Chapter 2: What Period to "Live"
When getting started, you will have to decide in what historical period you want your Living History Program to take place. This is not done in a vacuum. It is closely tied in with your school’s and classes’ curriculum. At the same time you want to choose a period which excites you and your teaching team.
Example: Your state’s Department of Education requires that all seventh grades in the state will include social studies relating to the 18th Century in the United States. This era provides a rich environment for choosing a period that is related to the century. Two periods which offer potential for programs are the French and Indian War (1757 to 1763) and the American Revolutionary War (1775 to 1785). Integrating your program into the curriculum will be relatively easy. If the state mandate was the 19th Century, then the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Seminole War, and the Civil War offer possibilities.
Your school district may be in a part of the state which is particularly significant in a certain period of history. You can take advantage of local historical sites and museums for their assistance. Many have knowledgeable personnel who are more than willing to lend their time to helping you choose a program which takes advantage of the facilities and points of interest in the vicinity of the school.
Example: Your school district is in northern Delaware and close to the Brandywine, Pennsylvania, Battlefield Park and Valley Forge encampment site. In determining what period you want for your program, you contact docents at the park and site. They suggest to you Revolutionary War commemorative events and activities wherein you and your students in the program can participate. A year-end encampment along Brandywine Creek at the battlefield site or a winter visit to Valley Forge could be features of your program and their inclusion be part of the consideration as to what period to “live.”
It is important that you choose an era which personally excites you. You are going to have to put a great deal of time into the program, and you will have many obstacles to overcome. You need to have a vested interest in the program, and if you are not excited about the era you are replicating, you will find the program dragging and eventually dying. At the same time, your enthusiasm will be transmitted to your student participants, and you will find that if you really are excited, they will be also.
Example: As a history teacher you like to read military history. You collect militaria which a relative brought back from a conflict in which he or she was once engaged. In your history class you introduce items of historical significance pertaining to the curriculum. While you are not teaching war or militarism, realistically you cannot avoid reference to the subjects, but you want to deftly integrate them into presentations. You can thus use your background and interest to advantage in choosing a suitable historical period while at the same time you are adhering to the school’s curriculum.
Example: As a result of your post graduate education, you have taken hands-on courses dealing with the American Civil War. You have joined a reenactment group as a private in a Civil War volunteer infantry regiment. Your school’s curriculum includes study of the Civil War, and because of your personal interest in and enthusiasm for the period, you determine that your program will encompass the Civil War era.
Where there is no guidance as to school, district, or state about teaching a particular period in history, you then have a free hand in determining which time period you want to replicate. If you do not have a clear idea as to what course you want to pursue, you can sound out your students as to their interests. You may have difficulty, however, in finding a student who has a particular historical interest, but the chances are that in at least one class you will find one who will suggest an appropriate interest.
Example: During one of your classes at the beginning of the school year, you ask your students to share with you and the rest of the class something of historical interest they did during the summer vacation. You ask for impromptu comments and then have them write a short essay on the subject. You find that one student has visited the battlefield at Gettysburg and he relates how interesting, and fun, it was to go there. Taking his experience as your cue, you amplify the discussion and formulate a program which encompasses the American Civil War.
Example: At the beginning of the school year, you cannot elicit any suggestions from your students which might lead to starting a Living History Program. This is an opportunity then to make some of your own general suggestions backed up with a presentation offering several possibilities. The students write short essays on your presentation. A group discussion is then used to flesh out several ideas for a program.
Your teaching team should not be overlooked in selecting a program era. While the participating students are the most important part of the program, the members of your teaching team, along with you, are going to make the program work. Within curriculum parameters their input as to which period the program is to encompass can be key. While you already may have a good idea as to how you want to execute the program, the backgrounds of the other teachers can also be valuable in choosing the era.
Example: The science teacher of your teaching team is interested in hiking. She spends her summers hiking in state and national parks. She particularly likes to hike in parks with historical significance. In planning your Living History Program, she discusses how she hiked the route the British general Braddock took to what was then western Virginia en route to Fort Pitt. She is enthusiastic about the French and Indian War period as the subject of the program.
Example: The English teacher loves to sew. She particularly likes challenges, such as quilts and archaic items of clothing. She mentions that during the American Civil War, soldiers carried many different flags, and she would like to try to reproduce a Confederate regimental battle flag. A program involving the Civil War would therefore be of special interest to her.
There are many ways to integrate the Living History Program into the school’s curriculum. The easiest, however, is to take the lead from your own enthusiasm and follow your creative instincts in choosing an appropriate historical era which is rich in available information.
Example: Your state’s Department of Education requires that all seventh grades in the state will include social studies relating to the 18th Century in the United States. This era provides a rich environment for choosing a period that is related to the century. Two periods which offer potential for programs are the French and Indian War (1757 to 1763) and the American Revolutionary War (1775 to 1785). Integrating your program into the curriculum will be relatively easy. If the state mandate was the 19th Century, then the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Seminole War, and the Civil War offer possibilities.
Your school district may be in a part of the state which is particularly significant in a certain period of history. You can take advantage of local historical sites and museums for their assistance. Many have knowledgeable personnel who are more than willing to lend their time to helping you choose a program which takes advantage of the facilities and points of interest in the vicinity of the school.
Example: Your school district is in northern Delaware and close to the Brandywine, Pennsylvania, Battlefield Park and Valley Forge encampment site. In determining what period you want for your program, you contact docents at the park and site. They suggest to you Revolutionary War commemorative events and activities wherein you and your students in the program can participate. A year-end encampment along Brandywine Creek at the battlefield site or a winter visit to Valley Forge could be features of your program and their inclusion be part of the consideration as to what period to “live.”
It is important that you choose an era which personally excites you. You are going to have to put a great deal of time into the program, and you will have many obstacles to overcome. You need to have a vested interest in the program, and if you are not excited about the era you are replicating, you will find the program dragging and eventually dying. At the same time, your enthusiasm will be transmitted to your student participants, and you will find that if you really are excited, they will be also.
Example: As a history teacher you like to read military history. You collect militaria which a relative brought back from a conflict in which he or she was once engaged. In your history class you introduce items of historical significance pertaining to the curriculum. While you are not teaching war or militarism, realistically you cannot avoid reference to the subjects, but you want to deftly integrate them into presentations. You can thus use your background and interest to advantage in choosing a suitable historical period while at the same time you are adhering to the school’s curriculum.
Example: As a result of your post graduate education, you have taken hands-on courses dealing with the American Civil War. You have joined a reenactment group as a private in a Civil War volunteer infantry regiment. Your school’s curriculum includes study of the Civil War, and because of your personal interest in and enthusiasm for the period, you determine that your program will encompass the Civil War era.
Where there is no guidance as to school, district, or state about teaching a particular period in history, you then have a free hand in determining which time period you want to replicate. If you do not have a clear idea as to what course you want to pursue, you can sound out your students as to their interests. You may have difficulty, however, in finding a student who has a particular historical interest, but the chances are that in at least one class you will find one who will suggest an appropriate interest.
Example: During one of your classes at the beginning of the school year, you ask your students to share with you and the rest of the class something of historical interest they did during the summer vacation. You ask for impromptu comments and then have them write a short essay on the subject. You find that one student has visited the battlefield at Gettysburg and he relates how interesting, and fun, it was to go there. Taking his experience as your cue, you amplify the discussion and formulate a program which encompasses the American Civil War.
Example: At the beginning of the school year, you cannot elicit any suggestions from your students which might lead to starting a Living History Program. This is an opportunity then to make some of your own general suggestions backed up with a presentation offering several possibilities. The students write short essays on your presentation. A group discussion is then used to flesh out several ideas for a program.
Your teaching team should not be overlooked in selecting a program era. While the participating students are the most important part of the program, the members of your teaching team, along with you, are going to make the program work. Within curriculum parameters their input as to which period the program is to encompass can be key. While you already may have a good idea as to how you want to execute the program, the backgrounds of the other teachers can also be valuable in choosing the era.
Example: The science teacher of your teaching team is interested in hiking. She spends her summers hiking in state and national parks. She particularly likes to hike in parks with historical significance. In planning your Living History Program, she discusses how she hiked the route the British general Braddock took to what was then western Virginia en route to Fort Pitt. She is enthusiastic about the French and Indian War period as the subject of the program.
Example: The English teacher loves to sew. She particularly likes challenges, such as quilts and archaic items of clothing. She mentions that during the American Civil War, soldiers carried many different flags, and she would like to try to reproduce a Confederate regimental battle flag. A program involving the Civil War would therefore be of special interest to her.
There are many ways to integrate the Living History Program into the school’s curriculum. The easiest, however, is to take the lead from your own enthusiasm and follow your creative instincts in choosing an appropriate historical era which is rich in available information.