by Brian McCall, instructor of history and political science at Interlochen Arts Academy
This past summer, I flew to Europe for the first of three tours. I was taking the trips as part of a sabbatical I received from Interlochen Arts Academy. The goal of this tour was to visit historically significant sites along the way including the battlefields of the First and Second World War, along with many other locations. I plan to use the trip as the basis for a new World History course on the social and cultural history of the 20th century. Although, I have previously lived and worked in Europe, this experience gave me a rare opportunity, for a high school history teacher, to deepen my own understanding of history and enrich my classroom discussion.
My wife accompanied me on this first trip, which included the Netherlands, the Rhine River region of Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and Northern France. In Amsterdam, we set out to explore the city on foot, finding the old neighborhoods and strolling along the canals. During our stay in Amsterdam, we visited the Rijksmuseum, which houses works by many Dutch masters, and the Van Gogh Museum. We also visited the Anne Frank House, which will be a focus of my lessons on the Holocaust.
Driving a rented Fiat, we headed to Germany. It was amazing to visit the settings where events and ideas from my World History curriculum unfolded. We stopped at some World War II locations like Arnhem Bridge and eventually arrived in Moers, Germany where I once taught. We also visited several historic sites including Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Trier, and Xanten, an excavated Roman city. We then traveled to Luxembourg, followed by the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, the location of the Battle of the Bulge.
I had visited many of these locations before as a tourist. This time, my intent was to incorporate the experience into lessons – and there was a wealth of material in every direction. By the end of the trip, we visited over thirty battlefields, cemeteries and war memorials from both conflicts, including Verdun, the Somme, Meuse-Argonne, the Marne, Vimy Ridge, “The Sacred Way,” the Normandy beaches and Flanders. As a history educator, I have always had an interest in the World Wars, but it was a profound, personal and emotional experience to walk around where these tragic events transpired.
But it was not all battlefields; we also fit in three days in Paris and Versailles. By August 10, as we flew home, we were already planning the next leg of the sabbatical, a summer 2010 trip to Spain, where Roman ruins, Moorish castles and more history await!
About Sabbaticals at Interlochen: Interlochen regularly grants sabbatical leave to a small number of full-time faculty for professional growth through study, travel, writing or artistic exploration. “The personal and professional growth that results from sabbaticals directly benefits students, other teachers and the institution as a whole,” explained Ted Farraday, vice president of education at Interlochen Center for the Arts. “We know that professional growth is one of the major contributors to strong teaching and increased quality of the learning experience for students.”
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