A great way to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day!

[GIZMO8Z]

Hi guys, sorry it took so long to respond to each of you individually!

You have perhaps the greatest job ever, to be able to combine your job and your interests must make working so much enjoyable! And it must be great to teach history to those who are genuinely interested. If my plans to make a career at the Finnish Defence Forces fail, history teacher is my number two dream job!

Most of the time I think you are right. Even though my main interest in history is WWII, I really do appreciate every era and event of history, and nothing beats that moment when the light bulb switches on in a student's head and I realize they "get it" and are interested. Yesterday, I had literally 100 pairs of eyes fixed on me. I saw the shock and amazement in their eyes when I described things to them... for example, I started off the lesson by asking the kids if they knew that the U.S. was at war right now. A few claimed that they knew that we are at war in Afghanistan, but most didn't raise their hands. I stated that the current war doesn't really impact our lives unless we have friends or loved ones who are currently deployed overseas/ if they had been wounded/ killed in action... I feel this is the fundimental difference between WWII and the current conflict. I then went on to describe Total War, and how during WWII, every aspect of life, and every person contributed to the war effort... not only by fighting, but also by working in factories, rationing/ collecting scrap, serving as nurses, serving as aircraft spotters and air raid wardens, etc., etc.

I passed around a small collection of War Ration booklets that belonged to local people... Kids today are major consumers and wasters. If they have the money, nothing restricts them from going to the mall and buying the latest electronic gadget or the latest trendy piece of clothing. It was a shock for them to realize that back then, people had to get by with the bare minimum. They were also amazed to see the civil defense helmet that I paired with a civilian gas mask that belonged to a little old lady who lives right down the road from the school!

As you can imagine, the much more exotic items... especially my TR and Japanese items were also a big hit.

Two individual student reactions stand out to me. The first came from a girl who lived in Japan and was familiar with Japanese culture. When she handled the helmet and flag I passed around, I could tell that she was on the verge of tears. I told her that the flag was probably a SeaBee reproduction, but she laid it flat on her desk and ditifully scribbled down the Kanji anyway. She said she recognized some of the symbols and will try to translate the rest for me.

Another memorable response came from a blind student I worked with last year. She said before the lesson, she didn't really care about WWII. She then stated that after being able to handle the items, she now likes and appreciates WWII a lot more!

I noticed the student with the recently found civil defense helmet, twas a great find.

Besides Doug's Wall O Helmets, the Garbage Finds thread is my favorite on the forum. Keep up the good work

Regards,
Corey

Thanks for the response and kind words, Corey! I couldn't resist taking the OCD helmet and pairing it with the civilian gas mask that I have!

The garbage thread is one of my favs, too! Every day is a new adventure and I never know what I will come home with!

Nice example of how history can be enjoyed by the younger generation, who generally are sadly far too interested in rubbish like face___k and the like nowadays. Well done!

Thanks, Tiger! The point you made is one of the reasons why I decided a while ago to do these hands-on presentations! Students are hit with so many distractions these days... especially their cell phones. Constant lecture and notes bore them... I figured that some hands on stuff would force them to put down their cell phones and peak their interests. For the most part, I have been correct!

I should add that while I pass around the objects, especially the helmets, a lot of the kids will put them on and snap pictures of themselves with their cell phones.

[GIZMO8Z]

Here are some more pictures that I snapped with my phone:

This student is planning on enlisting in the U.S. Army. When he heard that I was giving the presentation today, he came in during his lunch period to check everything out:
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Here are pics showing an overview of all the items that I brought in:
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