Thursday, April 11, 2019

Wiley Students Create World War II Museum

By Sarah Irvin
Seventh-grade English Language Arts
Wiley Magnet Middle School

Wiley's WWII Museum was a true success and culmination activity after weeks of preparation. Students read WWII Memoirs, Historical Fiction, and Nonficition in literature circles to dive deeper into different perspectives. We visited SECCA Museum to look at authentic exhibits from the time period and shine light on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese and American perspective. 

It is my hope through this museum students investigated a piece of history that were unfamiliar with. Students had to write from the object's perspective so not only, be knowledgeable about the time period, but also what emotions would be connected with their artifact. Students then had to create the artifact in our Maker's Space using recycled materials encouraging them to think outside the box.

World War II has a lot of moving parts, so I wanted to make sure students were exploring different perspectives and creating an artifact that would represent that new knowledge. Authentic learning isn't necessarily linear and sometimes gets a little messy, so I believe this project was a direct reflection of those two together. It seemed a success with students, teachers, and parents who came to visit. 

"I liked the way we wrote the narratives with old paper and type writing font because it made it seem really old" said Mary Barnwell.

"It made me think about jail and isolation," said Tre House.







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