When
they walk into your classroom, do teachers, parents, administrators, and community
members wonder what century your students are living in? Are students talking
about the Stamp Act and "taxation without representation," The Non-Importation
Agreement and the problems of serving dinner without imported tea or attending
the Governor's ball in homespun, or the demands of militia drill practices
for General Washington? Do you want your students to discuss and debate these
eighteenth-century concerns as current events and to remember and apply their
knowledge on state history/social studies tests? Teachers from Alabama to
Texas to California have reached this goal by creating Colonial Day programs
that excite and engage their students in the study of history.
Recreating a colonial town provides many benefits for students
and teachers, including meeting state history/social studies, language arts,
and technology standards, giving students ownership of their education, using
multiple learning styles, teaching teamwork, developing research, writing,
and presentation skills, and making the study of history meaningful and relevant.
To
start a project of this type, students will need background knowledge of the
time period. United States History/Social Studies Standards from across the
United States focus on the people and events that lead to the thirteen American
colonies declaring independence and forming our nation. As students select
their biographical role for the town, they must learn and use research skills,
read primary sources, and organize and present the information in a logical
manner. To role-play a person in a given time period, an in-depth understanding
of the person and events is also necessary. For example, in a San Jose school,
I watched two young men portraying the brothers Peyton Randolph, a patriot,
and John Randolph, a loyalist, debate the benefits and problems of the Townsend
Duties. It was an argument between two brothers and not a mere recitation
of facts about the Townsend Duties. It was very evident that these young men
understood the event and its impact on their characters' lives. Other students
who visited Colonial Williamsburg after participating in a colonial day at
their school took ownership of the information. As they visit sites in the
Historic Area, they stated, "I lived here" and "I want to visit
"my" house."
Colonial Days promote multiple learning styles. As they work
in cooperative learning groups, each student can excel in creating their shop,
store, tavern, or event. Students have an opportunity to express themselves
verbally and in writing to create and portray their characters. Students actively
participate in the life of the town from baking bread to dancing to drilling
with the militia. Taking on the roles of eighteenth-century people allows
students to demonstrate relationships between individuals and explore the
inner thoughts of their characters. Students with strong spatial skills excel
in designing their sets or shops. Colonial Days projects give students many
ways to be actively engaged in their learning.
Not
only do students learn history, but they also learn to be historians and develop
presentation skills. They learn to look for primary sources on the Internet
and at the library-primary sources that allow them to see, hear, taste, smell,
and touch the past. As students role-play a character, they can use the actual
words from diaries, newspapers, and books from the past to hear the actual
words and feelings of a person. For example, a student role-playing the character
of Frances Tasker Carter, can learn how they felt when the following situation
occurred during a dance lesson her children were attending: " I observe
in the course of the lessons, that Mr. Christian is punctual, and rigid in
his discipline, so strict indeed that he struck two of the young Misses for
a fault in the course of their performance, even in the presence of the Mother
of one of them!" If a student is portraying Mrs. Carter, they can look
at her portrait to see how she dressed and presented herself. Perhaps
she owned a cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah
Glasse. The student could select a recipe and actually taste and smell the
past as they are preparing a recipe.
Finally, Colonial Days enable students to make the past relevant
to their daily lives. Matthew Walton, an 11-year-old from Poway School District,
California stated, "It was a lot better than reading a book because we
got to actually do it, and that made it fun." Teachers have also touted
the success of these programs. Barbara Freeman from Leinkauf Elementary School
in Mobile, Alabama commented, "They not only acquired a lot of expertise
in their field of labor, but took on the role of the early American colonists…
It is such a wonderful experience for students and teachers alike, to bring
the text out of their history books and live it firsthand."
If you are interested in meeting the Standards of Learning AND
making history exciting for your students, now is the time to step back into
the past, use primary sources and multiple skills and intelligences, and bring
the people and events of the past alive. (To get you started, this
PDF document contains a compilation of materials from several teachers
who have created colonial days in their schools. NOTE: Requires the free
Adobe Acrobat reader.)
Tour the Town Online
Kids Zone: Online games & activities
Historic Triangle
