In Mr. Halabi’s US History 1 class, students prepared and put together a project about the nullification crisis. This project was a fun way to learn more information while also in a fun setting. The project is a pressure-free activity that allows students to make the project unique in their own way with a couple of given requirements that they need to follow.
This project has evolved over the years, and it originally started 4 years ago. Mr. Halabi says, “This all started 4 years ago in a class with Mr. Urso and myself. The both of us really enjoy teaching the Andrew Jackson unit, specifically the ‘Nullification Crisis’.” They both found lots of interest in this topic and wanted to create a project to dig deeper.
Mr. Halabi explained that, “Mr. Urso had found a cartoon of Jackson and Calhoun about to box, so we thought it would be a fun idea to have the kids write fighter introductions.” This project originally started as a 10 minute in class assignment but over the years it has evolved into an entire engaging group project with lots of creative factors such as music, sound effects, music videos etc.
This year there were two main options given for this project. You could do an MMA fight with two opponents Jackson and Calhoun fighting over the nullification crisis. Andrew Jackson was meant to win because that’s how it was in real life. Within these fights students could really do whatever they wanted as long as it wasn’t rude or disrespectful and no actual fighting.
Also, for this fight dressing up and having props was recommended to help make it look better overall. Another option for what you could do was a food-eating competition, in class he showed a video example of this.
The main point of the project no matter what they picked was for the announcers to say facts and give lots of information about both Jackson and Calhoun and their stance in the nullification crisis. Another option of what you could do is a song or rap in which you put the information in as well.
Rielly McGinnis said, “I really enjoyed the project, and it was a lot of fun, it was also helpful watching other people’s project because it gave me an even better understanding.” This shows how the project was not only full of information, but it was also engaging and students had lots of fun out of it.
With the prior information that the class had been researching for a couple of weeks it wasn’t hard to figure out what to use in each project. Alexa Daibes said, “I liked how everyone’s project was so different because it made it a lot more entertaining.” The fact that the students were able to add their own twists and use their creativity to their best ability helped the student stay focused and enthusiastic while watching everyone present.
This project had lots of positive feedback, and it seems like everyone had a very good time learning about the nullification crisis and watching each other’s projects. Emma Yeandle said, “I was a little nervous before it started but it really wasn’t bad once I was up there, and I overall really enjoyed it.”
Emma was a little nervous before it started, which is expected because having nerves before a project is completely normal. But it wasn’t bad at all and according to Emma, “It felt like a very safe environment overall.”
These projects have even been improving since they started 4 years ago, Mr. Halabi says, the project gets better every single year, The kids are so advanced when it comes to the use of technology, and the different editing programs they have on the computers versus what it was years ago.” The advances in technology have made the project even better and overall makes it a better experience, especially from the watcher’s perspectives. This project seems to be very pleasant overall. Mr. Halabi says, “It’s a long day of listening to presentations, but I look forward to it every year. You never know what kids are going to come up with.”
