Have a look at this video I made working with a primary school teacher, Carmela di Gaeta, who first introduced me to the use of ICT tools in education in 2007. Our students were from primary and secondary school. They enjoyed and appreciated John Lennon's evergreen "Imagine".
Oct 13, 2011
Sep 11, 2011
Forget them not, forget it not
Today I have experienced the same emotional impact I felt on September 11th 2001. I am deeply moved by the solemnity and sobriety of the memorial ceremony that is taking place at Ground Zero in New York City at the moment. How wonderful it would be to be there!
The seemingly endless four hours reading of the names of those killed in 9/11 attacks is an example of the extremely profound respect and gratitude for those who died.
Very meaningful is the speech delivered by Donald Rumsfeld, ex-US Secretary of Defence,
on Sky News:
“...The purpose of terrorism is not to kill people it’s to terrorize people, it’s to alter their behavior…. Free people, those of us here in the United States and in other free countries, the very essence of their lives is that we can go where we want, say what we want and do what we wish to do, and that has not changed, we have not become terrorized. We have had to make some adjustments to be sure…… in the main the American people are still the free people they were and that is a blessing because we have not had to alter our lives…
The seemingly endless four hours reading of the names of those killed in 9/11 attacks is an example of the extremely profound respect and gratitude for those who died.
Very meaningful is the speech delivered by Donald Rumsfeld, ex-US Secretary of Defence,
on Sky News:
“...The purpose of terrorism is not to kill people it’s to terrorize people, it’s to alter their behavior…. Free people, those of us here in the United States and in other free countries, the very essence of their lives is that we can go where we want, say what we want and do what we wish to do, and that has not changed, we have not become terrorized. We have had to make some adjustments to be sure…… in the main the American people are still the free people they were and that is a blessing because we have not had to alter our lives…
Aug 22, 2011
The Perspective of Improvemnt and Progress
I‘d like to share an excerpt from the book The Story of the Italians in America - Your Ancestor Series - ( Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York , 1965) by Michael A. Musmanno, a jurist of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and a politician of Italian heritage. The author depicts the hardships and prejudice Italian immigrants faced in the USA but also their achievement. Here is one of the most touching and meaningful pages of his book:
Though the children’s garments were left much to be desired, they were getting the best clothing in the world for their minds. They were being dressed with education in the free schools of America. Itwas only a little country school they attended but the teacher seemed to know everything and the children brought home books that excited even Antonio and Maddalena who dreamed of the day their offspring would take their place with dignity and respect in the life of America, earning wages that would supply them with good clothing, nourishing food and warmth no matter how wintry the winds of life might blow.
Fifteen years later, Francesco, who had become a successful lawyer, was elected judge. On the day he was to be installed in office, Antonio and Maddalena sat in the courtroom, trembling in their ecstasy. It was true and yet it could not be true. The forlorn immigrants who had landed in America many years ago had had many dreams, but even in the rosiest clouds of hope and promise they could not visualize a shining judicial robe for one of their own children. At the moment that Francesco took the oath, Antonio lifted to his lips the folds of an American flag at this side and kissed the nation’s ensign, murmuring at the time some words. That night at home, Francesco said to his father: “Papà, I saw you kiss the flag at the swearing-in ceremony and I know you spoke some words because I saw your lips move. What did you say?” Antonio lowered the large-bowl pipe at which he had been puffing and, as creamy clouds of smoke ascended to the ceiling, he replied: “My boy I said: ”Thank God for a country where even the son of an Italian immigrant coal miner and railroad section hand can become a judge.”
Though the children’s garments were left much to be desired, they were getting the best clothing in the world for their minds. They were being dressed with education in the free schools of America. Itwas only a little country school they attended but the teacher seemed to know everything and the children brought home books that excited even Antonio and Maddalena who dreamed of the day their offspring would take their place with dignity and respect in the life of America, earning wages that would supply them with good clothing, nourishing food and warmth no matter how wintry the winds of life might blow. When the United States went to war with Spain, Giovanni joined Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, fought in Cuba and came back in a blue uniform with yellow stripes and a sombrero pinned up at the side, a dashing hero to two sisters and three brothers. And as the first three sons reached working age, they got jobs on a railroad section gang, toiling close to their dad. The fourth one, Francesco, worked in a steel mill by day and went to school at night, steering his life by a star which pointed to a lawyer’s career. The other daughter, Rosina, became a telegraphist. Antonio and Maddalena offered prayers of thanksgiving for the opportunities of America to live in self-dependence, self-respect and with a continuing prospective of further improvement and increasing happiness. They now had a more substantial home, shaded by a slight mortgage and five fine mulberry trees, the saplings of which had come from Antonio’s paese.
When America declared war on Germany, two of the brothers sailed away to the battlefields of France. One did not return and the mulberry trees spread their melancholy shade for young Raffaelo resting in eternal peace and glory in Flanders Field. Maddalena, with a sob in her throat, placed a golden star in the window. Antonio hung in the next window the American flag. He knew now he was truly an American because the blood of his boy was in the red stripes.Fifteen years later, Francesco, who had become a successful lawyer, was elected judge. On the day he was to be installed in office, Antonio and Maddalena sat in the courtroom, trembling in their ecstasy. It was true and yet it could not be true. The forlorn immigrants who had landed in America many years ago had had many dreams, but even in the rosiest clouds of hope and promise they could not visualize a shining judicial robe for one of their own children. At the moment that Francesco took the oath, Antonio lifted to his lips the folds of an American flag at this side and kissed the nation’s ensign, murmuring at the time some words. That night at home, Francesco said to his father: “Papà, I saw you kiss the flag at the swearing-in ceremony and I know you spoke some words because I saw your lips move. What did you say?” Antonio lowered the large-bowl pipe at which he had been puffing and, as creamy clouds of smoke ascended to the ceiling, he replied: “My boy I said: ”Thank God for a country where even the son of an Italian immigrant coal miner and railroad section hand can become a judge.”
Aug 10, 2011
The Creative Life at Terezin Concentration Camp
 |
| The Terezin Promise |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24i4ZtnCKA4
Terezin was a town near Prague which was walled and transformed in a concentration camp by the Nazis. Hitler wanted the world to know that it was “a city for the Jews” where Jewish scholars, professionals, artists, musicians and political prisoners from several countries were encouraged to lead a creative life and could be protected from the stresses of the war. The Nazis created this façade in order to deceive the world, especially the International Red Cross, into believing that the Jews were safe here. On the contrary, they were not safe at all. TerezinConcentration Camp was only a way station: inmates were to be sent to die at Auschwitz-Birkenau, if ever they survived.
In this singular ghetto the artists exposed the truth of this horrible place through art, poetry and music. Also children were taught to do so.
One of these artists was Friedl Dicker-Brandeis who secretly taught art to hundreds of children in the camp from 1942 to 1944. She saw drawing as a means for children to understand their emotions. In September 1944 she was sent to Auschwitz where she perished the next year, but before she was taken away she gave two suitcases with 4,500 drawings to one of the chief tutors of the Girls’ Home. After the war, the director of the Girls’ Home brought the suitcases with children's drawings to the Jewish Community in Prague. Today the drawings are in several museums.One of the many poems found in Terezin is “Butterfly” written by the inmate Pavel Friedman at the age of 21. It is included in a collection of works of art and poetry by Jewish children who were prisoners in Terezin Concentration Camp . The poem “Butterfly” inspired the “Butterfly Project” of the Holocaust Museum in Houston. This exhibition features 1.5 million paper butterflies; the number symbolizes the number of children that died in the Holocaust.
Fifteen thousand of the Terezin inmates were children of which 132 have survived.
I was also very impressed by “The Terezin Promise: the promise made by a Jewish girl at Terezin, Raja Englandergova, to her teacher, Irena, not to leave the camp without the poems and drawings of the children of Terezin; the real promise was to live and hope and to NEVER FORGET. Jul 19, 2011
Brother Sun, Sister Moon
I successfully engaged primary school students in a Peace Project on St. Francis's message of love for man and nature. The song in the video is "The song of Saint Francis" by Donavan Leitch in the Franco Zeffirelli film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon".
Watch my students pretending to be "God's creatures":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omO_5wLQXX4
Watch my students pretending to be "God's creatures":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omO_5wLQXX4
Jul 18, 2011
Peace Tags
I find working on songs in the classroom very useful to convey ideas and values as well as a means of improving and enlarging students' vocabulary. The use of ICT tools makes learning easier, more enjoyable and helps fix language. Here are some of the works my students created with power point. The students distinguish ideas with a positive or a negative connotation using words of different colours and sizes. Watch a video containing their works:
Make a better world calendar
Have you ever heard of the " Make a Better World Calendar"? Working on a school peace project I found out that there are many very important days in the year. The most meaningful one is " Make a Difference Day". So, remember, each of us has the power to do good deeds to change things.
Do you know other important days?
Do you know other important days?
Excellent book: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Don't miss it. It's profound message will help you live better: the wellspring of happiness is seeking perfection through continuous learning, purposeful deeds and cultivating ones interests and passions. A masterpiece to work on at school.
Watch my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1ShTNh-9k
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