| Photographs from Ms Matsubara's Visit | Finding a Specialist | Distance Learning |
In May 2000 we were honored to have Miyoko Matsubara as our specialist. Ms. Matsubara was 12 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She was less than a mile from the epicenter. She spoke as a "specialist" on the survivors of the atomic bomb. To prepare for her visit students read one or more of the following books:
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After following the ASK process of reading, journal writing and question development, students had the opportunity to hear Ms. Matsubara tell her story (Miyoko's Story in PDF). After her talk the students ask Ms. Matsubara questions comparing the book they read to the real life experiences of Ms. Matsubara. We had two sessions that day. In the first session we had students from Eisenhower Elementary at the Macomb ISD and students from Walled Lake at the Oakland ISD. The two groups were connected via compressed video using ISDN lines. In the afternoon Ms. Matsubara visit Beck Elementary and Crothers Elementary was connected via video. The next day Ms. Matsubara talked to education students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Star of the Sea Middle School in Grosse Pointe. |
Photo: Detroit News - Detroit News Article |
How Miyoko Matsubara and I Got to Know One Another
This story may seem a little long, but I think it illustrates how you can find people to help you with your ASK Program. Dr. Kettel told me about a wonderful book called Sadako. It is the true story of a young girl dying of Leukemia caused by radiation from the atomic bomb. It is truly a moving story. When I was much younger I had read Hiroshima by John Hersey. Hiroshima follows six people in Hiroshima for several weeks following the dropping of the atomic bomb. It is a very good book. We discussed how we would like the students to read these books and to interview a survivor from Hiroshima.
Neither Dr. Kettel or I knew anyone who knew a survivor, so I turned to the Internet. I sent an e-mail to several listserv asking if anyone knew of a survivor who would be willing to be interviewed. I also started searching the web. Within the first week I found two possible resources. One was from a teacher whose husband worked for the Japanese Consulate in the United States and the other was through a web search. I found Miyoko Matsubara's web site.
I read through Ms. Matsubara's web site and found out that she had used a Picture Phone to talk to students in Japan. I immediately e-mailed Ms. Matsubara about connecting to us via video. After several e-mails over the next month, Ms. Matsubara told me that she would be traveling to the United States in May and would be willing to come to the Detroit area to talk to our students.
Ms. Matsubara, Dr. Kettel, and myself are happy that the Internet existed, because without it we most likely would never have found each other.
