Projects

The Children of Willesden Lane: A Video and Web Teaching Resource
2005 to 2006

Lavine Production Group, in collaboration with CCT, has produced a video and web resource for Annenberg/CPB to assist teachers in using The Children of Willesden Lane in their classrooms. The book, 'a memoir of music, love, and survival' written by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen, tells the story of a Jewish teenager who was brought to England as part of the Kindertransport -- the movement that rescued 10,000 children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland before the start of World War II.

The new video and web resource is designed to complement the teacher's resource to the book, already in use in middle schools and high schools around the country. The creators of the teacher's resource -- Facing History and Ourselves and the Milken Family Foundation -- are providing guidance in the development of the video and web materials, which are intended for use by teachers of English, social studies, music, visual art, theatre, citizenship education, and/or interdisciplinary studies. The video and web resource contain three types of material:

  • Teaching Examples (for viewing by teachers)
    Documentary video programs show experienced teachers in middle and high school classrooms using various elements of the Teacher's Resource, in a variety of subjects. Teachers discuss how they approach various themes in the book, and students will talk about how the book affects them.
  • Author Profile (for viewing by teachers and students)
    In this short documentary, viewers get to know author Mona Golabek. She is seen writing, practicing the piano, performing, recording her radio program, making music with family members, celebrating the Jewish Sabbath, etc.
  • Recital (for viewing by teachers and students)
    Mona Golabek was be filmed giving a piano recital in a school, during which she read from The Children of Willesden Lane and share memories of her mother. At the end of the recital, Ms. Golabek answered questions from students in the audience.

Funded by Annenberg/CPB, the Teacher's Resource is distributed on the Annenberg/CPB Web site.

http://www.learner.org/series/cowl/

STAFF