Those Who Can't, Re-Enact

Now this is how to teach history. (hat tip: David Frum)

Comments

That is beautiful. I applaud those teachers for trying something new. I wonder if it really does make the kids want to go out and read more.

Posted by billiards | May 18, 2008 3:49 PM

North Cross is Roanoke's snooty prep school, FYI.

Posted by roac | May 18, 2008 4:23 PM

My middle school history teacher taught us Revolutionary, Napoleonic and Civil War battles by having us go out into a field and and have different groups of students represent different corps on the field of battle. It's a great method, and one that served my memory even in college.

Posted by ezekiel | May 18, 2008 6:17 PM

I love the idea, but I'm sure eventually some kid gets hurt, and the parent files a lawsuit. That's it for the reenactments.

Posted by cynic | May 18, 2008 8:58 PM

ezekiel, what good does it do to go to some field and have different groups of students represent different crops on the field of battle?

Posted by confused | May 18, 2008 8:59 PM

Better understanding of farm subsidies.

Posted by Gully | May 19, 2008 1:42 AM

I think it's important to get kids to empathize with the challenges of being a barbarian. They should moreover be taught that raping and pillaging weren't all fun in games either, and could prove quite mentally and physically exhausting. There was always intense peer pressure to have despoiled more women than your fellow comrades-in-arms, for example.

Posted by Bill | May 19, 2008 7:04 AM

confused: There are a few reasons.

1. It integrates all your senses into the act of learning, which helps you remember better.

2. If you want to easily teach how major battles unfolded, this is really a good method. You remember how it happened because you have an abstract picture of how it looked and a memory of how you and others moved.

3. It's fun (Though I should note that there were some gender disagreements in the class on exactly how fun it was.) It brings the history to life in a way that doesn't normally happen.

Classmates of mine still joke about how Mr. H's battles have stuck with us. All of us used things we remembered from them on our AP US exams in high school (those who took them) and many of us in college tests.

Now that we're all in the "real world", maybe all that stuff in 7th grade was a bit trivial, but I doubt it.

Posted by ezekiel | May 19, 2008 12:50 PM

Gully got the joke. Ezekiel did not.

Posted by confused | May 19, 2008 1:42 PM