitude and deeply-felt appreciation for the opportunity to work in an organization where I could practice, teach, and learn what it means to develop and sustain the pursuit of a democratic community and culture. I am privileged to work with our boards, scholars, and so many colleagues. Their contributions to Facing History, to millions of students and educators, and to the world have been profoundly valuable, visionary, and bold. I look forward to a successful search for, and appointment of, my successor.”

Read the announcement in the Boston Globe.

Read the full press release.

Educators to Represent Facing History at ECET2 Conference

EmilyBlackie — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 18:20:19 +0000

press_type:

In the News

February 12, 2014

Eight teachers from across New England and Los Angeles will represent Facing History and Ourselves at the Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET2) conference in Snowbird, Utah, on February 17–19. The conference will focus on developing individual teacher leadership skills and fostering collaboration between teachers across the United States.

Among the teachers attending is Brittany Burns of Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, Massachusetts. “An effective teacher has to have the ability to see the ‘whole’ kid and to be open to different learning styles, to remember that the most important things we teach usually don’t come from a textbook and usually can’t be measured with an exam,” Burns told the Worcester County Community Advocate. “Most importantly, an effective teacher never stops learning and striving to become better.”

Read “Algonquin teacher to attend national teaching conference in Utah” in Community Advocate.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

Learn more about Facing History's work in Los Angeles.

“Pilot Catholic News” Features Facing History’s Work in Catholic Education

EmilyBlackie — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:20:08 +0000

press_type:

In the News

January 24, 2014

The Boston-based Pilot Catholic News has highlighted Facing History and Ourselves’ work with the Catholic girl’s school Mount Alvernia High School in Newton, Massachusetts. For the past four years, the school has worked with staff from Facing History to bring teaching strategies and resources into social studies, English, and theology classrooms that encourage critical thinking skills and social emotional learning.

“While most of our curriculum is text- or film-based – a second-hand recounting of history – Facing History gives us this opportunity for firsthand storytelling through its print and online resources and speakers. I’ve seen a huge increase in creativity among teachers,” Mount Alvernia Head of School Eileen McLaughlin told Pilot. “These resources helped foster interdependence among our educators. And for our students [Facing History] has launched opportunities for independent learning and has connected them to survivors and other people who lived through important moments in history. The students get to ask questions about how they, generations later, can continue to live this history and learn from it.”

"The work of Facing History and Ourselves enhances the mission of Catholic schools," Associate Superintendent for Academics and Mission Effectiveness at the Archdiocese of Boston Christopher Flieger told Pilot. "Our Catholic schools believe deeply in the idea of social justice. In this vein, one of our goals is to produce upstanding citizens who, with their Catholic values, participate and lead in a democratic community. We want our students to choose to participate and be willing to serve. This program encourages them to be engaged in their communities."

Read “New Course Promotes Catholic Social Teaching” in the Pilot Catholic News (available in print) and in the educational supplement "Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge, and Service," January 24 (available in print).

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

Facing History Featured As Part of U.N. Holocaust Memorial Day

EmilyBlackie — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 20:09:30 +0000

press_type:

In the News

January 31, 2014

A United Nations-sponsored Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony in Washington, D.C., on January 27, featured Boston-based Holocaust survivor and friend of Facing History Rena Finder. Finder and filmmaker Steven Spielberg were keynote speakers for the event. In her keynote speech, Finder noted that her work with Facing History has helped her bring her story to thousands.

Among those who spoke at the event were Samatha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. “As we recall the unmatched horrors of Auschwitz, the Holocaust, and World War II, we must acknowledge our responsibility to remember with honour both those who died and those who endured great suffering, unimaginable suffering, and who survived,” Power said during the ceremony. “We must [also] acknowledge... that remembrance is the beginning, not the end of our responsibility.”

Read “UN Pays Tribute to Victims of Nazi Genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day,” in the Inter Press Service.

Read more about the event on Facing History’s website.

Learn more about Facing History's work in New England.

“Telegram & Gazette” Features Special Opportunity for Facing History Educators

EmilyBlackie — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:57:34 +0000

press_type:

In the News

February 2, 2014

The Worcester, Massachusetts, based Telegram & Gazette has featured two plays from the late playwright Marc P. Smith (A Journey to Kreisau and Karski) which are available to Facing History educators for classroom use. Smith was awarded a $5,000 Artist’s Fellowship grant in 2008 in order to finish the plays. “I really feel gratified to have this community support for my work,” Smith was quoted as saying by his wife, Susan Smith, in her letter to the editor. “I tell people that the city is behind this kind of project.”

Read “Value of Seed Money in the Arts” in the Telegram & Gazette.

Learn more about how to bring the scripts into your classroom on Facing History’s website.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

Facing History in Westborough, MA

EmilyBlackie — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 22:36:51 +0000

press_type:

In the News

January 19, 2014

The Westborough Patch has featured Facing History and Ourselves in a list of "five pieces of information to help fuel your week in Westborough,” highlighting an upcoming meeting of the Westborough's Friends of Facing History club, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Facing History in Westborough schools.

Read “Learn about Facing History and Ourselves”.

Learn more about the Westborough Friends of Facing History and Ourselves.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

Holocaust Memorial Ceremony Features Friends of Facing History Rena Finder, Steven Spielberg

EmilyBlackie — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:19:15 +0000

press_type:

Web Update

January 27, 2014

The United Nation-sponsored Holocaust Memorial Ceremony on January 27, 2014, in Washington, D.C., has featured Holocaust survivor and longtime friend and speaker for Facing History and Ourselves, Rena Finder. Finder and filmmaker Steven Spielberg will be the keynote speakers.

Finder continues to bring her story to Facing History students in the Boston area. Born in Kracow, Poland, in 1929, Finder’s family was forced by the Nazis to move to the ghetto in 1939. With the help of a relative, Finder and her mother found work at a munitions factory run by businessman Oskar Schindler. Schindler saved more than 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factory. He is portrayed in the book and film Schindler’s List.

“Encouraging young people to be more accepting of others and learn from the cruelty that was inflicted on Jews and other minorities during the Holocaust has been my life’s work,” Finder said in a recent press release.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, which was founded by Spielberg following the filming of Schindler’s List.

Learn more about Rena Finder.

Learn more about the Holocaust Memorial Ceremony.

Register today for “The Role of Memorials and Narratives: A Webinar with Holocaust Survivor and Author Dr. Anna Ornstein,” a free webinar, February 4.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

Holocaust Survivor, Facing History Featured in “Boston Globe”

EmilyBlackie — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:02:07 +0000

press_type:

In the News

January 12, 2014

The Boston Globe has featured a recent Facing History and Ourselves’ New England event that brought together nearly 100 community members, educators, and students to hear local Canton Holocaust survivor Janet Singer Applefield and Polish researcher Karolina Panz. After a chance encounter on the internet, Panz, a doctoral candidate at Warsaw University, began a relationship with the Applefield’s as she uncovered photos and documents from the family during the Holocaust. At the event, Panz presented her findings, The Singers Had a Store: A Story of a Family and Their Property.

Applefield’s son, Jonathan, opened the event. “[Panz] has restored a beating heart into the bodies that were our family. The names that were our family now have characters and depth and feelings and motives.”

Read “Canton Woman Comes to Terms with Mother’s Murder in Holocaust” in the Boston Globe.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

New Hampshire Facing History Students Tell Stories of Survivors of Genocide

EmilyBlackie — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:00:50 +0000

press_type:

In the News

November 2, 2013

Class projects by Facing History and Ourselves students at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, New Hampshire, were recently featured in the Valley News. The projects depict stories of survivors and victims of the Rwandan Genocide. The students are part of a Facing History course led by Michael Sisemore, who is teaching the course for the second time.

“People have lives, people have stories,” student Wolf Tillotson told Valley News. “So we wanted to represent this in a manageable way. We wanted each person to have a page and a story.”

Read “Quantifying Inhumanity: LHS Students Consider Genocide,” in the Valley News.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.

NECN Interviews Facing History on Teaching 9/11

EmilyBlackie — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:45:14 +0000

press_type:

In the News

September 11, 2013

New England Cable News interviewed Facing History and Ourselves Program Associate Denny Conklin about how to teach about the events of September 11, 2001. Even at age 16, Conklin knew he wanted to be a teacher and collected as many newspapers as possible from September 12, 2001. As a teacher at Framingham High School in Massachusetts, he used the newspapers with students in his classroom.

“I sat back and I just saw them flipping through the pages, looking at the images, looking at the headlines,” he told NECN. “I realized as a teacher, I had to back off and give them that space.”

Watch “Teaching 9/11 to Kids” on NECN.

Read “The Challenging of Teaching 9/11: One Facing History Teacher Reflects” on Facing History’s website.

Learn more about Facing History’s work in New England.