Reflections

Our last day in Prague is a flurry of activity. In the morning, we visit the Jewish Ghetto, the Hradcany castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Franz Kafka's former residence. The afternoon is dedicated to last minute shopping, and the evening to our going away dinner. We the chaperon's have a rather "Stonehenge" moment as we supervise a trail mix competition, give awards for the trip, and watch on as Mr. Goldwarg serenades us one final time.
On Sunday we wake up extra early, and go from bus, to Prague's airport, to Paris, to Boston. Excited parents and surely customs agents greet us upon our return.
So what of it all? What ways have we, both the students and the chaperons, changed as the result of this trip? On the Friday of our return, many students from the trip wore orange shirts in support of Amnesty International and encouraging other students and teachers to question them about the meaning of the statistics they broadcast. Friday even more Facing History students will travel to the Holocaust Museum in our nation's capital to examine the same issues that we studied on the trip.
Today, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide. What does the future hold for the families of the murdered in Sudan, the displaced refugees from war-torn countries worldwide? Will our community at school respond differently as a result of what we have seen, or will history continue without our influence? Only time will tell for sure.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

A well oiled machine...

Organization is pretty important when you are coordinating forty six students and four chaperons getting a busy after school neighborhood to the airport with tickets, and through security between the end of the school day and five o clock. It helps to have a system for keeping
track of passports:













so that you can safely board your plane:
















and take pictures!














Once we got to Paris, we had a bit of a hike to get to our terminal:

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But we made it to Berlin on time. So far, so good.

Preparations...

Before the trip goes off, we start here. In less than two weeks, we leave for Eastern Europe. Thanks to the planning and connections of Judi Freeman, the fearless leader, we have a big itinerary in front of us. By we I mean myself, four other chaperones, and 46 high school juniors and seniors. As for our itinerary; we are traveling to Berlin, Krakow, and Prague. Along with many museums, memorials, and historical sites, we will be visiting concentration camps in Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Terezin.

Personally, there are a lot of things that I am looking to gain from this trip. Eastern Europe is not a place that I had ever considered visiting, so it will be great to travel there with a healthy mix of first time travelers and more knowledgeable, worldly folks. We are, however, not just heading over to see castles and art museums. We are going to visit sites of some of the worst atrocities in modern history. What will this mean for the worldview of the members of our group? Is this going to be a life changing event for all involved, or will it fade into the past when it is done? The trip is associated with Judi's Facing History course which, according to the program's website, sets out to allow students to link the past to moral choices today. I am eager to be part of this experience, both personally, and as a teacher.

The teacher part of my life has all played out at Boston Latin School. BLS is an excellent school, with wonderful students, many of whom go on to do great things. However, my day to day interactions with students are often very rushed, structured, and incomplete. In order to teach science to my (140ish) students, efficiency is key. Class starts when the bell rings, and every minute is managed. On one hand, good learning science needs structure, and I believe that in order to be effective I need to exercise a certain amount of control over the scope and focus of discovery in my classroom. On the other hand, things can often be lost in the shuffle. Teachable moments may pass because we have to continue class to finish an experiment that is time-sensitive, or because the term is ending in a week. I am looking forward to the trip environment where, although we have very definite places to be, the learning objectives are less definite. Everyone's reactions to what we see and where we go will fall along a vast continuum of reactions and lessons. I am not the most knowledgeable chaperone on this trip for sure, but I am looking forward to sharing in a collective learning experience that is, for me at least, much less clearly defined.

That is, however, in the future. Current pressing needs are packing, purchasing lots of snacks and cold medicine, and practicing German, Polish, and Czech phrases.