NEW BETHLEHEM PA by Cecelia Harmon (RVO) – Dr. Joseph Harmon, a teacher at Redbank Valley High School, has been selected as one of 30 teachers for The National WWII Museum Summer Teacher Institute. Dr. Harmon has been teaching at RVHS for 15 years. He teaches 8th grade civics, 10th grade history, and a Holocaust elective available to senior high students.

The National WWII Museum is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides having impressive exhibits and galleries, The National WWII Museum seeks to provide valuable resources for students and teachers around the globe through their distance learning and outreach programs.

The purpose of the Summer Teacher Institute is to give educators from around the country a unique opportunity to learn about World War II and how to bring that knowledge back to their students, other teachers, and communities. 

The selected teachers will be given two intensives. The first intensive will be this summer at the museum’s headquarters. Participants will be given seminars and learn how to address WWII in the classroom. Next summer, the second intensive will take place in Munich, Germany where teachers will be able to visit the sites of WWII. One of the stops include Dachau, a German concentration camp, where over thirty thousand lost their lives. In between the two intensives, each teacher will be responsible for planning and leading their own professional development workshop for other teachers.

Dr. Harmon expresses his excitement about what this opportunity will bring to his classroom:
“Over the course of my career I have typically taught a section of 10th grade U.S. History II on top of my usual 8th grade Civics course load. This year, I was able to teach the Holocaust elective on top of those other two courses. What I will learn and the experiences I will gain travelling to the southern part of Germany will reap countless benefits for both my U.S. History and Holocaust course.  World War II is a major piece of my 10th grade curriculum. This year’s WWII Teacher Institute is of specific interest as it focuses on “liberation and legacy.” I’m most excited to visit Dachau concentration camp. It was the first camp used by the Nazis to imprison political prisoners, and later Jews. We are going to further learn and hopefully visit the site of the Nuremberg Trials where Nazi war criminals were brought to trial.  The agenda for our week in southern Germany has not been established, outside of our visits to Munich and Dachau.”

Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Harmon!

For more information about The National WWII Museum, please visit their website: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

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ABOUT:
Redbank Valley School District provides education services for the 165 square mile area of New Bethlehem and Hawthorn boroughs, and the townships of Mahoning, Madison, Porter, and Redbank of both Clarion and Armstrong counties.

MEETINGS:
The Redbank Valley School Board meetings the first Monday of every month at 7pm at the High School Library.

CONTACT:
For more information about the Redbank Valley School District, please call 814.275.2426 or visit RedbankValley.org/pg/biz/redbank-valley-school-district