Maggie,
Congratulations on a job well done with your inspiration report! I found it to be visually engaging and very well thought out. You thought of every detail! I recently had an unfortunate exchange with a friend much younger than myself and I realized she knew almost nothing about the Japanese internment camps during World War II and from this ignorance stemmed the inability to grasp how these types of government programs (holding centers at the Mexican/American border) will continue happening if not enough Americans are properly educated about their own country’s past. Perhaps if this person, who has now been relegated to an acquaintance, had participated in this program you have designed she would have had the building blocks necessary for understanding her country’s past wrong doings and how they affect programs and attitudes today.
Beautiful presentation!

@maggierogers This is so good! I live in El Cerrito, and have been meaning to pay a visit to the Rosie the Riveter park. I think a field trip to get first hand stories of Japanese internment camps is such a powerful way to connect real life experiences with the school curriculum, and is a wonderful way to increase empathy amongst the students. I am looking forward to checking out the documentary in your report, and paying a visit to the site. Thank you!

Thanks so much @jeanna! How fun to have been at the opening of the park! I think it’s a hidden gem in the Bay Area. Great views too!

Thank you so much @matilda! Although the subject matter is not pleasant, I enjoyed the discovery aspect of looking for supportive resources. So thank you for sharing some more amazing resources! Looks like I need to make a trip down south to JAMSJ — both in person and now online.

Hi @maggierogers, This was a really good presentation. Great idea to link the history of Japanese American internment with your school’s reading program through a field trip! This brings history to life for the students and shows that learning can happen anywhere, not just in a library or classroom. I’m excited to see how this helps students enjoy their reading and learn more about history. I hope this is a project you are able to get off the ground.

@maggierogers this is such a fantastic report! I admire how much attention you put towards creating a developmentally appropriate and curricula aliagned lesson that brings in so many rich sources. I hope this lesson happens, because I think it will spark a great critical conversation and lots of inquiry!

Thanks Jeanna! I felt the same way which I why I decided to put it in the blog. It’s a lot of fun and I’m so glad you clicked on it!

I love the idea of giving prompts like this to parents or grandparents — getting the ball rolling, especially if you have a talkative one who wants to share, but even if you have reticent ones who may still want to be seen. Imagine collecting all your aunts and uncles stories together to pass to their grandchildren before they start to pass or dimentia starts to set in. We tend to think of this in terms of the elderly, but we’re all going to get there someday — might as well start the project now.

@maggierogers oh, this is absolutely wonderful. I am going to save this because you pulled out such interesting questions from all of those references. Thanks for this. I also really like the picture of the bench.

Hi, Maggie! I wanted to echo the value of Storyworth – what a fantastic website! I remember all the way back in high school, as part of one of my English classes we had to contribute a recording to Storyworth and I had such a fun time creating and listening to other classmates’ contributions. The question “What is the first major new story you can remember living through as a child?” is such a fascinating and powerful one, and I think does a lot of work to help engage with people in a different and challenging way and to gauge where people are in their lives beyond just age. I was only two years old at the time, but I do vaguely remember when 9/11 happened by sheer virtue of the fact that we were on vacation in Florida with my grandparents and weren’t sure how we were going to get home to California when the whole country froze from the trauma. Answering that question opens up so many others – “Tell me more about vacationing in Florida,” or, “Tell me more more about your grandparents,” or, “So, how did you end up getting home?” Thank you for this wonderful post!

I love the idea of creating an autobiography of sorts by answering questions. Simple questions can trigger great memories. I lost my mother a few month ago, and quite often, I think of a question I want to ask, and then realize that opportunity is gone. How I wish she had participated in something like Storyworth or StoryCorps to keep her memories alive. Thank you for sharing.