Marching Down Freedom’s Road: Walking in Her Shoes -June 22, 2026
by Mike Lyons I have taught about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott for nearly 3 decades. I love telling the story that intertwines Dr. King and Rosa Parks. In fact, despite telling it for so long, I still get excited to tell after all these decades. I did not know how I would […]
Marching Down Freedom’s Road: Inspiring Students to Create Meaningful Change – June 22, 2026
by Dan Zelenski As a high school social studies teacher, I teach my students to be lifelong learners, to question all that they read and hear, and to examine historical events and actions through multiple perspectives. I also use history to help students understand that they have the power to create meaningful change. This seminar […]
Marching Down Freedom’s Road: Humanity, Legacy, Courage- June 22, 2026
by Maria Marchionna We began the day by visiting the John Lewis mural and discussing his contributions to the Movement – including the many times that he was arrested for non-violent acts of protest. We also discussed a poem by Dr. Williams Holmes Borders and the concept of humanity in the Jim Crowe era. The idea […]
Monday, June 22: By Camila Camacho Gonzalez
One of my main goals for this seminar is to deepen my understanding of Jewish history, but also to grow both personally and professionally through the stories, experiences, and lessons of others. I believe there is so much to learn from people whose lives and experiences have had such a profound impact on world history. […]
Marching Down Freedom’s Road: “Through the Looking Glass” – June 21, 2026
by Dr. Kimberly Davidson, Duquesne University I enrolled in Classrooms Without Borders’ Marching Down Freedom Road seminar through my position as a professor in the educator preparation program at Duquesne University. My aim is to take what I learn and incorporate it in my courses. Before traveling south, to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, our […]
Day One: Here You Shall Rest – By Chad Henneberry
As Bus 2 rolled across a bridge over the shallow Vistula River, our tour leader Haim explained that in the upcoming three-hour visit to the Polin Museum, we would learn 1000 years of Jewish history in Poland. As a history teacher more used to teaching a millennia of history over an entire school year, it […]
Jewish Life – By Chris Roe
Today was a day about Jewish life. Not Jewish death. At the POLIN Museum, I learned that before World War II, Poland was home to more than 3 million Jews—about 10% of the country’s population and the largest Jewish community in Europe. For nearly 1,000 years, Jewish life flourished here. There were schools, synagogues, newspapers, […]
Response of Profoundness to Warsaw – By Travis Lear
While the vast thousand-year history of Polish Jewry is breathtaking, it was the final, postwar gallery that truly shook me. Walking into the exhibit covering the Soviet era after World War II, we confronted a devastating truth: the horror did not cleanly end in 1945. To realize that pogroms and violent anti-Jewish riots broke out […]
Through the Windows: Finding Hope inside Warsaw’s Last Synagogue – By Brittany Lear
Outside, Warsaw is loud, vibrant, and moving at a joyous pace. Just minutes before, our Classrooms Without Borders cohort was navigating a bustling grid of modern life; past families laughing on sidewalks, the chatter of crowded outdoor restaurants, and the ambient hum of a thriving European city. It is a beautiful scene of a metropolis […]