Exploring IWitness - August 2015
Teaching with Testimony Across the Curriculum
SCHOLAR'S PERSPECTIVE
In this excerpt from PastForward, Stephen Smith, Executive Director of USC Shoah
Foundation, explains how teaching with testimony across the curriculum provides educators
with a wealth of opportunities to actively engage students to learn from the past, explore
contemporary issues and be prepared to contribute to their future.
“More Than a Sum of Its Parts”
PastForward - Spring 2011, p.5.
Though each testimony in the archive was provided by an individual who recounted their life
history, the collected body of testimony is not limited to historical research. As testimonies
are collected and compared, as themes are explored and comparative study done between
single testimonies or groups of testimonies, insights that we did not expect emerge. As
researchers from the humanities, social sciences, and even the hard sciences mine the
information, new questions are raised on topics that vary widely, such as experiences related
to resistance, gender, geography, or religious belief. Often we find that the witnesses in the
archive have answered questions they were not directly asked. The archive is actually much
greater than the sum of its parts: the many themes it addresses are an interdisciplinary
treasure
trove
for
researchers
and
students
alike.
EDUCATOR EXPERIENCE
“IWitness offers a personalization factor like no other resource I’ve ever utilized”
Rhode Island English language arts teacher Steve Flynn assigned his students the IWitness
activity, “1936 Olympics: Race, Politics and Civil Rights,” and each student constructed his or
her own video in IWitness featuring testimony of a survivor with whom they felt a connection.
Flynn said students loved this activity because it gave them a voice not only in revealing what
these historical events meant to them, but also in tapping into their own understanding and
experiences. He added, “They [my students] can readily associate with the notions of
hardship and resolve in addressing these in their own lives and seeing how survivors dealt
with it in theirs. There is an immediate transfer of life lessons to our students they can apply
in meeting challenges in their own lives." Through meaningful engagement with testimony in
IWitness, Steve was able to see its value for teaching and learning across his curriculum to
touch on issues that are important to his students, such as racism, diversity and overcoming
adversity.
UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
August
20th
Webinar
-
Teaching
With
Testimony:
Pathways
to
IWitness
Educators
will:
*Become
familiar
with
the scope
of
IWitness
educational
resources
*Understand how to integrate testimony into their curriculum
August 27th Webinar - Teaching with Testimony from the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide
Collection
Educators
will:
*Become familiar with the testimonies from the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide
collection
in
IWitness
*Understand how to integrate testimony into their curriculum
Please feel free to forward along to any other educators that may be interested.
NEW
FEATURE
The Activity Library debuted its brand new design this week. This comes as a result
of our market research with over 400 IWitness educators. We invite you to explore
the library’s new features, which enable you to refine your search for activities by
type, subject area, author, academic standards and closed caption filters. You will
also be able to favorite your preferred activities and share them with your
colleagues via an integrated email feature.