The trench poets hooked Mindy Wright first, finding their way into her English classes and ultimately leading her to Kansas City, Mo., where she could lose herself in the history of the Great War.
The Lincoln Southwest High School English teacher used the works of World War I soldiers -- especially Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est†about the poison gas used on battlefield -- in her British literature classes.
"... Gas! Quick, boys! -- an ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime ... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.â€
“Frankly, I think it’s an amazing poem,†the veteran English teacher said. “It was these poems that got me really thinking about World War I.â€
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It's why she landed on that time in history when she wanted a way to move her general literature classes beyond “Black Elk Speaks†and the Oglala Sioux's grief at being unable to fulfill his vision.
She shared with her students how many Native Americans fought in World War I, just 30 years after Wounded Knee. How they were well-respected and vital to the military for their work with horses and as scouts and code-talkers. That was well before the famous Navajo code-talkers of World War II.
Enter fellow Southwest English teacher Mark Gudgel, who heard in passing about Wright’s interest in the first world war but mostly was impressed by her passion for teaching.
He thought she’d be the perfect candidate for a new fellowship at the National War Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.
“She’s got decades of experience," he said. "Every time she takes on something new, she just pours herself into it.â€
Gudgel, who has been a fellow at the Imperial War Museums in London and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., created the National War Museum fellowship with Laura Vogt, the museum’s curator for education. The two came up with the idea as a way to promote education about the Great War as the centennial approaches.
“The goal of the teacher fellowship is to equip some of the brightest teachers in America with the resources to make the causes, events and consequences of World War I relevant and meaningful to students,†Vogt said.
Wright was one of eight teachers across the nation selected to spend four days at the museum in June.
“It was a fantastic week,†she said.
The fellows – both English and social studies teachers -- studied art and music from World War I. They heard lectures on various aspects of the war.
They played amateur curators with original artifacts, inspecting them to determine whether they were truly from World War I or some other time in history.Â
“It was a great experience,†she said. “I’d love to have our kids do something similar.â€
Wright came back loaded with ideas, books, posters and CDs.
One of the biggest problems for her and other fellows will be finding time to use the insight they gained, she said.
Museum staff encouraged Wright to teach a section on J.R.R. Tolkien, who framed much of his work around the war. But tight budgets mean Southwest's fantasy literature class was cut because it didn’t have the minimum 25 students enrolled. The same thing has happened to the British literature classes, Wright said.
That means it will be well into the year before she can use what she’s learned with her general literature class.
But Wright said she'll encourage other teachers to apply for the fellowship, and perhaps combine lessons centered on the war with history teachers.
“I try really hard in my classes to combine history with literature,†she said. “I want kids to get a feel for the times stories are set."Â