Six Triple Eight

 During World War II (1945), a unit of the Women's Army Corps delivered for the troops.  The Army battalion of African American women played an important role to boost the troops' morale.  After the Normandy invasion logistical problems were common.  Processing mail for soldiers whose locations changed daily was an arduous task.  This battalion began with 855 members and grew to the thousands.  The women worked round the clock in eight hour shifts.  They managed and processed approximately 65,000 pieces of mail per session. They cleared a massive back log of mail stored in airplane hangers.  The women of the 6888th slept in separate barracks and ate in separate mess halls from the rest of the troops.  They came home to no parades, no speeches, and no recognition.  (Funny Note: There were 7,500 Robert Smiths to identify).  Interview with Lena King, WWII Vet, 6888th Mail Battalion.

Swimmy

Heroes use their strength and their knowledge.  Teaching Tolerance published an article entitled Not All Heroes Fight discussing the concept of using a famous children's book as a springboard to discuss heroes. Swimmy is a great model for discussing how people and society can work together to achieve a goal. I wrote a similar article about using children's books and movies to illustrate social studies concepts

Making Afterschool Cool

 I was recently interviewed for the Making Afterschool Cool podcast.

Listen to my interview here.