Documenting the Almeda Fire—Community Partnership Learning

 Documenting the Almeda Fire—Community Partnership Learning

by Debra Moon

    In the fall of 2020, after the fire, after the ashes had settled (literally) and been sifted, after Talent Historical Society (THS) Board Members found new homes, and while many other community members were still searching for a home, the THS Board Members looked at each other, at their October meeting on Zoom, exhausted, frazzled, and said, “Well, all we can think about is the fire. I think we should shift gears and make our main focus documenting the fire.” Unanimous agreement followed. 

    Amazingly, within a month of that fateful decision, THS was contacted by Marcel D’Haem, who teaches at the School of Design and Innovation at Talent Middle School (SDI@TMS). With such historic events taking place, Mr. D’Haem and his class were looking to create a local history project that records the first-hand accounts of the fire and  pandemic, with the eventual goal of using their journals and online sources to document this time period and create a product that could be housed at the Talent Historical Society. 

    Marcel D’Haem and his teaching partner, Heather Armstrong have run the SDI program for six years. Marcel has largely been the Social Studies and Language Arts instructor, while Heather heads up the Science and Math instruction, or portions of their projects. In the last four years they have worked in significant community-centered project-based learning partnerships involving: City Hall, Talent Maker City, Cummins, Inc. and now the Talent Historical Society. 

    Marcel D’Haem describes SDI as “…a program that is project based.” He says that “…any project-based program has got to connect the students to the real world. Our middle school students, in general, have limited experience, or opportunities to experience, the real world yet in their lives. Local community is the best place to start that experience. Luckily, we have a “small-ish” school and a small town where everything is accessible for the students. There are many cool groups for us to work with. The community is vibrant and engaging, and it models the care and attentiveness that is so important for our students to see. Having an authentic audience is essential for the success of project-based learning. Accomplishing something real in the world with a genuine audience provides intrinsic motivation to learn and generates pride within the students.”

    The new project for the SDI students in 2021 is the documentation of the fire experience, and, of course, our seemingly ever-present covid-19 crisis, and how the two have intersected both in Talent and Phoenix. Students at Talent Middle School are from both communities. Mr. D’Haem found a prototype book from the town of Bandon, about the Bandon fire of 1936, for the book that might be produced by his own students about the fire experience. The book is aptly titled, Bandon Burns. Right now, it seems that the collected photos and stories will be posted on the THS website, yet everyone is still looking forward to producing a book from the documents and images. THS has garnered some grant fund support for the website documentation from Jackson County Cultural Coalition and Oregon Heritage Commission. The book may be funded by TMS, or in a joint effort with the historical society. 

    Through this project, the middle school students are becoming acquainted with the Museum, the Talent Historical Society, and many historic downtown sites in Talent (those that were once there and those that remain after the fire). They are documenting enormous historic events in the life of our town. As they do all this, they are also learning interviewing skills, writing skills and publishing skills. 

    What a great way to engage students in their learning and their local history!