FAIRFAX STUDENTS EXAMINE U.S. WARS

The following article written by Emily Wills appeared on the front page of the Friday, April 15, 2005 edition of The St. Albans Messenger. Along with this story are several nice pictures taken by Stina Plant. Since photos are of our young Fairfax Middle School Students, I have not included them with this article on the Internet.
Fairfax students examine U.S. wars
By EMILY WILLS - Messenger Correspondent

'It was great to learn more about one specific conflict.' Kyle LeBeau

FAIRFAX — Stepping into the Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax Middle School gym on Wednesday evening was like traveling back in time.

The eighth grade class held its culminating activity for a six-week unit on military conflicts in American history. Beginning with the Revolutionary War and ending with the current war in Iraq, the students studied how the conflicts began, which rival factions were involved, and how they changed life in America.

Eighth grade students divided into groups of four to seven students, each group choosing the conflict they were most interested in studying.

Four girls came together to study the role of suffragettes fighting for women's right to vote at the turn of the 20th Century. Another group focused on the attacks of September 11, and still another learned about the Ku KIux Klan in the South after the Civil War.

All the major wars in which America has been involved were included in the unit.

Students began their studies with basic research into their chosen conflicts. They made large tri-folded displays that included major facts surrounding it, interesting pictures, and other pertinent information.

Each student wrote a piece about a character they learned of during their research.

Jasmine Francis, for example, participated in the Revolutionary War conflict group and chose to learn more about Betsy Ross, the woman who sewed the first American flag. Francis styled her writing piece in the form of an autobiography, detailing Ross's personal life and how she became involved in the conflict.

Students were required to create an individual project about the war or conflict they were studying. Francis chose to do a model of the battles at Lexington and Concord that occurred at the start of the Revolutionary War. It showed the North Bridge over the Concord River as the British attacked the militia of the American colonies.

The final step in this unit was an evening during which students had the opportunity to show their families and the public how much work they had done.

The Middle School Gym was set up Wednesday with numerous tables on which students displayed their writing pieces, tri-folds, and individual projects. The eighth graders also dressed as the character they had written about.

Francis wore her hair in a bun and had on a ruffled blouse and full skirt with an apron. She carried a basket with cloth, sewing needles and scissors. The students marched into the gym in unison to the beat of drum and formed a living human time-line. They were then lit with a spotlight and struck a pose as the narrator for the evening - student Adam Benay - told audience a little about who each student portrayed and which conflict they had studied.

In all, the eighth graders seemed to really enjoy the unit, and seemed to take great pride in their work.

Student Kyle LeBeau admitted that he didn't like that the unit took up so much time, and that the groups were sometimes hard to work in because not everyone was always on task.

On the other hand, LeBeau was pleased that he was able to work with friends, "I think it was good," he said. "It was great to learn more about one specific conflict that I chose and was interested in."

LeBeau was in the Vietnam War conflict group, and he portrayed a soldier who had been involved in the war. A diorama of the Vietnam War Memorial was also created as his individual project.

Teachers Jan Jeffords, Jim Lonergan, Michelle Messier and Dana Hamm were the educators instrumental in putting this unit together. Jeffords teaches Language Arts and this is the second time she has done this unit with the eighth grade.

"I think the unit went extremely well," Jeffords said Thursday "The conflict unit is great because it is a very hands-on way to learn about American history. It really uses all of the multiple intelligences. I'm very pleased."