One of USC Shoah Foundation’s biggest champions in Michigan is educator Sean McBrady, whose passion for IWitness resulted in a workshop for teachers in his district last week.

McBrady first learned about IWitness in 2008 when he co-taught 9th grade world history and geography with a colleague who introduced him to USC Shoah Foundation and its testimonies and educational resources. The response from their students was “powerful,” he said, and they were excited to see IWitness continue to grow over the years.

Currently, McBrady is the K-12 social studies consultant for Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD) in Macomb County, Mich. In his new role, McBrady helps bring best practices to classrooms through teacher trainings, workshops and meetings. He estimates that more than 30,000 participants attend workshops and meetings on education-related topics hosted by MISD each year.

In February 2016, McBrady was invited to meet with USC Shoah Foundation Associate Director of Education – Educational Technologies and Training Claudia Wiedeman, Ph.D. As part of USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Detroit program, Wiedeman wanted to discuss ways to introduce Detroit-area educators to IWitness.

By the end of the meeting, they had set a date for an IWitness educator workshop at MISD just two months away. McBrady said he knew immediately that teachers in his district would be eager to learn how to use IWitness in their classrooms.

McBrady said IWitness appealed to him for its emphasis on diversity, its engaging digital format, and the fact that it is available online at no cost to teachers. He also knew that students in MISD would be able to connect their own personal stories to the universal themes of the testimonies.

“The video testimony is clearly so powerful that I knew teachers would see the potential for engaging students both intellectually, and emotionally,” McBrady said. “As teachers we are always looking for those powerful experiences to offer students to make an impact on their brains to encourage interest, attention, and eventually memory and learning.  The video clips in IWitness can do just that.”

“The video testimony is clearly so powerful that I knew teachers would see the potential."

The three and a half hour IWitness workshop was held Tuesday, April 19,  and led by Lesly Culp, head of education programs at USC Shoah Foundation. McBrady said it was a huge success.

In their evaluation of the program, teachers praised the easy-to-use tools in IWitness that they can incorporate into their classroom activities right away, the diversity of the activities, and possibilities for teaching concepts like social action.

“Teachers came in expecting materials or online resources, and left excited to share with their colleagues a powerful new avenue for engaging students,” he said. “And not just about topics such as genocide or Holocaust, but about using testimony as evidence and teaching speaking and listening skills, historical thinking skills and other important skills and concepts.”

McBrady is already planning a three-day IWitness “summer institute” for Macomb-area eductors August 15-17, 2016, as well as one-day follow-up trainings for teachers unable to attend this training.