Virtual Teacher Training Brings Unexpected Opportunities
“Without the virtual opportunity, I would not have been able to attend this conference. I am so passionate about Holocaust education and have found very few professional development opportunities in my area.”
As one teacher attests, moving the annual Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conferences for Educators to a virtual format was an unexpected opportunity to expand its reach.
The numbers also speak for themselves:
- From 251 participants in 2019 to more than 1,000 in 2020
- From 38 states and three countries in 2019 to 49 states and ten countries in 2020
- From teachers in 2019 to teachers and librarians, curriculum developers, and international partners in 2020
One of the flagship programs of the William Levine Family Institute for Holocaust Education, the Belfer conferences gather teachers for close examination of the Museum’s exhibitions followed by discussion and pedagogical training that they can bring back to classrooms across the country. While the virtual experience could not replicate that intimacy, it allowed for dynamic conversations and focused on the digital tools teachers will need during the coming school year.
“I never considered cancelling it,” said Kim Blevins-Relleva, the Museum’s program coordinator for education initiatives. “Even when we come back in person, we will have a virtual Belfer. We always have people on the waiting list and now we will offer them something.”
Museum historians and educators pre-recorded sessions featuring photographs, artifacts, and documents participants would have seen in the exhibitions. They then were able to participate in the live chat while conference attendees watched the sessions. Museum Teacher Fellows moderated separate chats on a variety of topics, such as resources and classroom adaptations. In total, facilitators and participants created more than 60 discussion boards and sent more than 5,100 messages.
And the engagement wasn’t entirely digital — all participants will receive in the mail a copy of the groundbreaking film The Path to Nazi Genocide and a timeline activity they can use in their own classrooms after seeing demonstrations of it online.
“I have been impacted greatly by this conference,” wrote one teacher. “From the sheer multitude of resources, to the strategies, to the presentations I feel like I have been given an arsenal of tools to honor the lives lost and tackle difficulties presented by teaching such a sensitive subject.”
