As part of an experimental month-long “biography unit,” in which seniors choose someone else’s life to read about, this student has already drawn inspiration from her chosen book, and, in the process, shown me what’s possible when young adults play a significant role in designing their curriculum. This post reinforces my belief that with their help, we can find ways for high school seniors to make meaningful use of their waning weeks.
In the preface of the book, the authors give an explanation as to how they came to write the biography. Initially, they said, they were just going to write a book that included information about her missionary work, only to realize that she was a book unto herself. In 1968, they attended a church service in Germany. The authors listened to two speakers who had both been prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. They note that the first speaker, understandably, showed the deep pain that he not only felt then but continues to feel in his everyday life. The second speaker, Corrie, they said, “radiated love, peace and joy”, words that I would not have imagined to describe someone who had gone through what someone like herself had. The authors, so taken aback by her spirit, stayed behind afterwards and talked to her. They learned that Corrie was spending her…
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