This past year at Asbury Park High School, Mr. Wronko’s students had produced very artistic and professionally created projects.
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News from Asbury Park High School
One of the projects they had worked on was the Ironclad project. The Ironclad project was a multi-level assignment which called for the students to make many connections throughout history including events going on in the world today.
This project was also presented on Mr. Wronko’s LinkedIn page.
The Ironclad Project
The Ironclad Project is a multi-stage project which consists of making many connections not only throughout history but also other areas of study. Follow each stage and its requirements.
Stage One:
What were the Ironclads? Who created them? What were their names? When did they fight? Where did they fight? Who won the fight?
Connection: In the war that had Ironclads, what was that war? What was that war about and what were the causes?
In that war that requires research through this connection, what inspiration group was created through the help of Frederick Douglas? What was that group’s history and challenges they faced? What other groups or people did that group inspire and why? (Think about Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen, Colin Powell you can use these but also find other groups and people)
Further the connection:
When were the Buffalo Soldiers created and what purpose did, they serve including what wars did they serve in?
When were the Tuskegee Airmen created? What challenges did they face while creating this group? What war did they serve in? What was that war about and what were the causes?
Stage Two Create and Design:
Create your own Ironclad:
Design a blue print on what your Ironclad would look like:
- Rooms (including battle rooms)
- Weapons (cannons)
- Engineering (how is it controlled what does it run on)
After the blue print create a mini poster on what your Ironclad should look like as a whole.
Then create a five-page play based on your Ironclad. In your play give the correct war that it was in and what was your mission on this Ironclad. Describe your scenes in the play, have a battle with another Ironclad, or have a battle with a battalion of soldiers etc. (Create: Have special helmets that your crew would wear on the Ironclad Connections: When were helmets and face paint used throughout history and why) Also, how did disease a play a factor in this war? Medical connection: How were things treated back then compared to today. Somewhere in your play show someone having a disease from this time frame and how it was treated.
Video Connection
Make a video based on your play. Create a scene in which you are inside your Ironclad. Have dialogue, your own special effects and good acting.
Bonus Connection
Create another short film based on a commercial of your science project. The commercial could be an advertisement or a trailer for a movie based on your science project used in the science fair.
What Else: During the war in which the Ironclads were a part of, what other underwater device was created? What side did it serve on? What were the results? Did the Ironclads inspire that creation or did that creation inspire the Ironclads or neither? If neither inspired each other, what inspired it to be created?
What Else part 2: Connect the Ironclad to engineering, did it lead to inspiring todays’ submarines to being created?
Stage Two:
Further the connections: Is there a possibility that the Ironclad invention led a path to the exploration of space? Explain.
Evolving Solider of the Navy: Explain how the soldier of the navy developed from the time of serving on the Ironclad to the period of today.
Did the war that had the Ironclad battle have any similarities to the conflicts of today such as Russia invading Ukraine or China planning an invasion of Taiwan? Explain.
Did an audience watch the Ironclads battle? Did they get hurt? Why did people watch battles during that time frame if they were not news reporters? Was there any battle during that war in which the Ironclads fought in which audience members were injured or even killed?
At the Battle of Cannae Hannibal surrounded and defeated the Romans. At the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russians surrounded and defeated the Germans. During the war in which the Ironclads fought, name and describe a battle that was similar to the surrounding method of the Battle of Cannae and the Battle of Stalingrad.
Commercial Break question: Was Sherman’s March similar to the use of the atomic bombs of World War II?
Stage Three:
Star Spangled War Stories was a very popular comic book involving soldiers battling prehistoric creatures. Create a one-to-two-page comic with scenes involving your created Ironclad going to a Land that Time Forgot to battle prehistoric creatures. While you are there you meet and team up with other groups that got trapped in time such as the platoon who served at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a platoon from the Korean War, and a platoon from the Vietnam War.
After your comic creation give a brief history summary about the platoon from the Battle of Iwo Jima, the platoon and history about the Korean War, and the platoon and history about the Vietnam War.
Commercial: The novel, The Land That Time Forgot took place in what war? Give a summary about that war.
Commercial: The ship of Theseus. Solve the puzzle and explain if the ship of Theseus is still the same ship if it had its parts replaced over an extended period of time. The Ship Of Theseus Thought Experiment (thecollector.com)
Stage Four Presentation:
Presentations can be in the form of power point presentations, videos, posters, reports etc.
Follow the guidelines to the rubric:
- Everything written is in your own words and your own thoughts.
- Presentations have to be organized. (Follow the format of the assignment, speak clear, clear visuals, and enthusiasm).
- Time spent in class must working on this project must be reflected in a well thought out presentation.
- All components must be completed. If any component is missing, for the grade not to be dropped all other components must be done without error.
- Even though all groups are following the same format, try to be creative and different.
Artistic Work Displayed in Prehistoric Times Magazine, Memorial Day at the VFW in Neptune, On LinkedIn!
In addition to the Ironclad project, Mr. Wronko’s students had their artwork published in Prehistoric Times Magazine issue 145 and the current issue 146. They were inspired to do the artwork through their participation in the Cretaceous Warzone project which involved them creating stories of prehistoric creatures fighting for survival in all different kinds of environments.
Furthermore, Mr. Wronko’s students’ artistic skills were seen when his students created a Memorial Day poster. His students poster was put on display at a special Ghana Session at the 1333 VFW Post in Neptune New Jersey.
Besides being presented at the VFW Post, the Memorial Day poster was also featured on Mr. Wronko’s LinkedIn page.
Awards
Before Mr. Wronko returned to Asbury Park School District, he was awarded Citizenship Education Teacher Award and The State of New Jersey Senate Citation recognition by Senator Vin Gopal. When Mr. Wronko returned to his job, he shared his awards with his students to show them no matter what challenges they may face, never give up and this statement was proven to be true through their efforts with the projects they created and got published!
