Students walk in footprints of history
Teacher’s innovative WWI lesson plans earn her spot in special program
Students in one of Susan Quintana’s history classes at Pojoaque Valley High School were haggling over the details of the Treaty of Versailles one day last week, nearly a century after the deal’s original negotiators pulled it together at the end of World War I.
Teen delegates representing the U.S., Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan traveled from table to table — as if moving from nation to nation — to discuss the treaty, while Germany’s contingent was left waiting in the hallway, much like their real-life counterparts back in early 1919.
This interactive, “you-are-there” approach to teaching a facet of World War I gave the students a deeper understanding of the treaty’s relevance and how it impacted not only the geographical borders of Europe but also the rise of Nazism and the start of World War II — as well as events that are still playing out today, Quintana said.
“By doing it this way, they have to own the material,” she added.
Quintana, a veteran teacher of 29 years — more than 25 at Pojoaque Valley — said it’s important for teachers to keep pushing themselves, learning new ways to access information and engage students.
That’s why she applied earlier this year to participate in a new professional development program offered by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and a nonprofit organization called National History Day. Lynne O’Hara, director of programs at National History Day, said Quintana was one of 114 teachers nationwide, chosen from 300 applicants, to take part in Legacies of World War I. Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten of Farmington also was chosen.
Program leaders were looking for educators who had an interest in learning more about World War I and demonstrated they had the potential to reach their students with impactful lessons, O’Hara said.
World War I “may be understudied in some classes,” she added. “… What we’re trying to do is help teachers not only see the events of World War I but also its impact throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. While the 100th anniversary of the end of the war is an impetus, I think there’s a strong teacher demand for more information about it.”
The teacher program includes a series of four webinars in which experts on the war speak about reasons for its cause, the role of women, the part African-Americans played and what the experience was for soldiers fighting in the trenches.
There is also an online discussion board where participating educators can share suggestions for incorporating new material into the classroom.
For Quintana, a native of Indiana who developed an early taste for history, Legacies of World War I helps fulfill her long-held desire to keep learning new aspects of her profession.
“Teaching for almost 30 years, you lose a little bit of confidence in your ability,” she said. “This allows me the opportunity to learn new material and connect with other teachers. … It gives me the chance to learn about something I didn’t know. And it’s giving me a new way to teach.”
She’s slowly incorporating ideas from the program — such as using primary sources like newspaper stories and political cartoons from the World War I era — into her classroom.
Quintana’s students enjoy her hands-on approach.
“She’s an amazing teacher,” junior Cynthia Caballero said. “She brightens the room when she walks in, and the way she teaches the material makes you want to learn.”
Junior Santiago Romero agreed. “She teaches in a very authentic way,” he said. “She makes sure that everyone is on track with the topic and is getting the material. She doesn’t leave you behind.”
Quintana’s style has inspired at least one of her students, Cassandra Caballero, to become a teacher herself.
“When I see her teaching us, connecting to us, treating us with respect, the way she runs her classroom with Socratic seminars and having us involved in the negotiations [for the treaty], she makes me want to be like her,” Caballero said.
“A lot of the people involved in the war were important,” Caballero added, “and she’s inspiring us to become important people in life.”