Southern California - We are proud to announce the 2007 Margot Stern
Strom Teaching Award recipients from Southern California. In its
inaugural year in Los Angeles, the award, named after the
organization's founder and executive director Margot Stern Strom,
honors outstanding educators of Facing History and Ourselves and
supports those educators in the implementation of projects related to
the work of Facing History.
The selected teachers will receive funding, ranging from $625 to $2200,
to implement their innovative projects, ranging from opportunities for
teachers to work with their counterparts in Russia, a new resource
library for a small learning community and a student memorial project
in response to Japanese Internment during WWII. Educators in southern
California from public and private schools who work with children in
grades 6-12 and who have taken at least one Facing History and
Ourselves seminar, workshop, or online course were eligible to apply.
In the coming months, Facing History will honor more educators across
the United States and abroad thanks to the support of the Fialkow
family.
This year's recipients are:
Meredith Louria: Santa Monica High School, 9th grade Facing History yearlong course
Bringing Facing History to Russia
Meredith Louria will introduce Facing History resources to teachers in
Russia and create lessons on stereotyping, we/they, and propaganda
drawn from the histories of the Holocaust and the Cold War. She will
also partner with U.S. and Russian teachers to plan an online symposium
for their students to share perspectives of identity, community and
participation.
Mary-Claire Little, Amanda Mejia and Kati Stazer, Belmont High School Visual Arts and Humanities Academy, 9th grade interdisciplinary
Facing History Library
This team -Mary Claire (English) Amanda (Geography) and Kati (Art)-of
ninth grade teachers received funding to start a Facing History
resource library. They currently teach a six-week Facing History based
interdisciplinary unit with plans to expand to a semester-long course.
"Starting the library will help us institutionalize Facing History as a
defining feature of our small learning community. We intend for the
role of Facing History to endure beyond the careers of the individual
teachers committed to teaching it, and our on-site library will help us
realize that vision," said Little.
Christine Kiphart, Turning Point School, 8th grade humanities
Pilgrimage to Manzanar
Christine Kiphart's students will explore justice and memory by
studying the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. After
visiting Manzanar, students will create memorials in response to the
continuing legacy of this history.