Historical+Reenactments+Strategy

GRADE LEVELS V" 3-5 V" 6-8 I Culture II Time, Continuity, and Change III People, Places, and Environments VII Production, Distribution, and Consumption In a historical reenactment, students recreate a particular historical environment or a particular series of historical events in order to interpret what life would have been like in a different time and place. The reenactment is structured around historical or cultural events, allowing students to live one day in a time or place that is very different from their own. Because of their experiences in a reenactment, students can formulate higher-level questions about a historical event or experience. For example, they might ask why a character behaved in a particular way or what significant actions and interactions caused other events. Because their experience in a culture foreign to them causes them to "disconnect" from their own culture, their responses or reactions are inherently personal (Roth, 1998). Students are often slightly uncomfortable with the reenactment experience; contact with a different culture causes them to question their own beliefs and practices. However, they are usually ready for the next reenactment. Younger students can learn what their community was like in colonial times or when the pioneers settled in the area. Older students explore a variety of subjects from military engagements and the home front to social life and customs. A reenactment requires a 4- to 6-week commitment for planning; thus, the procedural recommendations tl1at follow are divided accordingly. • Determine the objectives, the discussion questions, and the assessment guidelines. • Contact volunteers to help with the reenactment. Many wonderful reenactors, teachers, historical society members, professors, and parents want to help students. Inform these volunteers about the learning objectives and what the students need. • Construct a file about each character to give to a volunteer. Provide articles and photocopies that give each character a unique perspective on the issues of the day. List overall objectives, and highlight objectives particularly important to individual characters within the file. • Create a master plan and a schedule showing all the classes, equipment, tools, and ingredients needed for each activity. Do not forget to accommodate restroom breaks and meals. Consider the time and space required for each experience: More time and space are required for activities that work best with large groups, such as meals. Likewise, when time and space are limited, smaller groups of students should rotate at set intervals. If there are opportunities for historical leisure time, schedule them as well. Students need to understand how people experienced leisure time and what they did for fun as well as work. • Assign volunteers to the schedule. Send a pre briefing letter to the parent or guardian of each child containing a permission form to leave school grounds for the activity if such a form is necessary. • Send letters to volunteers explaining what they need to bring to the reenactment. Provide a copy of the master plan and the schedule to all volunteer participants. • If food is a part of the activity, send recipes to those who are cooking. Encourage these cooks to give the recipes a trial run. • Arrange for a volunteer photographer to document the event. One Week Before the Event • :t!old a meeting with the volunteers to create a story line. Explain how each step of the reenactment might unfold. • Review the important details of the day. Be sure volunteers know what they are to do, where they are to do it, and when they are to do it. • Be sure all volunteers understand that they are not doing projects for students; rather, they are working with the students. • If the event occurs outside, talk with the volunteers about any alternate rain plans when everything moves inside. Assign the areas where specific events are to occur; arrange for alternate indoor sites. • If cooking is a part of the reenactment, arrange for hot plates and electric skillets to be available for the cooking sessions. Locate circuit breakers for outlets. Even if it is planned that students cook over open fires, have hot plates and electric skillets available in case of rain. • Tell the volunteers the location of the central supply depot for the materials needed in their sessions. Acquire supplies ahead of time or arrange for the designated committee to do the shopping. Differentiate between the materials, ingredients, and tools provided and those that the volunteers need to bring with them. SpecifY tl1e location of cold items because schools have multiple refrigerators. Even if the event occurs outside, modern sensibilities do not allow for prolonged periods of unrefrigerated food. Inform volunteers of any areas that are off-limits. • Obtain firewood, if necessary. Because firewood can be difficult to obtain and store, and it is bulky to transport, it requires special planning to get it from the right place at the right time. Hardwoods give the best cooking coals. Cooking fires should have low coals-not high flames. • Shop for groceries. Sort all materials-ingredients, tools, and supplies-for each session into boxes marked for that session. Place a second copy of the schedule and recipe in each box. The Day of the Reenactment • Before people arrive, make sure that a first-aid kit and fire extinguisher are available. • Tell the volunteers where to find the best location for washing utensils and completing other cleanup tasks. Remind them not to use steel wool on cast iron cookware. Tell volunteers the location of the vacuum cleaner and other supplies. Remind them to return all supplies to the supply depot clean. Also remind them to check the restrooms one last time before leaving. • If period clothing is used, label each full costume in its storage bag by size. Label individual pieces by size. Put the bag and students' clothes on the students' desks so that all of their things are together. Have students don reenactment attire in the restroom, assisting them with buttons, suspenders, and hooks. Assign three parents to help with this. Make sure that large safety pins are available for fast alterations. Neatly put all clothes back in the garment bags when students return at the end of the day. Check period clothing for mending and laundering by volunteers. Special Considerations • Build all fires in dug fire pits. Fill in the fire pits at the end of the day. Leave no trace of charcoal exposed. Wear cotton, wool, or linen when working around a fire; those fabrics reduce the chance of catching on fire. Be alert to smoking grease: This generally means the pan is too hot. Always attend to open flames. • Have a food service cater a historical meal or allow students to bring sack lunches to the event. This is the best way to accommodate fussy eaters and twenty-first-century tastes. 7:30 A.M. When the students arrive, they place their sack lunches on their desks and change into their costumes. 8:00 A.M. The teacher greets the students, divides them into small groups for the day, and provides them with a background story setting the time and place for the reenactment. 8:30 A.M. The students meet a voyageur and a Jesuit priest who make first-person historical presentations based on student-generated discussion questions. 9:00 A.M. Students listen as a French woman recounts four French folktales around her campfire. 9:30 A.M. Students participate in three different 20-minute rotating sessions on crafts or cooking demonstrations. 10:30 A.M. Restroom break. 10:45 A.M. Students return to learn about the construction practices used in the oldest residence in the state, the Old French House, with slides of the home and a local historian from the community. 11:30 A.M. Students continue to explore the French language with song and dance. These reinforce counting, introductions, and games coupled with customs and manners. 12:00 P.M. Students eat lunch. A restroom break follows. 12:30 P.M. Students listen to a first-person historical presentation: A French woman of Ouiatenon talks about French settlements in the New World. 12:45 P.M. Students attend a first-person historical presentation by a Native American warrior who gives a perspective about Franco-Native American relations that is different from the French woman. 1:00 P.M. Students and adults model their period clothing in a fashion show depicting farmers, officers, tradesmen, merchants, upper-class women, lower-class women, traders, priests, marines, and voyageurs. 1:30 P.M. Students participate in the second activity period, consisting of four different 30-minute rotating sessions on various topics. 2:30 P.M. Restroom break. 2:45 P.M. The second activity period resumes. Students taste traditional foods. 3:45 P.M. Students listen to first-person historical presentations by a French Marine and a French farmer. 4:15 P.M. In the debriefing session, the whole group responds to discussion questions that require students to reflect on the entire day. 4:30 P.M. Students assist with the cleanup and then change out of their period clothing. 4:45 P.M. French reenactment ends. During the reenactment, students do each of the following: • Smoke and sample jerky. • Pick up a canoe. • Pack bundles to feel how much the French carried on a portage. • Tryon a bone corset. • Sew an essential article of clothing a pair of drawstring pockets. • .}Vash, card, and spin wool. • Receive rudimentary French and French folk song instruction. • Do some hard trading on the trade blanket with the French trader. • Cook a pot of French onion soup, and prepare Indian fry bread over an open flame. • Cook Canadian oatmeal shortbread, corn chowder, and common bread. • Bake French marble cake and herb batter bread. • Carry water from a spring, and clean pans. • Play ninepins and checkers, walk on stilts, shoot marbles, or roll hoops. Aud, A., Bland, G., Brown, B., & Law, B. (1999). A walk through time: A living history project. Social Education) 63 (5), 13-16. Gilbert, L., & Gilbert, J. (1998). Living history as an experience. Pathways. The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education) 1O( 3) 5-9. Johnson, C. (1995). Who was I? Creating a living history persona. Excelsior Springs, MO: Fine Arts Press. Morris, R. V. (2005). The Clio Club: An extracurricular model for elementary social studies enrichment. Gifted Child Today) 28(1), 40-48. Morris, R. V. (2002a). Third grade at Simmons Elementary School, ca 1900. Social Studies &the Young Learner, 14(4), 6-10. Morris, R. V. (2002b). Presidents' Day in second grade with first-person presentations. Gifted Child Today) 25(4),26-29,64.