Delco Teacher's WWII Research Published In Online History Lesson Plan

Garnet Valley High School teacher Amanda Reid-Cossentino, who spent the last year researching the life of Corporal Robert S. Quirk as part of American Battle Monuments Commission's Understanding Sacrifice program, had her research regarding Quirk and America's potential use of chemical weapons in WWII published on the American Battle Monuments Commission website as a social studies lesson plan.

Reid-Cossentino’s lesson plan is based upon a year of research using primary and secondary sources.

"I was very interested to learn about the Chemical Warfare Service as I investigated the life of my Fallen Hero, Robert S. Quirk," Reid-Cossentino said in a press release. "In my research, I came across the terrible tragedy that unfolded at Bari Harbor, when a German air attack released mustard gas that had been secretly stowed on the SS John Harvey."

Accompanying Reid-Cossentino's lesson plan is a Fallen Hero profile for Corporal Robert S. Quirk.

“Although Corporal Quirk's death received little attention back in 1943, the sacrifices made by Quirk, and men like him, are what have ensured the gifts of liberty and freedom we enjoy today," Reid-Cossentino said. "It is our duty to honor the Fallen Heroes of World War II and remember their sacrifices.”

Reid-Cossentino said she hopes students will walk away with a vivid understanding of the high cost paid by all Americans during this war.

Reid-Cossentino’s eulogy for Corporal Robert S. Quirk and lesson plan, titled The Bari Incident: Chemical Weapons and World War II, were published on ABMCeducation.org on Veterans Day.

Designed to reinvigorate the study of World War II in American classrooms, the lesson plans from the Understanding Sacrifice program are multi-disciplinary. Using primary and secondary sources, videos, and hands-on activities, students are transported from the modern-day home front to the war front of the past.

The 2016 Understanding Sacrifice program is a partnership between National History Day, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.

The year-long professional development program is centered around Fallen Heroes of World War II who are buried or memorialized at an ABMC cemetery in Southern Europe or North Africa and tasked 18 educators as with traveling through southern Europe and walking in the footsteps of history.

Using their research, teachers created lesson plans, Fallen Hero profiles, and eulogies now published on ABMCeducation.org.

"This partnership with the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University has allowed us to take 18 extraordinary teachers to battlefields and memorials of southern Europe,” National History Day Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn said in a press release. “Their unique experiences can now help teachers around the world bring history to life with the materials added to ABMCeducation.org.”

Each lesson plan is based on solid scholarship, integrated with Common Core Standards, and makes use of interpretive materials provided by ABMC. They are accompanied by research about fallen heroes of World War II who are honored at ABMC cemeteries in southern Europe and northern Africa.

Watch Reid-Cossentino's eulogy to Corporal Robert S. Quirk here:

The American Battle Monuments Commission commemorates the service, achievements, and sacrifice of U.S. armed forces and administers 25 overseas military cemeteries, as well as 27 memorials, monuments, and markers.