Our platoon of intrepid Canadian educators has now reached the halfway point of the 2015 Flemer battlefield tour to the Netherlands and the experiences and learning are continuing unabated...
The sacred spaces of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission graveyards are undoubtedly some of the most memorable places that we are visiting during our tour...
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Canadians In Germany Consider War Commitments
Canadian teachers caravanned into Germany to study the role of Canada in the war from the air by examining bomber command. As we began our day we were faced with very difficult decisions, these were the decisions which faced our leaders near the start of the Second World War. We were asked to consider the role that bombing should take in total war. As teachers we examine these questions while considering our pedagogy and how we might help our students to confront the past in order to gain an appreciation for the challenges that faced the leaders of the era. Today was a fabulous day in many ways. It was stimulating weather being warm and sunny, it was stimulating seeing and learning about more of the fight to liberate the island of Walcheren, and it was stimulating conversation all day about military necessity and humanitarian concerns. That was an excellent focus given what was done on Walcheren Island to neutralize the German forces there when the dikes where blown open destroying life for most of the Dutch people in the area.
Wednesday morning's first stand took place at the Leopold Canal. Standing in the wind and the rain, my colleagues and I began to feel distinctly uncomfortable and damp, and I started thinking about the experiences of the soldiers of the 7th Brigade as they fought to secure the territory in October 1944.
Wind and rain were only a part of their misery... When is it advisable to fight? How does one respond to violence when it occurs in other places, right in front of you or to you? These were some of the questions that our group discussed today as we began the 2015 War and the Canadian Experience Teacher’s Tour of the Netherlands. This conversation began among some of us over breakfast in Amsterdam and continued on our drive to Rotterdam and throughout our day there and eventually among us all as we ended our day in Vlissingen.
In our first student post of the tour, Karter Kok reflects on the inscriptions on soldiers' gravestones.
In the Hollywood movie Hunt for Red October,a potential renegade Soviet submarine commander that wishes to defect to the United States. What ensues is a dog-fight between the two countries to save or kill the commander. It is a story that might or might not have happened in history. Before the story begins a sentence types across the screen "everything you are about to see never happened" and the movie begins.
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AuthorsParticipating educators and high school students share reflections on their professional and personal experiences during and after the program. Some posts link to the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society's blog, Studeamus bellum causa pacis. Archives
August 2015
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