♪♪ ♪♪ >> Tauriello: Car pulls up to the side to drop off their child.

I noticed that the parent came running out of the car.

Next thing you know, that car's moving.

♪♪ >> Jordan #2: Do you feel like you've brought peace in any form to the soul's...

The fact that we get to literally talk to someone who prosecuted at Nuremberg, not only that it's the last survivor is definitely a unique experience, and I'm glad I was a part of it.

>> Chesney: My heart said, Scott, you're still alive.

You're still here.

>> Lavin: We need a day like narratives of courage for them to realize they can do something about some of these problems, such as gun control, taking a stand, you know, being a voice for others.

It is so important for these young people to understand that and become positive.

>> McAlister: Today, we're going to focus on something that's a little bit different.

>> Girl: It matters not how strait the gate, how charge with punishment the scroll.

>> McAlister: The words of the poem speak to some people.

I am unconquerable.

>> Girl: I'm the master of my fate.

I'm the captain of my soul.

>> Spiller: This week on Classroom Close-up New Jersey" Lessons in Courage.

On this episode, we'll explore what it means to do the right thing, to inspire others, and to jump into action.

>> Tauriello: All right, let's get our cleats on.

We're going to start our warm up.

Six lines of three.

We're ready to roll.

Okay.

Conditioning.

Conditioning is huge.

Being able to withstand the time on the field in a game is very important.

But most importantly, when you're dribbling the ball, make sure you're picking up your head.

Don't let me steal it from you.

I'm Valerie Tauriello.

Good job, Sarah.

Way to be on it.

Stay on your toes.

I've been teaching a total of 17 years.

Who's up for a challenge?

All right, Abigail.

I love working with these kids.

Everybody calls me Coach.

Today, we're having soccer practice.

Girls are very familiar with a lot of the drills we've been doing, so we're trying to introduce new things to them.

We need to work more on defense as a whole.

Many middle schools really don't have sports team programs, and we're lucky to have that here in Linden.

We play higher level teams that they play all year long, and something I'm trying to encourage the girls, if they really enjoy the sport, they really like it, then that's something that they have to do, is maybe try getting involved in the winter and the summer and see how much better they would get.

All right, here we go.

Ten!

I tell them every day all that matters that you walk off that field, that you know you've tried hard, you know you've worked hard, and that, you know, you have no regrets.

You went out and you gave it the best you could.

As a health teacher, I feel like I have a little bit more of an impact on on the students to pretty much do the right thing with their health and wellness.

That's why we wear shin guards, five, four, three...

I've always been interested in sports.

I played three sports in high school.

In and out.

Go!

Had a girl on the bus the other day say, you know, I wasn't able to really run for the two minutes before.

And now I'm able to do that and I'm not even tired.

That made me happy.

You know, It's just what I love to do.

And regardless of the age or what any kid is going through, I feel I can always be a person for them to talk to...

Follow your pass.

Get there.

...as a teacher, as a coach, and just be there for them.

Very first day of school, everyone's anxieties are high and I was stationed for A.M. bus duty.

Car pulls up to the side to drop off their child.

I noticed that the parent came running out of the car, so he kind of caught my attention and I looked and saw him running with an iPad.

I said, oh, parents all worried the kid forgot the iPad, and next thing you know, my friend says, Val, that car's moving.

The parent did not put the car in park.

I alerted the teacher ahead and I said, you know, you have to move those kids.

There's nobody driving that car.

I said, I have to stop this car.

I just ran over.

The door was closed.

I opened the door and it took a second try to hop there because I was like, I can't believe how fast this car's going.

Hopped in the car, pushed on the brake, and put the car in park.

I was in an orthopedic boot.

I had an old injury had flared up, but, you know, I got there pretty quickly and nothing was stopping me from stopping that car and something bad happening.

>> Hernandez: Wait for it to set up.

I didn't know what to think.

I was speechless.

Then I saw the video and I was like, no way, that's Coach T look at her.

>> Maria: I really think she saved those kids because the car was rolling pretty fast and she ran.

As you can see in the video.

>> Tauriello: The day it happened, I didn't even say anything because everybody was safe.

I told a couple of coworkers and, you know, I didn't make a big deal of it.

And then once the principal found out and she passed it along to the superintendent and they passed it along to the media, it became like this big viral thing.

And pretty cool to know how much I'm appreciated.

And Kelly Clarkson invited me out to her show and to share my story.

That was pretty cool.

I really hope that the kids got out of this to always be aware of their surroundings.

And everyone just needs to take a moment and think about things before they go ahead and react.

Everybody was frantic that first day of school, and there's some days we still are pretty frantic on certain things in life and we're just trying to get by and there's a lot on our minds.

And sometimes we just have to make sure you have everything you need.

The kids are great.

You know, I had a kid come off the bus one day and he was an eighth grader, but his sister is a sixth grader.

He said, Miss T, thank you so much for saving my sister's life.

I was like, oh, you're so sweet.

I was like, no problem.

Anytime.

Okay.

Everybody gets a soccer ball.

You know, I'll do anything to protect these kids as if they were my own.

And they definitely know how much they mean to me, especially if I can hop in a car and save them.

>> Group: One, two, three, tigers!

♪♪ >> Spillers: As Coach T says, what matters most is that you work hard and you try hard because as we're about to see, it takes courage not to be discouraged.

>> Ferencz: Being a man of vast experience, I've never been in a courtroom before having never tried a case why I said of course.

And so it came about historically that one little 27-year-old guy with no experience whatsoever became the chief prosecutor in what was certainly the biggest murder trial in government history.

>> Spiller: Meet Benjamin Ferencz, Harvard Law School graduate, World War II veteran, and chief prosecutor for the United States in the Einsatzgruppen case, just after the end of the war, when 22 senior leaders of the paramilitary Nazi death squads were charged with murdering over a million people.

All the defendants were convicted.

It was Ben's first case.

>> Ferencz: Lesson of the story, be bold, kids.

If you know you're right, do it even if it's never been done before.

And that has always been my attitude.

And that's why I'm still working it at the age of 98.

>> Spiller: That's right.

70 years after his first trial, Ben continues to work tirelessly toward a more humane and secure world.

Today, he's a guest in Terry Coon Rex Search Search for Conscience class here at Vineland High School.

>> Ferencz: What the Einsatzgruppen did was genocide and any killing of large numbers of people because of their race and color, or religion is murderous conduct and should be halted and should be condemned everywhere, particularly by young people like you.

>> Savannah: He was 27 and he never gave up.

He knew what was right and what was wrong.

He knew that I'm going to go against all Einsatzgruppen and I have to bring justice.

And that's what he did.

>> Girl: Does he have any relatives that were part of... >> Kuhnreich: Great question.

>> Spiller: The Search for Conscience elective focuses on holocaust and genocide, as well as social issues related to current events.

>> Kuhnreich: We cover a wide variety of topics, but everything all roads lead back to the Holocaust.

We discussed diversity and racism and prejudice and hatred.

We connect it to what's going on today and, you know, people at a different level once you take this course.

It's one of the most popular electives at the high school.

And for Terry Kuhnreich it's personal.

>> Kuhnreich: But when it's a connection to you, it hits deeper.

My parents were survivors.

My father had a lot of strength, my mother very bright.

My whole world was growing up with survivors.

They gave me life lessons that can't be taught in a book.

The constant among all the survivors was the concept of hope.

>> Elijah: It's like it touches close to home for her.

In the world we live in today, it's kind of like very divided, and I feel like this class kind of throws that out the window.

Like we don't need to be divided.

We should all like, be able to come together and be one because that's how stuff happens, you know, that's what a good comes from.

>> Spiller: On the day before the online interactive discussion with Mr. Ferencz, students worked together to come up with some of the questions they would be asking him.

>> Kuhnreich: Exactly the way you said it is how you should ask Mr. Ferencz.

>> Student: Oh, this is Jordan.

>> Ferencz: Speak nice, loud, and clear 'cause this ear is 98 years old.

[ Laughter ] >> Jordan: Good morning.

How are you?

>> Ferencz: I am great.

How are you?

Is that the end of your question?

>> Jordan: No.

Okay.

If you were to go back and change anything, what would you change?

>> Ferencz: What I would do is I would say stop war making.

That's the biggest crime of all.

So I would make all wars a crime against humanity.

And I need help from the young people.

Get that idea across in order to save your lives.

>> Jordan: I'm gonna remember him and I'm gonna remember never give up on anything, anything I ever want to do in life.

Never give up.

>> Ferencz: Don't forget to do it now.

>> Jordan: Okay.

>> Jonathan: I wanted to ask you, during the Nuremberg trials, when Ohlendorf told you that...

The only way that we can prevent history from repeating itself is by learning about it.

What kind of impact did that have on you?

>> Ferencz: It had a very strong impact on me.

There was no regret at all on the part of the mass murderers.

>> Jonathan: I felt so connected to him in history.

>> Ferencz: It takes courage not to be discouraged.

>> Jonathan: When he talks about hate and that we all should tolerate and accept each other, it just resonates with me.

>> Ferencz: ...to protect the lives of everyone.

>> Jordan #2: The fact that we get to literally talk to someone who prosecuted at Nuremberg, not only that is the last like survivor is definitely a unique experience, and I'm glad I was a part of it.

>> Ferencz: But I only tried 22 defendants for the ridiculous reason they only had 22 seats.

>> Jordan #2: It gives me hope that one person has the power to change everything for the better.

>> Trista: There is still genocide today, and a lot of people tend to brush it off their shoulder if it doesn't involve them.

But, you know, it's something that needs to be talked about because it doesn't matter your race, religion, sexuality, color, just people are people.

>> Ferencz: I worked for 50 or 60 years to create a permanent International Criminal Court to carry on the work which had been done by the courts at Nuremberg.

>> Trista: You can see in his face the history that he's witnessed.

He stuck with his beliefs through years and years and years of sticking with his belief he's making a difference.

>> Spiller: Coming up, middle schoolers find courage in conversation.

But first, we're looking back at how the education community face the challenges of learning during the COVID pandemic.

It's our latest installment of Making the Grade.

>> Iannuzzi: The students know what's going on in their world.

They want an opportunity to talk about it.

>> Bakaj: The event, specifically with the killing of George Floyd, our supervisor, had presented us with some opportunities to do some equity work and have conversations centering around racism.

We kind of simultaneously came up with the idea of doing some kind of a one book which turned into a community read, which really would allow a middle school community get together and talk about a very difficult topic.

And we felt that we found the right book in Jewell Parker Rhodes's "Ghost Boys."

>> Pasternak: Talking about race and racism in school gives them a safe place to explore it and ask questions or just even if they're just listening, like hear from it from their peers.

We read together in class and then we immediately discuss or write in response.

>> Bakaj: Jerome and Sarah have very different lives.

We see them comparing and contrasting.

Sarah's is a life of privilege.

>> Pasternak: And their reactions were mostly surprise or shock, especially in the scenes where we are reading about Jerome, the main character being killed, or he meets the ghost of Emmett Till.

And Emmett Till tells his story.

So those scenes were emotional for them.

>> Quintero: We did talk a lot about unconscious bias.

So I think seeing from the beginning to the end, reading the reflections at the end, realizing that it was something that they didn't really understand or know of in the beginning.

>> Iannuzzi: It's important to teach our students about the system of racism that exists in their worlds, because whether we all realize it or not, it impacts all of us.

And so part of our responsibility as educators is to give students the tools to understand it, identify it, and choose to do something about it.

>> Bakaj: We all still have a lot of work to do, but to begin the engagement somewhere was what we felt like we really needed to try and make happen.

>> Quintero: Just hearing them talk about what they learned from this unit, from things they hadn't realized before and being able to have the space to talk about it.

They said that they were grateful for that and they appreciated that.

To hear some of that feedback made it very meaningful for me.

>> Class: You're watching "Classroom Close-up."

>> Chesney: I remember the doctor just kind of shaking his head and looking down.

He said, Scott, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you will never walk again.

And I remember hearing these words, and right away my mind got a hold of this.

That's where I was living life at the time.

And my mind said, my life is done.

I can't do this.

But then in the doctor's next breath, he said, "You're a very lucky young man."

I said, "Lucky."

>> Lavin: Narratives of courage is a day set aside for our students to have a day that brings hope.

The speakers that come to us have been through horrific events in their lives, and instead of turning it into a negative, they turn it around and they promote positiveness.

And they really do show our students that we don't have to be angry when things happen to us that aren't so good that we can turn things around and we can live a different way and live a better way.

>> Chesney: He said, "Scott in the 11 documented cases before yours, seven of those malformations, seven of those type of strokes occurred in the brain and went down."

He then proceeded to tell me that those people never lived.

For some of these kids, and I'm going to say a lot of these kids we're just enough on the periphery, we're not family.

We're not necessarily friends, we're not teachers, we're not coaches, but we're people just on the periphery enough in which sometimes they completely surrender and they put their trust in us based on what we've shared, based on a real quick connection that we've made.

My heart said Scott you're still alive.

You're still here.

You still the use of your hands, the use of your arms, your heart's still beating, your mind's still working.

>> Devillers: Even though some of the stories are sad, it's not a sad day because you're hearing stories of how people have overcome whatever adversity they've been given to make things better, to pay it forward, and to not dwell on the negative, but to focus on the positive.

>> Risher: An artist had done nine paintings of each one of the individuals, and when I got to the picture of my mother covered with all these flowers, I...

It was just hard.

It was just hard to see all of that.

My story is about my mother and my two cousins and a childhood friend that was killed in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17th, 2015.

Our advocacy is to educate people about being responsible gun owners.

Eight children are killed every day because some grown up has not secured their guns.

For them to have an opportunity to come face to face with people that have survived horrific things or have such a compelling story.

They see that these things are really happening in the world, that people like me, we're every day, regular people that are trying to do something to invoke change because of what we've been through.

>> Singer: On that day, over a hundred of us were injured on and off the bus and 17 innocent people were murdered, including everyone that was seated and standing around me.

So I know that my time is not up and that my purpose is larger than anything I could have ever imagined.

>> Isha: I have been escorting series singer and she is a survivor of a terrorism attack, and she was in a bus when there was a teenage suicide bomber and he killed 17 people and injured like over a hundred.

>> Singer: For them, it's really important that they hear many stories of not only my survival, but other things that are going on in the world where people are struggling and how they've overcome them.

And I think that the title Narratives of Courage is really so appropriate.

And I remember coming last year and sitting in on one or two of the other speakers and just really being in awe of what they're sharing and their message as well.

>> Kaczynski: As I looked at what made it a dilemma for me and what made it so powerful and so painful was the realization that any choice we made could lead to somebody's death.

>> Michael: I've been escorting David Kaczynski.

He was the Unabomber's brother, who decided that he would go to the FBI and turn in his brother for being the Unabomber.

>> Kaczynski: Violence can never create a constructive change in the world.

You can impose violence on somebody.

You could do something to somebody.

It's not going to change them.

It's not going to make them better.

It's not going to change the world.

The only thing that can change the world is love, love and compassion.

>> Michael: The message is, you know, no matter how hard the decision is, do what you feel is right.

>> Risher: Regardless of the world, hate is never going to win.

>> Mariam: After we do this, we basically all take a moment to kind of reflect on what narratives of courage means to us and how we're going to use it in the future.

>> Santos: I think having that day to reflect and to think and to kind of internalize it and to personalize it I think is really important.

And hopefully take in some of these things that they've learned and, you know, apply it to their own lives.

>> Chesney: For every one thing you tell me is challenging about your life, one thing you tell me, that's challenging about my life, I'm gonna tell you that there's 10,000 things that are awesome, not just good, but awesome about your life.

>> Devillers: I do think it has a lasting effect because, you know, you can think about something maybe that's not going right in your world and then you can think about one of these stories and say, wait, there's a -- there's a better way.

There's a better choice.

And I do think it stays with the students.

>> Risher: ...the back row was how close I sat.

>> Spiller: We continue the theme in our final story this week.

When times are tough, we look for ways to be unconquerable.

In an Egg Harbor Township, the Invictus Club meets every week to build confidence through grit and perseverance.

>> McAlister: Your structure has to be six inches tall.

It has to support the ping pong ball.

Okay.

That's going to be your goal.

Somehow.

This is achievable.

You can do this.

The name of the club is the Invictus Club, and I used that title for the club because I love the poem.

The poem is called Invictus, and that is a Latin word that means unconquerable.

>> Girl: It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll, I'm the master of my fate.

I'm the captain of my soul.

>> McAlister: You are in charge because you are the master of your own fate and you are the captain of your soul.

So when something awful is going on in your life, you think, what do I have to rely on?

I have me.

I am Invictus.

The words of the poem speak to some people and I know it spoke to me because I have thought to myself many times I am unconquerable.

Just like the kids I work with.

I am not able to be defeated.

What are setbacks, you guys?

Most of what we do is after school.

What's an example of a setback?

My idea is to create a group of students who don't always meet with success in the classroom, but can display all other types of characteristics that will get them through life.

And I want to encourage that in them.

Today, we're going to focus on something that's a little bit different.

It's sort of like a compilation of all character qualities pushed into one.

So I'm going to do an exercise with you, but I'm going to have two kids go to the board.

You are going to slowly drive yourselves across the country.

Started car trip, stop.

Put an X.

Everything Amy had with her got stolen.

>> Amy: Just keep driving.

>> McAlister: Okay.

Just keep driving.

Yeah, you're right.

Okay.

Just keep on your way.

Stop.

Your passenger ditched you.

Your heart is broken.

What do you do?

>> Girl: Just keep driving.

>> McAlister: You just keep driving.

You found out that your dog died.

That's right.

You keep on driving.

Now you have to start again.

What do you do?

Do you go?

>> Girl: Yes.

>> McAlister: Of course you go.

What did you notice that every single kid said all along the journey?

They kept going.

They kept saying, I don't know.

I'm just going to keep going.

I'm going to teach you a word today that you might not know.

It's a very important word.

And I'm going to teach it to you because you all have it.

Not everybody has it, but you have it.

How do you pronounce this?

>> Students: Grit.

>> McAlister: You have a lot of grit.

You display that to me every day because part of your journeys are extraordinarily difficult.

But you keep going.

Someone give me a story of grit.

>> Girl: So we would just keep bickering back and forth for about a year.

So I finally moved out.

>> McAlister: As a teacher, what I'm not willing to do is sit by and ignore the gaps that I see, and I don't want to see some kids succeed and other ones feel like they failed because there is no failure.

>> Girl: I wanted to be a professional all my life and I wanted to come to this country to succeed because of my country it's like difficult.

It's hard.

Here, I have like more opportunities, and for that I needed I needed to speak English and I needed to like, interact.

>> McAlister: They are creative, they are kind, they are very generous, they are a lot of fun, they have so many wonderful characteristics that I wanted to encourage.

You know, that I keep inviting Gabby here.

And I told you that she's one of my former students.

I thought, if I can get someone to come and talk to them and share with them their own difficult story, then the girls can see, oh, yeah, you can keep going.

>> Gabby: There's a story once about a girl her parents had a divorce when she was in high school, but when she was in eighth grade, she had a teacher who gave her encouragement, told her that she could do anything she set her mind to.

>> McAlister: It's on my own time and it's with my own money, but I'm willing to try.

I don't think it takes anything other than a person willing to try.

School is about content, but school is also about humanity and making them feel important so they can go on into the next step of their lives.

And we can't forget that.

>> Girl: Like now, for her to like, stand up and be like, this is enough, man, that's a big step.

You know what I'm saying?

>> Gabby: And now she sees light in other people and there's no ending to this story because the story's about my life and this is me.

>> McAlister: We have to find ways to reach every kid, not some of the kids.

We have to reach every single kid.

I think to myself, what can we as educators do to reach every kid?

I don't really know, but I'm not willing to not try to figure it out.

So anyone who's willing to start a group, it doesn't take anything other than a group of kids, and they will lead the way.

>> Spiller: That's all for now.

We hope you enjoyed watching.

And we invite you to discover more by visiting our website -- classroomcloseup.org and searching the video library.

We'll be back with another episode next week.

So please join us again on "Classroom Close-up New Jersey."