Unsung Heroes: How It All Began

Several people have asked how I first became interested in projects of unsung heroes. It dates back to 2008. I was attending the National Milken Educator Awards. My husband and I sat by a wonderful man, Norm Conard. He was friendly, wise, and thoroughly enjoyable.



The next day, I attended a session about project based learning. The thing that first caught my attention was the mention of a woman, Irena Sendler, who rescued Jewish children from the Polish ghettos during WWII. I have always been interested in WWII and inspirational stories of heroic people from that era. I had never heard of Irena before, so I decided to check it out. The gentleman giving the presentation was Norm, my table mate, from the night before. I heard the remarkable story of Irena Sendler. I heard about Norm’s experience as a teacher using project based learning and the young students from Kansas who brought this amazing story to light. Irena’s story is a touching one and there is absolutely no way I can not to justice to it in a single blog entry so please visit http://www.lowellmilkencenter.org/ and click on the link “Life in a Jar”, under highlighted projects. You will also want to visit www.irenasendler.org to learn more about the project and this once unsung hero (no longer unsung, but definitely a hero). 



On display at the Lowell Milken Center



Back to the story of how I came to be involved in my heroes’ project…Those who know me well know that my enthusiasm and passion often get the best of me. I have a tendency to jump right in before thinking things through. Immediately after the session, I marched up to Norm and explained how I would love to do work with project based learning and unsung heroes in my own first grade classroom. The next school year, my students and I did some work on a minor scale. Norm and I stayed in contact.



Megan, Don, myself, Drew, and Norm

Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, Kansas



During the summer of 2010, I had the awesome opportunity to visit the Lowell Milken Center in Kansas as a fellow. Visit www.lowellmilkencenter.org and click on the Fellows and Interns link for more information on this invaluable program. I spent a week at the Center learning about project based learning, primary research, and unsung heroes. I was hooked. I returned home with greater passion and enthusiasm than before I left. My colleague, Mrs. Tautkus, had her fire lit and we are continuing this remarkable journey together. Check out her Snowball post at www.mrstautkus.blogspot.com for some insights into our adventure.

And the rest is history in the making…