WSD eighth graders are summarizing what they have learned about the American Revolution. Working in teams, they first chose what they believe are the five most important events of the war, or that led to war. Then they included that information, as well as answers to specific questions, in Google Slides they shared with peers. As a final step, students chose one of the five events and created promotional posters for it – as if the event were a feature film.
“Students were told to include the ‘stars’ of the event, images of select ‘scenes,’ and some taglines for why the event is important,” explains History teacher Jake Smith. “I also encouraged them to include any information – important, trivial, or just fun – they felt would make their movie posters appealing.”
The project has created a lot of “buzz” among students, who welcomed this creative, engaging alternative to a traditional report. “All of us had different ideas and suggestions,” observed one student. “And it was fun to put each of them into the poster. I also liked using AI to create some of the specific images we wanted. I feel like I learned a lot!” Students have been highly engaged throughout this history unit, but have especially loved using their creativity to show what they know.
