Chartwell Bulletin - Winston Churchill

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E D U C AT I O NSEATTLE CHAPTER• It provides opportunity forstudents to express in their own wordswhy Churchill is relevant as a modelfor leadership and statesmanship today.• It provides The ChurchillCentre with an opportunity to be seenby administrators, educators andstudents as relevant to the next generation,and to the issues we face today.Despite the tiny allotment oftime that available for Churchill inschools today, my experience is thatstudents who have heard of him appreciateChurchill’s wit, his vision and hisprinciples. In an era when politiciansfail to spark the enthusiasm of youngpeople, many students only wish wehad leaders like Churchill to deal withthe tough challenges of the 21stcentury. Certainly we will pursue theyoung people at the local level here inSeattle, but a discussion of perhapshow the national office can assist insome sort of competition or otherevent would be great dialog. I would bevery happy to hear from anyone withany input of further suggestions.SIMON MOULD, PRESIDENTSEATTLE CHURCHILL CENTRE CHAPTERTEL. (425) 286-7364B.C. SOCIETYSimon, I hope you were able toattend the annual banquet of the SirWinston S. Churchill Society of BritishColumbia, (see local news) with LordBoyce, former chief of Defence Staffand First Sea Lord of the BritishArmed Forces, and had a chance tochat with Ian Marshall, our scholarshipcommittee chairman, and with BrookeCampbell, our programs director, whocan explain how we attracted 135students to the 2007 InternationalChurchill Conference. We have noshortage of interest in WinstonChurchill from young people.CHRISTOPHER HEBB, PRESIDENTRT HON SIR WINSTON S. CHURCHILLSOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIAGEORGIA CHAPTERKudos to Christopher Hebb forarranging for so many students toattend part of the 24th InternationalConference. In the United States, withpressures on teachers “to teach thetest,” it is hard to get their attentionfor much depth on Churchill—on anysubject, for that matter. In a conferenceabout a year ago, nearly fifty teachersechoed the same sentiments. One said,“I only can say two sentences aboutWinston Churchill because that’s aboutall that can be on the test.” This is aproblem frequently cited by enthusiasticbut frustrated teachers at our highschool teacher seminarsIf we could establish a means togather ideas along getting youth (andteachers) involved, we might be ablecrack this nut, and will have succeededin our effort “to keep the memorygreen, and the record accurate.”Churchill in AdvancePlacement HistoryRobert S. PettengillWinston Churchill Society of Michiganrspettengill@hotmail.comNOVI HIGH SCHOOL,APRIL 14th— RichardMarsh and I todayconducted a WinstonChurchill teaching uniton behalf of theChurchill Society ofMichigan. It was thefirst of what we hopewill be a series onhistory curriculum witharea schools.A Churchill lessonplan was presented to theAdvanced Placement(AP) European Historyclass as a “documentbasedquestion” (DBQ),which the Board defines as “not to teststudents’ prior knowledge of subjectmatter, but rather to evaluate theirability to formulate and support ananswer from documentary evidence.”The College Board AP EuropeanHistory exam includes an essay based ona DBQ; our Churchill lesson planprovides practice for this part of the test.At the teachers’ direction wefocused on World War II and itsadvent, preparing “documents” whichthe students studied over the weekend.These included excerpts of Churchillspeeches, radio broadcasts to theChicago Tribune, 1965BILL FISHER, PRESIDENTWINSTON CHURCHILL SOCIETY OF GEORGIAFISH1947@BELLSOUTH.NETUnited States, diaryentries of Alanbrookeand Goebbels, Timemagazine’s “Man of theYear” article, politicalcartoons, and excerptson the “Grand Alliance”from works of SirMartin Gilbert.President Kennedy’sspeech conferringhonorary U.S. citizenshipon Sir Winston in1963 was the documentwe used to introduceChurchill’s oratory(“The incandescentquality of his words illuminatedthe courage of his countrymen”).Our classroom session startedwith an overview of Churchill. Thestudents then spent forty-five minuteswriting their essays, followed by a halfhour’sgeneral discussion. At teachers’request we spoke about appeasementand empire—themes the class had justbeen discussing. We added aspects ofChurchill’s life, including his dismissalfrom office after the war, and his “IronCurtain” speech at Fulton in 1946.Churchill himself had the last word,with his recording of his first speech asPrime Minister, “Blood, Toil, Tears andCHARTWELL BULLETIN 17, PAGE 10
Sweat,” introduced with informationabout the crisis of confidence andchaos on the Continent whichcombined to force a change in Britishgovernment.There is a real challenge to getChurchill included in course material,which contains much structure, and asyllabus that is not easily altered.Structure begins with the MichiganDepartment of Education, is added atthe regional level, then adjusted by theschool and the individual teacher. Allthese varied inputs are crucial.In communicating the Churchilldimension, it is important first toidentify willing teachers. A form letteris not as likely to produce results as arepersonal contacts. This is how wesucceeded at Novi High School.Once identified, try to get theteacher’s ideas of what material fits hisor her course. If time is spent onChurchill, it must fit the content andflow of the course—WSC cannot justparachute in! Major themes can besuggested, but the teacher must settlethe amount of time devoted to classparticipation, lecturing, and studentpreparation. A “canned” or off-theshelflesson may not fit all situations.Churchill content is not the challengebecause there is something in his storyfor every course. The real challenge iscreating the timing, theme and formatthat suits the individual class.The DBQ format worked well atNovi and should have appeal to otherAdvanced Placement teachers. Itcontained both an educational and apractical purpose. It does not requireoutside facilitators, except perhaps forpurposes of verisimilitude. Perhaps ageneric lesson plan may emerge thatwill fit most teachers’ needs, subject totheir individual considerations.We believe we accomplished ourobjective in this Advance PlacementEuropean History Class. Participatingstudents will take more notice whenthey hear the name of WinstonChurchill in future. In some, we hope,this will lead to a lifelong interest.As a next step in this projectanother appeal will be made within theMichigan chapter for direct contactswith selected public and privateschools. This initial experience willhelp guide our approach. The projectrequires personal effort and follow-up.But for credibility it requires more thanjust two people: it needs the imprimaturof the Michigan chapter andThe Churchill Centre. ✌LOCAL & REGIONALARIZONAPHOENIX, MAY 12TH— Celia Sandyscontinues on her chapter toursponsored by The Churchill Centre forlocal members. Larry Pike was her hosttonight on the first stop or her latestvisit, attended by eighty people, onlyhalf of whom were CC members—sohopefully we’ll see some new membersfrom Arizona.Celia, whose three-partdocumentary television series “ChasingChurchill” appeared on PBS in August,was interviewed for a radio showhosted by Congressman J. D.Hayworth. Larry Pike estimated that40,000 people were tuned in whenCelia’s production aired.The attendees were eclectic. Onegentleman had an uncle who was apallbearer at Churchill’s state funeral. AMontreal woman recalled both SirWinston and Celia being in that city.”Professor Roger Adelson, an eruditeChurchillian attended from ArizonaState. Larry Pike expressed gratitudefor the many kindnesses of the PrincessHotel, and to Cherri Kisel of StrategicHotels & Resorts for her efforts on ourbehalf. Celia’s next stops were Denverand Chicago. —Mary DwyerBRITISH COLUMBIAVANCOUVER, JUNE 13TH— The Rt. Hon.Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Societyof British Columbia held its annualInvoking memories of the classic speech by LordMountbatten in Western Canada over forty yearsago, Lord Boyce, former First Sea Lord and currentLord Warden of the Cinque Ports addressedthe Churchill Societies of British Columbia,Edmonton and Calgary this year.banquet tonight, with 109 attending.Admiral the Lord Boyce gave a fascinating,well prepared and deliveredspeech which will appear in a futureedition of Finest Hour.Michael Cecil Boyce, BaronBoyce GCB OBE DL, is a cross-bench(non-party) member of the House ofLords, a former First Sea Lord andchief of Defence Staff. Since 2004 hehas held Churchill’s and the QueenMother’s former honorary title, LordWarden of the Cinque Ports.Focusing on Churchill and theNavy, Lord Boyce concluded:“Winston Churchill had a realfondness for his country’s maritimeheritage. He appeared to be a goodsailor and enjoyed being at sea—hecertainly made good use of theAdmiralty yacht Enchantress during hisfirst time as First Lord although, as hewrote to his wife, being on a ship inbad weather was like being in prisonexcept with the added chance of beingdrowned!“I believe he felt it was a specialprivilege to be in charge of the RoyalNavy, which held a special place in hisheart. It probably provided a mixtureof pleasure and indigestion and hewanted to do all he could to see it >>CHARTWELL BULLETIN 17, PAGE 11
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Chartwell Bulletin - Winston Churchill

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