Mrs. Pfeifer challenged her eight grade high ability language arts class at Boston Middle School to learn about the 1940’s by researching interesting people who influenced this period. The students had to get into character and share information about themselves while pretending to be their researched figure of the 1940s.
“I wanted students to get a real sense of what life was like in the 1940’s. I wanted them to go beyond the facts/events that happened during the 1940’s and really explore what it was like to live day-to-day,” Mrs. Pfeifer emphasized.
In order to really understand this time period and their influential figure, the students had to research, construct a visual, and create a presentation that was at least four-minutes long. Mrs. Pfeifer wanted the students to show all the material they learned by not only presenting who the person was, but also presenting as the person.
One of Mrs. Pfeifer’s students, Ally Leal, portrayed Audrey Hepburn. Leal dressed up in the classic “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” outfit that Hepburn wore in the movie.
“I always loved her and that fact that she was such a fashion icon,” Leal said.
Jillian Bell led the life of Leonora Carrington by creating an art piece for her visual project.
“It’s hard enough to be in front of your peers, but having to be someone is more difficult,” Bell expressed.
Despite these troubles, Bell went above and beyond by presenting without using note cards. Another student from the class, Corrine Kelley, represented Judy Garland. Kelley made a scrapbook containing moments of Garland’s life.
Although this was Mrs. Pfeifer’s first time teaching this project the students enjoyed choosing their own inspirational person.
“It was a chance to be creative.” Kelly announced.
The students were able to “dress up” learning with this more personal approach about learning history.