Day 17
Today was more of an
observatory role due to the fact that Radiowaves, the tech/website company that
we meet 2 weeks ago, came to teach the students how to create multimedia
videos. Each group was to create their
own storyboard for a short movie that dealt with a WWII topic/theme. My group, comprised of 6 UK girls plus myself
and another teacher Erin, chose to create a BBC news broadcast that interrupted
the scheduled news program to alert the British that the American’s were
arriving in England. Two students did
the filming and sound, 2 students were at the news desk, 1 was the news
reporter, and one student played the American general that was
interviewed. The girl who played the
American general, Elise, was nervous because she couldn’t speak with an
American accent, but Erin and I told her just to relax, have fun, and speak
loudly – the perfect trait to describe us Americans. She pulled it off perfectly and we did the
interview next to the B-17 bomber used in the movie The Memphis Belle. Once the girls finished the storyboard and
filming, it was mine and Erin’s job to do the editing of the girls movie; the
total running time of their video was one minute and 30 seconds. Each groups videos will be debuted during the
sleepover on Thursday night before we watch the movie at the Astra
Cinema…ironically, the movie is The Memphis Belle!
Day 18
Today, we got back to
normal and we presented the students with another round of lessons that focused
on the human cost of war. My group in
particular, focused on Air bombing strategies and the effects. The major focus of the lesson dealt with us
providing the students with background information on the German Blitz on
Britain in 1940 and the arrival of the Americans. Next, we focused on the different types of
bombing planes used by the Americans and British during the war and the fact
that the British only conducted bombing runs at night while the Americans
conducted their bombing runs during the day.
After we had provided them with the background information, we presented
the students with their objective for today’s lesson – they were going to
create their own bombing mission.
We provided the
students with information on 4 actual bomb sites from WWII, including the
target area, reason why the area was of strategic importance, population,
distance from Duxford, etc. After they
read all of the information, they set out to discuss amongst themselves the
pros and cons of each of the 4 options, and then decided on which site to
bomb. To complete this, they had to fill
out their own mission plan which we provided a template for. After it was over, we collected the
information on which site they chose and discussed why each group chose it,
along with the pros and cons; also, we discussed why they didn’t choose the
other targets. This was a great activity
and we got a wonderful comment from the organizers as to how well the lesson
was planned and very active for the students.
The students played their part wonderfully and had some great insights
as to the thinking surrounding selecting their targets. Finally, we showed a 1 minute video clip of
an actual bombing mission from WWII and discussed about the negative and positive
effects of the bomb raids on the cities, people, and casualties of the war. ***I
will be using this lesson in my classroom when I begin my WWII unit!
Before the day
concluded, we discussed how successful the entire day was as a group and began
going over tomorrow’s night at the museum.
Here is a sample of what the night at the museum will look like on
Thursday:
*9:00am-3:00pm = normal teaching sessions
*3:00-4:00pm = visit to gift shop for students to
purchase things from Duxford
*4:30-6:30pm = sports games (softball and volleyball)
on a rotating basis
*6:30-7:30pm = BBQ cookout on the airbase (US style
food)
*8:00-10:30 = movies at the Astra Cinema (WWII era
cartoons and student created movies will
(be shown
before the main feature – The Memphis Belle)
*11:00-12:30am = Spy hunt in the American Air Museum
*12:30-1:30am = Astronomy Walk outside around the
airbase (weather permitting)
*1:30-7:00am = Sleep (the teachers are very doubtful
of this but we will soon find out)
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