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The News Tribune, WA
Dec 5 2007
Connecting students to events of history
HEATHER WOODWARD; The Olympian Published: December 5th, 2007 01:00 AM
His students have met Holocaust survivors and seen former Nazi
concentration camps in Poland with their own eyes.
Charles Wright Academy history teacher Nick Coddington wants to make
sure the teenagers in his classes will be willing to stand up against
genocide wherever they encounter it. Last Tuesday, Coddington, a
45-year-old Tumwater resident, received national recognition for his
teaching work.
He received the Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust
Education from The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. The New York
City-based foundation assists older and needy non-Jews who risked
their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, the foundation's Web
site states. It also educates teachers and students about the history
of Holocaust and rescue.
`He's really able to connect his students in a very unique way to the
events of history and current events and all with a focus on where
your life is going to take you,' Althea Cawley-Murphree, a Charles
Wright spokeswoman, said of Coddington. `He wants all of his students
to be prepared if they ever have an opportunity to stand up.'
Coddington is in his third year as a high school teacher after
spending 21 years in the Army, where he witnessed the effect of
genocide in Bosnia. When he began thinking about how to design a
20th-century history course for high school freshmen, he wanted
genocide to be a theme that connected the entire curriculum. Doing so
would help teach students about tolerance, cultural awareness and
diversity, Coddington said.
The Washington State Holocaust Research Center in Seattle helped
Coddington develop the curriculum which covers genocides including
those in Armenia, Russia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur and
helped him find survivors who came to talk to his students.
`This is the last generation that will hear the survivors' of the
Holocaust, Coddington said. `These students now will be the ones to
tell the stories years from now.'
Last fall, Coddington attended a weeklong training session at
Columbia University with educators from across the United States and
Europe who teach about the Holocaust. His roommate was from Swidnik,
Poland, and they decided to create an exchange program in which 12
Charles Wright students traveled to Poland to participate in the
annual Holocaust Remembrance Week. The students visited three
concentration campus during their trip.
`I don't know if they really grasp what they've been exposed to, but
I think they will in the years to come,' Coddington said. `We're
teaching them to learn to care about other people, and I don't think
there's anything more noble I could do as a teacher.'
Dec 5 2007
Connecting students to events of history
HEATHER WOODWARD; The Olympian Published: December 5th, 2007 01:00 AM
His students have met Holocaust survivors and seen former Nazi
concentration camps in Poland with their own eyes.
Charles Wright Academy history teacher Nick Coddington wants to make
sure the teenagers in his classes will be willing to stand up against
genocide wherever they encounter it. Last Tuesday, Coddington, a
45-year-old Tumwater resident, received national recognition for his
teaching work.
He received the Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust
Education from The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. The New York
City-based foundation assists older and needy non-Jews who risked
their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, the foundation's Web
site states. It also educates teachers and students about the history
of Holocaust and rescue.
`He's really able to connect his students in a very unique way to the
events of history and current events and all with a focus on where
your life is going to take you,' Althea Cawley-Murphree, a Charles
Wright spokeswoman, said of Coddington. `He wants all of his students
to be prepared if they ever have an opportunity to stand up.'
Coddington is in his third year as a high school teacher after
spending 21 years in the Army, where he witnessed the effect of
genocide in Bosnia. When he began thinking about how to design a
20th-century history course for high school freshmen, he wanted
genocide to be a theme that connected the entire curriculum. Doing so
would help teach students about tolerance, cultural awareness and
diversity, Coddington said.
The Washington State Holocaust Research Center in Seattle helped
Coddington develop the curriculum which covers genocides including
those in Armenia, Russia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur and
helped him find survivors who came to talk to his students.
`This is the last generation that will hear the survivors' of the
Holocaust, Coddington said. `These students now will be the ones to
tell the stories years from now.'
Last fall, Coddington attended a weeklong training session at
Columbia University with educators from across the United States and
Europe who teach about the Holocaust. His roommate was from Swidnik,
Poland, and they decided to create an exchange program in which 12
Charles Wright students traveled to Poland to participate in the
annual Holocaust Remembrance Week. The students visited three
concentration campus during their trip.
`I don't know if they really grasp what they've been exposed to, but
I think they will in the years to come,' Coddington said. `We're
teaching them to learn to care about other people, and I don't think
there's anything more noble I could do as a teacher.'