Hello, welcome/welcome back to my blog.
A couple weeks ago, we finished a project in our Humanities class on the Canadian contribution in WWII, through the Juno Beach invasion on D-Day. This project built on our WWII knowledge, and our persuasive writing skills.
Driving Question – Why is it so important to preserve the Juno Beach Centre?
The Juno Beach Centre is on the site of a very significant event for Britain, France, America and Canada. On D-day, at Juno Beach, the allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy to start the push back into Europe. 907 Canadian, and 8,093 other Allied soldiers died, making one of the most bloody conflicts in human history. The preservation of the Juno Beach Centre shows the respect, remorse, and pride for the sacrifices made.
Timeline
to start of this project, of course we had to build some knowledge on the topic we where discussing and the question we were answering. A lot of this phase was taking notes off a projector and listening to lectures. I don’t really like this style of learning, but sometimes we had more conversational lectures which I think worked well. nonetheless, I won’t bore you anymore with that.
After we gained a better understanding of the topic, we kind of refreshed our definition of historical significance. looking over this skill again insured that we picked out the right information that was relevant. After taking all of these notes, we had to show that we had learned something. So, we chose our 3 most important events and wrote about them use the PEE method. This method is something that I found really helpful when writing and is something that I will continue to use going forward. I spent a lot of time writing my answers and trying to successfully use the PEE method. After having some helpful feedback, I made my answers even better. “What the hell is the PEE method?” Yeah, It’s definitely a dicey name, but it basically lets you lay out your argument or point in an organized fashion. It stands for Point, Evidence, Explanation.
After doing this, we started working on rhetorical analysis. I already had some existing knowledge on this, but it definitely needed a little revamp. This part of the project let me do that. often I struggle with this because I can’t put my point into words. I tried to make myself an outline quickly, so I could take my time putting everything into words. Through the activities that we did, I was able to work on my rhetorical analysis skills. Overall, my end analysis I’m really proud of. After some helpful feedback from my folks, I made it even better.
The Juno Beach Centre and the Legacy of D-day
The Final product of the project was pretty much a culmination of the work we’d been doing. Obviously that makes sense, but for this project specifically, I felt it to be true. We used the previously mentioned rhetoric skills, as well as all our historically significant D-day knowledge to build our final skill. A persuasive writing piece is very Social Studies, so that’s what we did. Our task was simple; convince the reader that the Juno Beach Center (and the surrounding area) should be preserved as much as possible. As the whole project came down to just a few paragraphs, everything had to be perfect. We used lots of class time to share with peers for feedback, and many of us even took it home to share with parents or other close friends. I’m proud of the argument I held, and I guess if you agree with me, I did a good job.
Breakdown
This was definitely one of the projects that felt closer to English study than History, but the teachers do such a good job blending the two. The cool facts motivate my to learn the English skills so I can share them, which makes the whole thing more fun. Thanks for checking out this fun little project, and I wish you well.
-Declan