Writing Project Alumna Chosen to Attend Summer Program on Holocaust Education

Lisa Darden
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Lisa Darden

A Van Buren High School teacher affiliated with the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project based at the University of Arkansas has been selected to participate in the 2013 Memorial Library Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education.

Lisa Darden, who works as an instructional facilitator and English classroom instructor, attended the 2004 Invitational Summer Institute put on by the writing project and served on the steering committee for the writing project from 2008 through 2010. Educators who complete the invitational become teacher-consultants and share what they learned with other teachers in their schools.

Darden will attend the two-week Holocaust education seminar in New York in July with teachers from middle schools, high schools and colleges throughout the United States.

“I have been interested in the Holocaust since 1978 when, as a high school student, I watched the four-part NBC Holocaust miniseries on TV,” Darden said. “I recall being both shocked and mesmerized. Since then, I have read numerous books – fiction and nonfiction – on the subject.”

Darden said she considers her classroom a laboratory for life.

“Writings from and about the Holocaust are a natural fit for educating my students on man – both the best and the worst aspects of human nature,” she said. “This year, when my honors sophomore English class was reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, I discovered that, although my students could recite statistics from the Holocaust, it seemed they did not understand the cultural aspect of the Jews and their long, long history of persecution. I realized then that I wanted to do more than teach facts and statistics. Somehow, I wanted my students to grasp the gravity of this event on an individual and personal level.”

Darden acknowledged the role of the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project in helping her develop her philosophical approach to teaching.

“The writing project has given me the confidence, courage and knowledge to teach in an innovative manner and to seek out continual professional development opportunities,” she said.

Teachers are being asked to prepare for the seminar by reading selected books and participating in an online discussion about them and creating a 45-minute curriculum presentation. They are also asked to prepare an annotated bibliography of between five and 10 books or films they find especially useful or important to their teaching and thinking about the Holocaust and social justice.

The seminar is put on by Holocaust Educators Network. The course content includes talks by Holocaust seminars, workshops by scholars and artists, a day at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a focus on experiential learning, interactive pedagogy and writing. Participants become adept at dealing with difficult material and discover how writing, dialogue and inquiry can help motivate students toward social action, according to the Memorial Library’s website.

Contacts

Heidi Wells, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
479-575-3138, heidisw@uark.edu

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