History Teacher

DAN KIMBER As a history teacher, I spend the better part of a year trying to convince my students that studying the past is important. If our ignorance of it does indeed condemn us to repeat it, then it is only right that we hold forth its lessons for the next generation who will soon be making their own history. In light of this, I find it most interesting at the end of the year to ask my students to use their knowledge of the past (and their fixation with the present)

While students take a break from their studies, local history teachers are using the summer holiday to brush up on a particularly relevant chapter in history. Working in conjunction with Facing History and Ourselves , an international education organization that seeks to address modern-day moral dilemmas using lessons from the past, Glendale Unified is hosting a five-day seminar examining the historical implications of the Armenian genocide. “The fact that we are able to host this workshop is awesome,” said Nancy Witt, a teacher specialist who helped facilitate the event this week.

Janine Marnien LA CRESCENTA -- Florence Bonetto remembers the rural La Crescenta she and her family moved to in 1919, one with fruit orchards and Ding-Dong Dinky trolley cars that went up and down La Crescenta Avenue. No one had gas hook-ups at that time. Her family was the first in the community to have a gas-powered home. "The first time we had a meal cooked on a gas stove, we joked that it was burnt offerings," Bonetto, 95, said. "My mother was used to cooking on a kerosene stove."

Gary Moskowitz NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Twelve-year-old Daria Slezko didn't used to care much for learning history. But the eighth-grader at Wilson Middle School has found a new interest in learning U.S. history in Kris Kohlmeier's class this year. And Kohlmeier's enthusiasm for teaching history is has not gone unnoticed. Kohlmeier is one of 12 teachers selected from 63 applicants in Los Angeles County awarded a 2001-02 Teacher of the Year award last week.

Judy Seckler Marlin Miller, a literature and history teacher at Montrose Christian Montessori School, whipped his fourth- and fifth- grade students into shape for a class production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." While the middle school version of the bard's comedy was shorter, the play's language was left intact for the students to enjoy. Kids loved the humor and the sword fights throughout the play, Miller said. Much foraging at vintage shops helped the class create a slew of funky costumes.

Hoover High School teacher Dan Kimber cannot understand why the military did not want to participate in a debate regarding military recruitment policies ("Recruitment up for debate," April 21). It is an ugly thing to watch grown men argue with children and Kimber cannot understand why they declined. There is an old Buddhist saying, "sorrow comes from desire." In Dan Kimber's "Education Matters" column he sounds very disappointed by the refusal of the military to accept his invitation.

Gary Moskowitz GLENDALE -- Alexandra Ellis, 14, an eighth-grade student at Toll Middle School, has been named a United States National Award winner in history and government. Alexandra will appear in the United States Achievement Academy's official yearbook, published nationally. The academy recognizes less than 10% of all American middle and high school students annually. The academy selects its winners based on recommendations of teachers, coaches, counselors and other qualified sponsors.

NORRUP ? PERRINO Christina Norrup of New York and Anthony Perrino of Wall, N.J., have announced their engagement. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Barbara and Lee Norrup of La Crescenta. She is a graduate of Monte Vista Elementary School, Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School. She is an actress, singer and dancer and is starring in the Broadway show ?Young Frankenstein.? She was previously in ?The Producers? on Broadway. The groom-to-be is the son of Francis and Betty Perrino of Holmdel, N.J. He is a graduate of Kean College in Union, N.J., and has a bachelor?

Alecia Foster SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Jonathan Wenn was understandably excited when he first heard that someone had anonymously nominated him for a teaching award. But Wenn really didn't have any expectation of winning. After all, he had been teaching for only about four years, he said. "I thought, 'Well, they're probably going to pick someone with 20 to 30 years of experience,"' he said. Wenn was wrong. The seventh- and eighth-grade Roosevelt Middle School history teacher was recently named one of 35 honorees in The Walt Disney Co.'s American Teacher Awards.

Robert Chacon A Glendale High School history teacher who was nominated by the Don Jose Verdugo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been recognized as California's Outstanding American History Teacher. Nancy Witt, who teaches American history, will be in Sacramento today to receive her award from the group on the opening day of their statewide convention. The Daughters of the American Revolution is a national volunteer organization composed of women that promotes patriotism and American history.