This week our 8th graders in Cherokee put on a Wax Museum. Tori chose to be Sarah Palin. She was so cute and I was so proud. She did a wonderful job learning about her.
Grandad even got in on the project. He had a shirt made for her that said Palin in 2012. He came up with the idea that when she was finishing her speech she could say, "And as for my future plans...Well, you never know." and then open her jacket to reveal her shirt. It was really cute and even got her some recognition in the paper. GREAT IDEA GRANDAD! :-)
My 4th and 5th graders did Wax Museums in Parsons, so Tori has done it before. It is a truly amazing experience. She was Molly Brown in 5th grade. Aubrey did it in Parsons also. She was Dorothy Hamill.
I'm attaching pictures of Tori as Gov. Palin and then their old Wax Museum pictures.
Cherokee eighth-graders create history museum
By BRETT DALTON
The Morning Sun
Posted Feb 03, 2009 @ 10:58 PM
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PITTSBURG —
Sarah Palin launched her campaign for the presidency in 2012 inside the gymnasium of Cherokee Attendance Center on Tuesday.
Not really.
But Tori Colvin, who portrayed Alaska's governor at the school's "wax museum," made it clear the she hopes Palin challenges President Obama in a few years — a desire made evident by her "Palin in 2012" T-shirt.
"She's been a role model for me for quite some time," Colvin said of the former vice presidential candidate.
Colvin and approximately 40 of her eighth-grade classmates dressed up as famous people, past and present, for the inaugural "An Afternoon at the Wax Museum" Tuesday afternoon. The presentation was a history project conducted by the students in history teacher Donna Renn's class.
The project consisted of various forms of research and presentation. Renn said each student had to choose a famous person, research that person, write a paper, develop a story board and memorize a one-minute biographical speech about that person.
Then the fun part.
For Tuesday's project, the students had to dress up as their subject and line the walls of the gymnasium for all visitors to observe. Renn said it was dubbed a "wax museum" because the students were mandated to stand still and remain silent until visitors pressed a "button" on the table to make them speak. Once that button was pushed, the student would recite the one-minute biography.
Renn said she was anxious to conduct the program after reading online about another school that had staged a similar museum-style exhibit. She said the project is a fun way for students to learn history, as well as other subjects.
"One of the best ways for students to learn about history is to be a character," she said, "because when you have to be that person, you have to know a whole lot about them. The students had to do research, complete a paper, develop a presentation and then the speech.
"But along with history, the students also worked with math on this project, they worked with language to write the speech, they worked with technology when they were on the Internet researching their person," she said. "They even dealt some with lessons from music class when they developed their stage presence. So every area of the curriculum is covered."
Historical figures portrayed during the program included George Washington, Helen Keller, Queen Victoria, Walt Disney, Jesse Owens and professional baseball player and Pittsburg native Don Gutteridge. Some students chose to portray more recent figures such as Olympic stars Michael Phelps, Jennie Finch and Usain Bolt, as well as filmmaker Steven Speilberg.
Miri Gordon's character of choice was Egypt's former ruler, Cleopatra VII. Gordon said she chose her because "she is really interesting." As for the museum-style project itself, Gordon said it was a unique way to learn a history lesson.
"It's actually been a very fun experience," she said. "Everyone gets to share what they've learned about their person with each other, so we really learn quite a bit. I definitely learned a lot about mine."
Devean Thompson, who portrayed the Catholic Saint and French heroine Joan of Arc, also said she enjoyed working on the project.
"It was hard work, but it was definitely worth it because of all we learned," she said. "As a Christian, spending time learning about Joan of Arc was very awesome to me. For this being the first time we've done this, I thought it was very interesting and a fun time."
