Bataan Legacy Historical society is a non-profit educational 501(c)(3) organization duly registered with the U.S.Federal Government.
Motivation for joining the program:
I have possessed a burning curiosity and passion of history for as long as I can remember. I knew from a young age that the only thing I wanted to do was become a history teacher, and I am so fortunate to be living out that dream. As a teacher, I feel as though it is my responsibility to not only impart knowledge unto my students, but to instill in them that same curiosity that pushes me to dig deeper into historical studies. I have always had a particular fascination with World War II, particularly the European front. This all changed when I met Cecilia at an NCSS conference in San Francisco. Ashamedly, I vaguely knew about the happenings in the Philippines during WWII, but I jumped at the opportunity to interview a Filipino veteran Cecilia was able to put me in touch with. My interest in the Philippines snowballed as I found myself not only researching more about the events, but connecting with people who experienced these events first hand. I realized that the Philippines played a crucial part in the Pacific front of the war and that sadly, this was being left out of history classes nationwide. To me, this was an injustice that I could help fight against. Although I have no personal connection to the Philippines and I teach very few Filipino students, I strive to teach this content in a way that engages my students and illustrates to them the importance of the Philippines, not only during the war, but everything that was done to the Philippines after the fighting stopped. It is my job to teach students the good, the bad, and the ugly of history. The Philippines played a vital role in the American war effort and this is a part of history that needs to be remembered and taught to all students. ​

How did WWII and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines affect the different groups of people living on the Filipino Islands

Shelby Thompson graduated from Flagler College in 2014 with a degree in History and Secondary Education. She is currently working on her Master’s degree through Ashland University in American History and Government. Following graduation, Shelby taught for two years at a technical high school in St. Augustine, FL before moving to Jacksonville to teach American and World history at Bishop Kenny High School. While in Jacksonville, she became involved with a documentary project to commemorate the Bataan Death March survivors and the Filipino veterans who helped fight in WWII. She currently resides in Mandeville, LA where she teaches AP world history at Fontainebleau High School. Shelby is an active NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) member and a James Madison Fellow. 



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ESSENTIAL QUESTION IN CREATING LESSON PLAN

My essential question, “How did WWII and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines affect the different groups of people living on the Filipino Islands”, helped to guide my students in their research to help them achieve the overall goal of understanding how each group was affected in their own way. The end goal was for students to look at multiple primary and secondary sources to further their understanding of the events that took place in the Philippines and how those events affected people. Apart from researching a group of people as a whole, students also had to pick an individual within that group to focus on and share that person’s story. Students had to take that information and create a short video to present to the class. Other students were encouraged to take notes from their peers’ presentations. 
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Implementation of  Lesson plan

Students worked individually and were assigned randomly the group of people they would be focusing on. They were referred to websites with multiple primary and secondary sources to help them complete their work, along with a rubric so they would know exactly was I was looking for with these projects. Three class days were devoted to the research and creation of the videos and then we spent one to two days on presentations depending on how many students were in each class. 
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Expectation vs. Actual Results

After assessing the results, I realized that students gained much more from this project than I originally anticipated. Many students were so fascinated by the presentations from their classmates, that they went on to further research these topics independently from this project. That being said, there are things I would like to change. Next time I will provide students with specific sources to use instead of letting them just conduct all the research on their own. I believe this will help to focus them and help them use their time more efficiently. Also, I would spend a full day or two introducing and talking about the Philippines in class before just assigning them the project.  
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