JACKSON – A lesson in history, public speaking, researching and a bit of drama all came together for students, parents and educators of the Elms Elementary School recently with a Living Wax Museum.
Family and friends came into the school’s gymnasium to see the students who briefly brought to life scientists, social activists, musicians, artists, athletes, political figures and many others.
Principal Michael Burgos explained that the program involves 4th and 5th grade students “and it really incorporates a lot. Research and basically a biography on a historical figure of a student’s choice. Students research the person and they do a biography and for the culminating event they pretend they are that wax figure. You press a button and they report the biography to you.”
“What I love about it is that it becomes a very eclectic study. There aren’t that many limitations on who they want to study so it lends itself to research, presentation, public speaking, multi-culturalism, inclusion. In addition to that we bring the parents in,” Burgos added.
Last week was show time for the students and parents, many of whom helped their child out with costuming and reviewing their presentations, had the opportunity to see the end result. Burgos noted, “It is very interactive and is a big undertaking but what I like is that you get to experience once in 4th grade and you really get to master the process in 5th grade.”
Media Teacher Sheryl Konopack helped the students in selecting the reading material they need to research their historic figure. “Fourth and fifth graders come over here and check out the whole section and they have to argue with me as to who they want to be in the wax museum and why. They can’t just come up with somebody. It all starts with literacy and starting something through reading.”
Konopack said that by having the students take out the books “we don’t end with a whole lot of Taylor Swifts and nobody needs more than four Taylor Swifts. The 5th graders since they have done it before have upped their game. It is a great opportunity to get them to make eye contact and to be loud enough and to create a script. It has to be 30 seconds long or longer.”
“They communicate what they learned to you,” Konopack added. “They make their own button and everyone has to push their button to bring them alive because it is set up as a living wax museum. It is a lot of fun but by the end of the day the kids are exhausted.”
“Many parents take off of work to come to this as they don’t want to miss it because they’ve been helping with making costumes and seeing them practice at home. They also get to see their kids’ friends. It is also very inclusive – our multi-disabled classes take part,” the media teacher added.
Kim Czech’s 5th grade daughter Allison chose from the “presidents, leaders, activists, heroes and revolutionaries” category. “This is my third one. I was here for the first one which was a big hit and my second born is here as (Supreme Court Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg and she is so excited.”
“Every child learns something and even with a 30 second snippet about an athlete, activist or inventor. It is great to go around and see everybody and meet these famous people,” Czech added.
She said, “I don’t know if all the other schools in Jackson do it but Mrs. Konopack is wonderful. You bring the book and history alive. It gets the kids comfortable with public speaking and thinking out of the box.”
It is also interesting to learn why the students chose their subject – whether they have a common interest with them, want to be like them or are simply a fan of their work.
Student Aileen Cuenca portrayed astronaut Mae Jemison who was part of the “entrepreneurs, scientists, inventors and explorers” area of the museum. “I really like outer space and I would like to become an astronaut and when I was researching her, I found her to be very interesting.”
Aydan Guluzade picked Hedy Lamarr from the “artists, actors, musicians, authors, illustrators and singers” category. Aydan’s presentation noted that Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 – January 19, 2000 was an Austrian-born American actress and inventor.
“I thought she was inspirational. She felt girls could be anything,” Ayden said.
Alexander Booktor portrayed Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit who was a Polish Jewish pediatrician, educator, children’s author, orphanage owner and an early children’s rights advocate. He died in an extermination camp during the Holocaust in 1942. “It took me two days to memorize my presentation,” Alexander said.
