Grand Blanc East Middle School LINKS Program Creates Living Wax Museum to Spread Awareness
LINKS is a peer-to-peer support program that "links" general education peers with students who have disabilities at Grand Blanc East Middle School.
On January 15, 2019, students from the program created a living wax museum in the East Middle School Lecture Hall. Each student in the program researched a person (famous or infamous, living or deceased) who has been identified as someone on the Autism Spectrum, who they feel deserved to be honored at their museum for their perseverance, creativity, and bravery. The purpose of this "Celebration of Learning" is to bring awareness of the incredible successes people can obtain despite their differences.
A Living Wax Museum is very similar to a real wax museum, in that visitors can come and learn about a variety of people. The main difference is that the LINKS students were acting as the statues, who "became" the people they have selected to honor. They collected research and shared out important life facts, including challenges and successes their subjects experienced. Some students chose to dress in costume for their role.
They had supporting posters noting important facts about their chosen subject standing behind them, and upon stepping on the "button" on the floor in front of the student, they would recite information as if they were that person.
This interactive event was offered to staff, students throughout the day, parents, and also to community members for an hour in the afternoon. The living wax museum engaged students by making them the teacher. Students outside that class benefit from the lesson, as well. In this case, all of our community benefited from learning about people with a disability, thereby spreading awareness through the LINKS program, as well.
Students did an excellent job of honoring the people that they researched. Students from other classes that toured the wax museum were impressed with their knowledge and enjoyed listening to their presentations.
Meghan Scollon, School Social Worker for Grand Blanc Schools and Elizabeth Francis, LINKS Peer-to-Peer support teacher, guided these students to do a wonderful job highlighting the individuals they had chosen to research.
On January 15, 2019, students from the program created a living wax museum in the East Middle School Lecture Hall. Each student in the program researched a person (famous or infamous, living or deceased) who has been identified as someone on the Autism Spectrum, who they feel deserved to be honored at their museum for their perseverance, creativity, and bravery. The purpose of this "Celebration of Learning" is to bring awareness of the incredible successes people can obtain despite their differences.
A Living Wax Museum is very similar to a real wax museum, in that visitors can come and learn about a variety of people. The main difference is that the LINKS students were acting as the statues, who "became" the people they have selected to honor. They collected research and shared out important life facts, including challenges and successes their subjects experienced. Some students chose to dress in costume for their role.
They had supporting posters noting important facts about their chosen subject standing behind them, and upon stepping on the "button" on the floor in front of the student, they would recite information as if they were that person.
This interactive event was offered to staff, students throughout the day, parents, and also to community members for an hour in the afternoon. The living wax museum engaged students by making them the teacher. Students outside that class benefit from the lesson, as well. In this case, all of our community benefited from learning about people with a disability, thereby spreading awareness through the LINKS program, as well.
Students did an excellent job of honoring the people that they researched. Students from other classes that toured the wax museum were impressed with their knowledge and enjoyed listening to their presentations.
Meghan Scollon, School Social Worker for Grand Blanc Schools and Elizabeth Francis, LINKS Peer-to-Peer support teacher, guided these students to do a wonderful job highlighting the individuals they had chosen to research.
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