Volunteer at a food outreach program in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and visit historic sites throughout the country to understand the lasting impact of the Vietnam War on local communities and encourage students to become globally-conscience, action-minded citizens.
I now have a totally different perspective on the Vietnam War. Being able to talk with Vietnamese veterans as well as the younger generation of Vietnamese, both from the North & South, gave me new insight into the war & its legacy. I have been teaching only 1 side of the story! I also discovered that I was teaching the geography of Vietnam inaccurately; now I can share from first hand experience what the mountains, foliage, rice paddies, and coastal areas look/ feel like. Overall, I was humbled.
I will place a much bigger emphasis on perspective and teaching kids to ask, "Whose side is missing here?" I have already integrated this into my classroom as we begin colonial America. What about Native peoples? Women? Enslaved Africans? What are the voices of the marginalized? I also will be looking to celebrate diversity among my students more. Encouraging them to share their cultures, faiths, languages, and personal connections to history breathes life into the classroom!
I lost my wallet on the last day of my fellowship. Luckily I had left my passport at the hotel, along with a spare credit card, but I spent the last six hours retracing my steps & trying not to panic. I never found it, butt everyone I encountered was so willing to help, even though we did not speak the same language. There is good in the world! I also learned to go with the flow. I made it home fine, things could have been worse, & it makes a good story.
Mainly I will be placing more emphasis on perspective, not just with the Vietnam War but in all the history we study. How do other countries view the US? Why? How can this help us understand our history? What about marginalized people? I have a much deeper understanding of the war now that I have seen where it took place and talk to people who fought it on their home ground. A book can only tell you so much, so I will also encourage oral histories and talking with older family members.
My students will conduct oral histories with community and family members about the 1960's and 1970's. Not just with the Vietnam War, but Civil Rights, Women's Movement, the Chicano and LGBTQ movements, the Counterculture. We will then upload these to the National Archives through the Story Corps program.
Outside my classes, I will be running a school-wide food drive to serve a neighboring community around Thanksgiving. My hope though is to let students take the lead and go beyond just collecting cans. I want them to meet the families they are serving and make connections. Having worked in a food outreach program in Vietnam through this fellowship, I now know the importance of authentic encounters and meeting people where they are, in their space.
I felt like a professional. I felt valued. I felt like I was learning what I needed to learn to become a better teacher. This was a journey I would never have taken on my own but now that I've done it, I feel more confident, more energetic, more excited to be with kids every day. I hope to inspire them to travel, to meet new people, and to take risks by stepping outside their comfort zone.
I am modeling life-long learning. I am showing them everyday that we all have to keep asking questions, keep growing as learners, and as humans, and that we experiencing new things is what makes us more empathetic and better global citizens. I am also modeling service. Students should be giving back to their communities and taking on issues that impact not just themselves but our nation and our world.
Personally, I feel much more confident. I traveled alone for more than half of my trip, a red-headed female in a country where I did not speak the language. I navigated city streets, foreign currency, cancelled and delayed flights, and mysterious looking food. I did it! Professionally, I feel much more prepared to teach the Cold War and particularly the Vietnam War. Turns out, I was missing a lot of stuff. Now I know becasue I have been there and have talked with the people who lived it.
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