Heather Bell
RADFORD – A group of Radford High School students worked all day recently to create an impressive Holocaust museum at the high school’s auditorium and learned a lot along the way.
Under the supervision of RHS English teacher Tina Tapp, dozens of ninth grade English students researched, built and created the exhibits and then shared them with fellow students, teachers and city officials.
Tapp said she always does a Holocaust unit with her ninth grade English students, but decided to up the ante with the large hands-on project this year.
“We start with history to give them the contextual information they need to read the literature,” said Tapp. “While they were researching and working on these projects, they were reading a “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.
Tapp said the students were put into 12 groups, and had 12 topics to choose from: Kristallnacht, Music of the Holocaust; Ghettos; Concentration Camps; USS St. Louis; Other Targeted Groups; Resistors, Partisans, and Rescuers; Displaced Persons and Refugees; Hitler Youth; Children of the Holocaust; Medical Experimentation; and Death Marches.
“When I rolled out the project, I told them that they should consider this a job interview,” she said. ”After completing their research, they had to pitch an idea to me. They had to share their vision for the exhibit and show me sketches of their idea.”
“I told them to imagine that if their exhibit was effective, they would be hired on by the museum and if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t get the job,” she continued. “They even had to write up a pitch to me about why they wanted a particular space in the lobby for their project. They had to convince me that their project needed a particular space for specific reasons.”
Tapp explained Radford City Schools is focusing on project-based learning for students.
“Working on projects gives students more real-life skills than just sitting in a classroom and taking notes,” she explained.
Tapp said she is amazed at her students’ accomplishments.
“The groups of students did research, planned their exhibits, visited the space where we would build so they could figure out specifically how they would arrange their exhibits,” she said. “They did a lot of planning to make this happen.”
The amazing thing was that students built the entire museum in one day,” Tapp continued. “Students worked from about 7:15 in the morning through the end of the school day. Some worked ahead and pre-built parts of their exhibits, but most of the construction was done all in the one construction day. The only materials I brought were tape and scissors. “
Tapp said she was proud to see how the students worked together and helped each other accomplish the museum.
“They collaborated with each other on what materials they would need and arranged to have these things,” she said. “They used computers and an i-pad provided by the school, and one student brought an i-pod for music, but the rest of the materials were relatively inexpensive, cardboard, paper, paint, and some real creativity. One group borrowed medical supplies from the school nurse and brought in cow bones to represent human bones for the medical experimentation group. I thought their creativity for the planning of their exhibits was phenomenal.”
In the end, Tapp said she thinks the students created a true-to-life museum exhibition.
“On the days we gave tours, when you entered the lobby of the RHS Auditorium, it truly felt as if you were in a real museum,” she said.
The entire student body of Dalton Intermediate School toured the museum, as did many high school classes. Tapp says several city officials also took the tour.
“City Council Member Naomi Huntington, School Board members Liz Altieri and Joe Hester, as well as several members of our community toured the museum,” she said. “Mike Brown, principal from McHarg, Superintendent Rob Graham, and Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction Ellen Denny came through for a tour, as well.”
Tapp said despite all the hard work, her students are asking for another hands-on project.
“The kids started their day with donuts and a pep talk, took a break for pizza at lunch time, but they built straight through for the whole day,” she said. “Some of the students told me they were so tired, that they had never worked so hard on a project before. But they added, they had so much fun collaborating with each other and students from another class. Some of them asked what project would be next!”
