I owe my budding interest in history and memorial sites to a fascination with a young woman working in a local museum. We spent hours discussing issues connected to history, among other topics, and this continues until today, when I can call her my wife. We create family histories together; my wife has infected me with her passion for her job, which allowed me to interact with new interesting people, learn about new sites, open up to the past and to use it in my work as a teacher. The omnipresence of history in our family home and having “backstage” access to work responsibilities of a museum professional offers a new perspective on how to teach young people about the past and support them in acquiring diverse experiences. My curiosity about history and the past pushed me to delve deeper into the subject matter and to participate in a number of trainings, courses and self-development programs. It was during my first training on the Holocaust that I realized just how much this topic is marginalized in Polish school education and that something should be done about this. And so it began…
I teach Polish in Secondary School Complex in Łambinowice. I am always striving to enhance my own skills and be open to whatever is going on around me in the realm of education. By participating in various projects and trainings I gain what is most important in a teacher’s job – the knowledge, experience as well as new ideas that can serve educational goals I set out for myself, but also help “infect” others with a desire for change, constant search for the new as well as openness and tolerance.
Given the place, space and history in which I operate and act, I adapt my activism to the resources and capabilities that need to be considered to encourage rather than dishearten my students and local residents from this subject matter. I mostly focus on educating through cultural events I organize at the school and in the local community, as well as through my knowledge and participation in various projects.
