Dr. Doyle Stevick speaks to a group of educators on Monday at “Growing Global Citizens: Holocaust Education and the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework,” a professional learning event organized by DCMO BOCES. (Submitted photo)

ONEONTA - DCMO BOCES hosted a day-long professional learning opportunity for educators on Monday, focused on ways to align the teaching of a challenging topic with a core standard of the New York State Portrait of a Graduate. “Growing Global Citizens: Holocaust Education and the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework” featured several guest speakers and a presentation panel of local educators, and was held at the SUNY Oneonta Camp facility.

The event attracted teachers of a number of different subjects and grade levels from across the state.

Dr. Doyle Stevick, an internationally recognized scholar, was the keynote speaker. Dr. Stevick is the founding Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina, the Official Partner of the Anne Frank House for the United States and Canada, and Professor of Leadership, Learning Design and Inquiry. A two-time Fulbright Fellow and a visiting scholar at the Anne Frank House in 2012, Dr. Stevick has written a number of books, including four on Holocaust education. He spoke to the educators about Holocaust education as a tool for fostering global citizenship, combating antisemitism, and promoting active civic responsibility. He emphasized moving beyond simple historical facts to address the deep moral and social implications of the Holocaust, ensuring it serves as a "call to action" against contemporary prejudice and dehumanization.

The group also heard from Matthew Rozell, a retired Hudson Falls social studies teacher who became an award-winning educator, author and organizer of an internationally-acclaimed collaborative project with students that led to reconnecting Holocaust survivors rescued from a transport train near the end of the war with their American liberators, demonstrating the lasting power of student-centered, inquiry-based learning. One of his books, A Train Near Magdeburg, is being made into a movie. Micha Tomkiewicz, a Holocaust survivor and retired Brooklyn College/CUNY Physics and Chemistry professor, was the third train survivor to contact Mr. Rozell, and he spoke with the group as well, joining the event by Zoom and answering questions from the educators.

The “Microburst Presentation Panel” featured Downsville English Language Arts Teacher Ellen Pringle, Otselic Valley Social Studies Teacher Jenny Osowski, retired Norwich Social Studies Teacher Susan Fertig, and SUNY Oneonta Secondary Education Professor Dr. Nicole Waid.

This professional learning event was organized by DCMO BOCES Instructional Support Services, led by Mental Health Coordinator Amanda Hoover and Coordinator of Staff and Curriculum Development Christine Newell. DCMO BOCES Instructional Support Services provides a full schedule of professional learning opportunities –visit www.dcmoboces.com/page/instructional-support-services to find out more.

- Information from DCMO BOCES