Monthly Archives: January 2010

Miep Gies overleden

Yesterday Miep Gies died. She would have turned 101 years old next month. Gies was the last surviving member of the group that helped Anne Frank, her family and the other four onderduikers.

I visited the Anne Frank huis in Amsterdam on May 17, 2000. The concentration camp in which Anne and Margot Frank died in March 1945, is quite close to André’s parents place; we visited Bergen-Belsen in December 2007 and passed it on our bike trip last summer. Today, none of the original buildings of the concentration camps remain, but the train station is still there, and a white line along the side of the road marks where the prisoners were forced to to walk from the train to the concentration camp.

What makes a great teacher?

The Atlantic: What Makes a Great Teacher? by Amanda Ripley.

“For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data.”