Living Wax Museum
Rohan, a fourth grader in Jocelyn Lividini’s class at Increase Miller Elementary School, held the iPad in front of the QR code, opening up the class’ Seesaw account. He and his friend Jack, who was wearing a white wig, white ruffled shirt, and blue topcoat, went into the hallway.
“I am George Washington,” began Jack, launching into a monologue describing the military general's struggles to develop a presidential style. Rohan used Seesaw’s simple tools to record the performance.
Every student had a turn to record and to perform.
Recording each other adds to the engagement
from Sacagawea to Spielberg
Combining Research and Performance
This is the Living Wax Museum, a capstone in Ms. Lividini's nonfiction reading unit. The theme was “Second Chances." The students selected a famous person to research; identifying what obstacles the person overcame to make a difference. Each student created a trifold board that presented his or her discoveries, and wrote a speech which gave a brief summary of the person’s childhood, adulthood, career, and fame, as well as personal victories.
Dressing up and performing as the person for their classmates was fun! They recorded each other’s presentations later that day. Students would use Seesaw to review their work. Ms. Lividni would also use the app to share the projects with parents
"I chose the theme 'Second Chances' because I wanted to give the students an opportunity to look at some of the world’s most famous and successful people and understand that they overcame many obstacles along the way," said Ms. Lividini. "It was a way to combine growth mindset and reading in the classroom! It’s important that as we grow, we learn that the challenges we face in our lives are stepping stones to the people we become."