July 1st 2019
July has finally arrived and we are still recovering from our NYC journey. However, time waits for no wo/man and there are things we have to do. Just like every other morning, we head to Valentine Hall for breakfast but going to the Mead Art Museum where Emily Potter-Ndiaye, Head of Education, is waiting for us, is a novelty. Thanks to her amazing workshop, Teaching U.S. History through Arts, we were able to see how works of art could be used to interpret and provide a deeper insight into history and social studies in general. First she took us to a beautiful room with a bookshelf filled with vibrantly-colored covers that attracted our attention. It turned out the names on the book covers belonged to the 2nd and 3rd generations of people who fought for civil rights. Using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) and paintings by various artists, we tried to find the answers to the following questions: Who is America? How has it been changed throughout the course of history?
What awaited us next was Joanne Dobson and The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Joanne juxtaposed Walt Whitman with Emily Dickinson, comparing and contrasting their lifestyles and public personae, emphasizing that as a man, Whitman was in a better position to be himself whenever and however he wanted whereas Dickinson, as a woman from an influential family, had to refrain from showing her true nature. Consequently, we plunged into an in-depth analysis of Dickinson’s poems celebrating such a transcendent mind.
The better part of the afternoon was dedicated to our presentations. Zahid Ullah, as a Basic Science teacher, decided to try his hand at Human Rights Education; Annastasia Munyati introduced us to Migrations while migrating us around the room J; Szu-Ping presented an amazing lesson plan on Young Adult Novel: A Study on the Landry News; Pongpol took us around the world with The Influence of American Popular Culture in Other Countries and Li Jian provided a comprehensive project on Geography and Culture of America comparing the cultures of China and the USA. The presentations were concluded with a group project A Broader Vision of Citizenship and Civil Society in the US, done by Sylvie, Ioanna, Aynura and Tatjana on human rights, civil rights, women’s rights and freedom of religion respectively.
Our last day in Amherst will finish with another round of presentation and a farewell lunch. Have no doubt that other adventures wait for the SUSIans just around the corner!
Tatjana Jancic
Serbia
SUSI Educators at Amherst 
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