What Makes a Memory?

What Makes a Memory Entire Activity

What Makes a Memory Entire Activity

CURRICULUM LINKS
Citizenship (KS2) / (KS3) / (KS4) (see ‘Learning with veterans’ activities)

This introductory activity can be used to prepare pupils, of any age, for learning activities based on Their Past Your Future veterans’ reflective questionnaires. It encourages pupils to engage with the material and think about the process of making memories, by asking ‘what do we remember most? And why?’

Pupils will grasp the authenticity of the veterans’ questionnaires, and understand how they came about. By considering why we remember certain events in our lives better than others, pupils will recognise the personal significance to veterans of the memories they describe, and appreciate the magnitude of wartime and commemorative events.

RESOURCES

For this activity you will need to download the following resources (available to download separately or as part of the entire activity):

• Sample timelines (for information only)
• Jim’s story (split the document into 8 ‘years’ in advance)

DESCRIPTION

1. Before starting this introductory activity, explain to the class that 2004-2005 saw the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War – the largest conflict that the world has ever seen, and through which up to 60 million people around the world lost their lives. Recap the role that Britain and other Allied countries played, and the fact that many ordinary British people, and many thousands of people from other Commonwealth countries, enlisted to serve in the Armed Forces to help to defend Allied nations and protect a democratic way of life.
   
   To mark the 60th anniversary, the Big Lottery provided over £15 million for UK veterans of the conflict to return to areas where they served overseas. Around 20,000 veterans, mostly in their eighties or nineties, went back to places that were ingrained in their memories for 60 years.
   
2. Introduce the reflective questionnaires. Extracts pupils will encounter in the activities to follow are taken from the questionnaires, written by veterans on returning from individual commemorative visits. The responses record veterans’ thoughts, feelings and opinions about their own wartime experiences, the lessons they have learnt, and their personal views about war, peace, commemoration, and the future.
   
3. Ask the class to think about their own earliest memories. Divide the class into groups and initiate small group discussions about what sorts of things they remember. Expand the discussion to include anything people tend to remember in their lives. Pupils might think of things like rights of passage, big family events, birthdays, holidays, or even sad memories (be prepared in case any pupils find the themes upsetting).
   
   Ask pupils to call out some sorts of things they remember, but don’t spend too long on this – write a few good examples on the board.
   
4. Ask pupils, as a class, what sorts of things bring memories to mind? What triggers a memory? Using suggestions from this and the previous activity, build a list on the board of ‘what makes us remember’. E.g.:
   STRONG EMOTIONS (BAD) – traumatic events / accidents / goodbyes
   STRONG EMOTIONS (GOOD) – first love / new experiences / reunions
   MEMORABLE LIFE EVENTS – first time abroad / exams / coming of age
   RED LETTER DAYS - birthdays / anniversaries / announcements (VE Day?)
   SENSES – sights / sounds / smells / taste / touch (feeling pain, cold etc)
   Often senses and emotions are connected in our minds to particular events, memories or people. They can recall powerful memories when experienced again, particularly if one visits somewhere not visited for a long time, or if one does something that has not been done for ages.
   
5. Draw a timeline on the board to represent the life of a young person alive today, to show what they might expect to experience between the ages of 15 and 22. Ask the class to suggest memorable events and milestones that might be encountered between ages 15 to 22, and write them on the timeline (see example ‘A’ in ‘Sample timelines’).
   
6. Now split the class into eight groups, and hand out the document ‘Jim’s story’. This is a made-up case study (based on real anecdotes) about a boy whose teenage years coincide with the Second World War. Read the introduction then give each group a ‘year’ to read.
   
7. Draw a timeline on the board to represent ‘Jim’. Ask each group, in order of ‘year’ to read out the things that happen in Jim’s life that year. Write the events on the timeline (see example ‘B’ in ‘Sample timelines’).

The purpose of this exercise is for pupils to understand what a momentous time the Second World War was in many people’s lives, and on a national and global scale, through looking at the example of one individual. The activity may encourage empathy between pupils and the veterans’ whose stories they will encounter in the activities to follow. It will help pupils to understand the extraordinary nature of the events veterans may have had to deal with as teenagers and young adults; and why they remember the events so well, and feel it is important to share their memories with others.