Ben Franklin students make history come alive
Presidents, explorers, nurses, generals, architects, scientists and plenty other notable figures stood arrayed in a rectangle at Ben Franklin Elementary/Middle School Thursday afternoon, waiting to tell their life story to whoever wanted to hear it.
And many people did.
The display was part of Julia Schiffbauer无毛视频檚 latest living wax museum. Her sixth-grade ancient history students spend weeks researching a historical figure, then create poster boards about their life, and assemble props and outfits to help them better depict the person.
无毛视频淕etting them involved in researching a person and what they wore and what they were holding in their hands tells much more of a story than two paragraphs out of our social studies book,无毛视频� she said.
They also write a short speech, which they practice every day leading up to the big event. And when passersby prompted them 无毛视频� done by touching a piece of paper with a button drawn on it 无毛视频� they rattled off a condensed version of their biography.
For America无毛视频檚 250th anniversary, Schiffbauer changed the emphasis to the American Revolution.
It was a collaborative effort, where students and Schiffbauer discussed people who influenced America, and students picked names off the finished list that stood out to them.
Stationed near the entrance, Allen Settles took on the plum role of Albert Gallatin, treasury secretary under President Thomas Jefferson (also featured). His Friendship Hill estate in Fayette County is now a national historic site.
For Settles, his most impressive feat was helping to finance the Louisiana Purchase. He was a popular stop.
无毛视频淚 really liked having to learn a bunch about him and having to learn my speech,无毛视频� he said.
Schiffbauer started out with a tight focus on the American Revolution. But when students pushed for figures beyond the powdered-wig era, Schiffbauer broadened the scope to echoes of the revolution in the expansion of rights for women, Black people or Native Americans.
无毛视频淚f you proved your worth in helping somebody in this country and the generations that followed them, we said, 无毛视频楢ll right,'无毛视频� Schiffbauer said.
Kameran Dennis had already researched George Washington Carver for Black History Month.
He liked the way Carver had helped improve people无毛视频檚 lives through agriculture.
Thursday, Dennis got to explain Carver无毛视频檚 life first to parents, and then to a succession of younger elementary children who toured the exhibit.
无毛视频淚 was kind of nervous at first, but today, when it started to sink in, it无毛视频檚 not that scary,无毛视频� he said.
Others chose more obscure figures from the past.
Neva Sangston dressed in 1770s garb to reflect the outfit of Sybil Ludington, the 16-year-old daughter of a Revolutionary colonel.
She had learned about Ludington while researching the life of a child in Colonial times.
After the British seized a critical supply depot in Connecticut, she warned her father after a ride of 40 miles 无毛视频� twice as long as Paul Revere无毛视频檚.
无毛视频淪he was really brave,无毛视频� Sangston said.
Benjamin Banneker was a last-minute pick by Raistlyn Smith. But he connected with the astronomer and mathematician, who assisted in surveying the land that later became Washington, D.C.
Smith无毛视频檚 poster board also included a homemade representation of the workings of a clock, in honor of Banneker creating one of the first striking clocks in America. With more time, he said, he无毛视频檇 have liked to build an actual 3D version.
It all helped showcase someone whose achievements would have eluded the parents or students who paraded past his booth.
无毛视频淪ometimes when somebody doesn无毛视频檛 know you, or hasn无毛视频檛 heard about you or anything, it feels sad,无毛视频� Smith said.
A crowd flocked around the tray of baked goods at the booth of Da无毛视频橪aya Williams. She chose Hannah Till, an enslaved Black woman who served as a military chef for George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette throughout the Revolutionary War. That continued even after she and her husband purchased their freedom.
As much as she liked seeing her friends无毛视频� projects, the biggest thing she无毛视频檇 taken away from the assignment is a new appreciation for someone who she might never have known about otherwise.
无毛视频淪he did so much different stuff that I无毛视频檇 never seen,无毛视频� Williams said. 无毛视频淚 did a lot of projects because I was from Alabama and we did a lot of Black history, but she was someone I never knew up until recently.无毛视频�