Time. That’s the word that keeps sticking out to me since I arrived in Germany on Monday. Tsipy Gur said during our orientation meeting, “This trip will feel like 6 weeks and 48 hours all at the same time.” She’s right —…
Thursday, July 20th- Remembrance & Beyond Today we toured the Memorial and Museum at the former concentration Camp Sachsenhausen. Going into the day I felt uneasy, and unsure of what to expect. This was the first time that I had visited a…
“My family has a history of bystanders and perpetrators.” It was our first day of programming for Germany Close Up (GCU). Our guides, young historians who would lead us through 9 days in Germany, shared this part of their background as we…
Below should be my words from todays journey, specifically our visit to Track 17: “Today was the start of a heavier part of our journey in Germany. One of the spaces we visited was Track 17, one of the main train tracks…
This trip to Germany didn’t feel real to me until I arrived at the airport on Sunday evening. It didn’t feel real until I saw my friends, Sara and Emily, surrounded by their luggage trying to get organized. When my friends, absolutely…
Garrette and I are safely home from our Vienna Prague Seminar and want to express our gratitude to Classrooms Without Borders and the amazing group of educators with whom we shared the experience. We also want to thank those of you who…
Every educator, no matter their subject, comes into their profession with the crude outline of a puzzle. There are pieces missing along the border and some sporadic pieces in the middle, but most of it is empty space. As we grow in…
Part 1 ‘Teaching History with Human Connections’Teaching history, we often get caught up in the facts (events, places, etc.). We can make the biggest impact with the memorable stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations. These personal struggles are often what our…
Today’s most impactful visit was the train station memorials. Seeing the imprints of the hands of adults and children along with the statue of a man with 2 children hit me hard. I cannot imagine the desperation the parents and children must…
Their names are listed on the wall or on stones in the ground, on memorials or written in books. In the silence, you can hear their screams for justice, for peace. Their stories are seared into my memory and inscribed upon my…
When I first applied for the CWB Vienna- Prague 2023 teacher study tour, I wrote how I hoped we would be able to travel to Lidice, knowing that it was within driving distance of Prague and Terezín, places that were confirmed destinations…
As an English teacher, I deeply value books and the written word. Books teach us about people and things we may not otherwise ever be able to encounter. Today, standing in the Strahov Monastery Library (an experience only possible with CWB), I…