Teaching US History in Okinawa this year opened up an amazing opportunity to study World War 2 through the lens of the Battle of Okinawa. The War in the Pacific is often glossed over in textbooks with a page or two, the Battle of Okinawa often given no more than a small paragraph. Living on this island, however, we are reminded of the war everyday just with the presence of the American military bases. Several times a day, fighter jets will stream over my classroom, interrupting my conversations. Battlefields and museums litter the small island. 
Our guiding question for our World War 2 unit was "Why is it so difficult in modern society to determine one's enemies and allies?" To finish up our unit, I decided to take my 11th graders to the Haebaru Underground Army Hospital. In the days prior to the trip, we read the accounts of the Himeyuri Junior High and High School girls who served as nurses during the war and were mobilized to work in this cave during the fiercest fighting. Their journal entries and memoirs are haunting, and yet the experience of descending into the cave hospital was described by one of my students as "terrifying" and "dark and creepy". That same student also wrote that living and working in that cave would have been her worst nightmare. 
For a generation that knows very little of the horrors of war, I am especially grateful for the opportunity to share this experience with my students. It was an opportunity to reflect on the blessing and gift of peace and a reminder of the grit and perseverance of humanity.
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I love giving students the opportunity to use their various giftedness and talents in history class and I am always amazed by the result. Last week was no different as I had my 11th grade American History students read an excerpt from A Farewell to Arms so they could use Hemingway's words to recreate a scene from World War 1. Each of their pictures was so unique in style and interpretation. Here is part of what they read and a few samples of student work.
"The wounded were coming into the post, some were carried on stretchers, some walking and some were brought on the backs of men that came across the field. They were wet to the skin and all were scared. We filled two cars with stretcher cases as they came up from the cellar of the post and as I shut the door of the second car and fastened it I felt the rain on my face turn to snow. The flakes were coming heavy and fast in the rain."

Earlier this year I ran across a British television called "How the Other Half Lives" which documents two families over a few months as they seek to understand and even alleviate the gap between rich and poor. One of the earliest advocates for reforms in turn of the century urban tenements was a man named Jacob Riis, the author of the book by the same name as the modern television show. Riis sought to expose the horrible living and working conditions of the urban poor during the Gilded Age. 
This week in class I used a Library of Congress museum exhibit to share about the life and work of Jacob Riis with my 11th grade American History students. They analyzed photos, read letters, and reflected on Riis' work to prepare to answer their essential question for the unit: Is society better off because of the advancements in technology? It was great to see students feeling empathy for impoverished children from more than 100 year ago and considering the difficulties that immigrants face today.

It seems that over the course of my ten year teaching career there have so many trends in education that it is often difficult to remember them all. One common thread throughout all of these trends has been a desire to increase student engagement and involvement in the learning process. Trend words such as "flipped learning", "experiential learning", "inquiry based learning", and "cooperative learning" in the end all have the same goal in mind... active learners who are working together, trying things, making adjustments, figuring out answers, and communicating those in effective, real-world ways. Those are the skills that our students will need to be successful in life and the workplace and so it is fitting that our education trends move in that same direction.
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This month we had the opportunity to host two Japanese junior high school students in our home for a weekend homestay. The goal was to help them improve their English, of course, but not in the traditional way. For two days, we took them out to eat, we talked about our families, they had to figure out how to communicate with us to solve problems, we went to the aquarium and talked about the different animals, we played cards, and cried as we hugged goodbye. Did they learn any new English grammar rules or better their pronunciation? Probably, but even more importantly they learned the nuances of living with an American family, they learned the subtleties of a native English conversation, and they built the courage to communicate even when everything doesn't come out perfect. 

​Trend or not... what are we doing in our classrooms that is promoting active, eager learners who are engaged with their environment and community. 

If you've ever spent time in Japan, you are more than likely familiar with the Anpanman character and the 58 other characters that make up this very popular and long-running show. (You can check out a list of characters from the show HERE if you like). The character was created by Takashi Yanase, a Christian Japanese man. The main character's face is a bean filled peace of bread (ankopan) who works as a superhero and often saves people by sharing part of his face (the bread). 
With the elections in America coming up in just a short time, I was trying to find a creative way to approach teaching my 12th grade government students about the election and campaign process. Most of my students are not American citizens and trying to find a way to make the unit relatable and relevant was challenging- but Anpanman to the rescue! This week my students will be running for the President of Ringo-no-Kuni (Apple Country)- a fictitious land from one of the Anpanman episodes. They must develop a platform  based on their character, give a stump speech, create promotional materials, participate in a debate, and cast a ballot for their favorite candidate all based on their research of how they feel their character would answer big questions about the role of a President, the role of citizens in a democracy, and the distribution of benefits and burdens within a society. Students are in groups of three, each playing a specific role of either the candidate, speech writer, or campaign manager. 
The stump speeches were filled tears, laughter, bad costumes, and evidenced a great deal of creativity, thoughtfulness, and engagement in my students.

As a mom and teacher I am always looking for evidence of growth and learning in my children and students. I can spend hours planning creative formative and summative assessments that will hopefully tell us how much my students have learned. While all of this is undoubtedly important, I have been reminded this week of the importance of learning to learn. I have seen evidence of this in my classroom this week, both with my own daughters doing their homework after school and with my students. The evidence of someone learning to learn is much less obvious and often doesn't even receive a grade yet it is key to becoming a lifelong learner.
Most days my daughters come to my classroom after school to do their homework and get a snack while I clean up, prepare for the next day, and help students who stop in.  This week I was struck by the scene of my 7 year old stopping to take the time to help explain how to make tally marks properly to my 5 year old. When my 9 year old couldn't think of the Japanese verb for "learn" she didn't stress or even ask me... she just Google'd "learn in Japanese word" and kept on moving. Learning to be helpful and collaborative, learning to find answers and use technology... learning to learn.
This week my 11th graders are writing their first primary source document analysis essay. A few weeks back I introduced them to this idea of "bucketing"- in a few words, the idea that you group documents with similar themes/ideas together in a bucket and give that bucket a name. After doing this with all of the documents, it becomes quite a bit easier to write a thesis and organize one's thoughts. Yesterday during our document reading/annotating day one student asked me, "Would it be okay Mrs. Roe if I drew buckets on my outline?". Learning to think critically, learning to analyze and synthesize, learning to ask questions... learning to learn.

Growing up my dad would take us on trips to different historic places so that we could learn about history at a deeper level and experience it for ourselves. I can remember one particular weekend adventure began with a Friday night showing of the movie Gettysburg. Saturday morning began with a drive to Gettysburg, PA with the soundtrack to the movie playing in the car. We climbed to the observation point the Union army had used and we charged through the field toward Little Round Top as if we were the Confederate army. We found "real" bullets left behind in the ground and had lunch in a cafe in front of where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. I had the joy of taking my own daughters on a trip to Gettysburg last summer and even managed to help them find their own "real" bullets.

It's not possible to experience all aspects of history in this same way, but the next best thing is by experiencing history through the words of someone who was actually there. Historical analysis of primary source documents is one of the most valuable experiences we can give our students because it requires them to interact critically with a text or image in a unique way. Not only do they need to do a close reading of the document, they also need to apply inferential reasoning to consider the context and authorship and read between the lines. This year in US History one of my main priorities is to develop and build the critical thinking skills of my students, specifically when they are analyzing a historical document. This week we looked at journal entries of Columbus, Pizarro, and maps of Iroquois settlements. As we interact with documents, maps, pieces of artwork, I hope that they can make some lasting connections and experience some of the joy that I felt as a child.

This year at CAJ I was privileged to be the Middle School Student Council sponsor. Now I may have volunteered for it because it got me out of cafeteria duty, but as I look back now on the experience I feel very blessed and fortunate to have had this unique opportunity to help a small group of students develop their leadership, communication, and organization skills. As a middle school group of 13 students they were able to raise over 140,000 yen (about $1200) to support monthly 3 children through Compassion International. They organized, planned, and executed 3 pep rallies and a movie night/talent show. It's always such a blessing as a teacher to get to see students use the gifts that God has given them to better their school experience and serve others.