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In history class we are following a timeline. Last year we did a lot about Canada during the 19th and 18ty centuries, and earlier this year we did a huge unit on WWI, you can read about that below.
So, if we follow the timeline of important events in our history, the next one would be WWII. That was the unit that we just wrapped up. We did a unit all around the perspectives of war, the different perspectives that each country involved had, how they were different, similar, and more.
To get a better understanding of a perspective of war, we all read books. I read All the Light We Cannot See, I also made a blog post about it, which is attached below.
This book gave me the perfect perspective that I would need for this unit, because I was put into the Germany group. The group that was responsible for Germany’s portion of the website. I was with Sofia, Reid, and Samuel. I found this funny because three of the four people in that group are all blonde haired and blue eyed. That was the definition of Adolf Hitler’s perfect human. Funny. Anyway, so we started this unit with two main focuses. The first was important dates and battles in WWII. Some of my favorites included the beginning of the war, when the Germans invaded Poland, triggering WWII, operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain. When Adolf Hitler and his Luftwaffe bombed London for 53 nights in a row. My favorite was actually the end of the war, operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia. This in the end put a halt to the Nazis.
The second main focus was citations. We had done this a lot last year with Mr. Featherstone, so this was like a big reminder combined with a wake up call. We wrote paragraphs in which we cited books, websites, and YouTube videos. Both of the previously mentioned topics would come back around to the website, but before that there was one last huge event.
We interviewed a WWII Veteran.
Helmut Lemke was a German soldier who served in WWII, he served on the Russian front, before escaping to west Germany to later pursue an education in architecture that would eventually wind him up in Canada. He shared with us stories about where he grew up, and what it wasn’t like to see Adolf Hitler rise to power. That at the time nobody saw him as a bad man, he was just a string politician. He said that nobody wanted a war. People would pray in churches for peace, but in the end we unfortunately got a war. He shared the unique story of how he joined the Nazis, and also he talked extensively about fighting on the Russian front, where he eventually got wounded, and escaped to West Germany. I was interested in what it was like to join the war as a german at the time, and he talked extensively about his very unique experience.
Meeting Helmut was amazing, most people don’t ever meet a WWII veteran. But, I bested the class in that field. I have now met 2. Earlier this year I met a man in the US navy, so I have met a man who served for the Allied Forces and the Axis Powers. Here are the photos of me with them.
That is very cool.
So, anyway, back to the project. We had all the pieces, now all we had to do was put it all together. This website had to include everything that I had just mentioned: the podcast, the book review, the research, citations, and of course the perspectives. Germany set about doing what we had to do. Fortunately for us, we had the most group members, so we had less work per person, that meant the work we did was better and more thorough. Also, I was recruited by Ms. Maxwell is to make the home page, about page, and to construct the WWII in literature page as well. Attached below is our masterpiece.
Normally when we make a final product, we submit it through showbie, Andy then we receive critique, and revise what we have made. This time was very different though. Our teacher Ms. Maxwell called in her history teacher from her time at our school, Kathleen Barter to listen to us present our website, our learning and the overall idea of the project, this was an amazing opportunity, we got some great feedback, and it was cool to present to someone who decides what we learn.
Wow. That was a big project. It was a long, multi layered journey through WWII. But, the perspective? For a unit called ‘Perspectives of War’ I feel that there was a bit too much emphasis on the war and not too much on the perspectives, but nothing I say perfect, I’m not complaining. In the end we got to experience multiple firsthand sources that made this unit truly one of a kind, a unit that I will remember. I think the area I leaned the most in was the details of battles, for example I did not know that operation Barbarossa started the fall of the Nazis, because of the Russian winter. But, in the end the biggest lesson that I learned was teamwork. We had to work with a whole class, something we haven’t done yet, and hat will was a new and amazing experience that I want to carry with me. That experience needing to start with nothing and build something amazing. I think it isn’t perfectly said by the 6 God, Drake. We went ‘Zero to a hundred real quick.’ We started at 0 website building experience, 0 full teamwork experience, 0 idea of what to do. We went to a hundred real quick, like Drake.
I really liked how you mentioned the WWI post its a good introduction.
There are a few moinr errors, All the Light We Cannot See, needs to be in italics, you could include more links such as to your peers posts, and the website.
I really liked your conclusion, you fully reflected on the whole unit of WWII.