Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference: How Stakeholders Can Support Teacher Quality

In 1999, four high school girls in a small Kansas town were given the chance to collaborate on a year-long project for National History Day.  Their teacher, Kansas Milken Educator Norm Conard (KS '92) , gave them a magazine clipping about a woman in Poland named Irena Sendler, who had saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.  They were told that the project should, among other things, "extend the boundaries of the classroom to families in the community, contribute to history learning, teach respect and tolerance, and meet their classroom motto: 'He who changes one person, changes the entire world.'" What they created has indeed changed the world, as Norm explained in a a "Models of Quality" presentation at the Milken National Education Conference.

Norm's students wrote and performed a play about this remarkable woman, which they called "Life in a Jar."  In doing the research for the play, the students sought Irena's final resting place, and were surprised and excited to find that she was still alive in Warsaw, Poland. They began a correspondence with Irena Sendler, with help from a student from the local college who could translate Polish. In the meantime, they continued to perform the story of her heroic efforts, which they have now performed almost 200 times, not just in Kansas, but across the U.S. and in other parts of the world.  They have appeared on CNN, CSPAN, NPR, CBS, and in numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

The tiny town in which they lived—Uniontown, Kansas—had no Jewish students, but the town was so moved by the project that it sponsored an Irena Sendler Day, and raised enough money to send the girls to Poland to meet this remarkable woman.

The project has since mushroomed.  This year, Norm Conard was awarded the first-ever Irena Sendler Award, which was set up to recognize one Polish teacher and one American teacher each year who make contributions to the process of tolerance and repsect.  Those wishing to nominate someone may contact nconard@terraworld.net.

Norm encourages his listeners to set up projects which deal withunsung heroes.  He tells us, "Teaching tolerance and respect can be a part of any curriculum.  Topics might include:

• Facing predjudice
• Respecting everyone
• Racial and ethnic awareness
• "We are all different, but the same."
• The human race
• How can children build bridges?
• A sense of pride in heritage.

Those wishing to enter the National History Day project competition are invited to request materials at www.nationalhistoryday.org.

Empowering students.  Allowing them to take charge of their own learning.  In the care of a gifted educator, the concept can grow into unforeseen beauty and understanding, creating lifelong learners with a feel for unselfishness.

For the complete story of "Life in a Jar," visit the official Irena Sendler Web site at www.irenasendler.org. 

For more information on the Conference—including the agenda, bios of Conference presenters, photos and videos—please visit the Milken Family Foundation Web site at www.mff.org.

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