Living History Education Foundation Curriculum
| living_hist._manual-2009.pdf |
INTRODUCTION
The primary goal of the Living History Program is to provide a hands-on, experiential learning environment which fulfils the need for a creative approach to social studies. Living history is designed to stimulate student interest in learning about the human side of history and involves not only social studies but English, mathematics, and science as well as the arts and music. It is applicable at an elementary, secondary, and graduate level, but has proven especially effective at the middle school level.
The Living History Program is unique in that it is instrumental in enhancing the self-esteem of a student, which it accomplishes through the following features. First, allow the students to engage in activities and assume responsibilities commensurate with their maturity level. Second, permit the students to experiences in the program what the individual is capable of doing, not what cannot be accomplished. Third, assist students through concentrated involvement in the activities to achieve a distinct sense of personal accomplishment and self esteem.
The program began at the Blue Mountain Middle School in the fall of 1969 when I, Joseph J. Ryan, a social studies teacher of 7th and 8th grade students at the school, conducted a demonstration of 18th Century military style drill in the school parking lot. I selected twelve interested seventh grade students and had them dress in their versions of 18th Century military uniforms which proved to be more imaginative than representative of the time. Choosing a study hall or free period when the students had no other obligations, I taught them the rudiments of military drill as would have been performed by trained soldiers fighting in the American
Revolutionary War. I then had my students line up in a military formation in the school’s parking lot where I issued commands requiring my “soldiers” to perform those movements which I had previously explained to them. This was done in front of an audience of other students and certain faculty members who were interested in knowing more about the life of a soldier during the Revolution. The demonstration became the genesis for a school year program which was designed to immerse the student in what it was like to live in the latter part of the 18th Century during a period of armed conflict.
This introductory step led to a year long course of study which culminated in a three-day encampment and mock battle on a Revolutionary War battlefield. Related activities, including a formal regimental dinner and parades on holidays, were conducted throughout the school year, all directed towards a grand finale at an historic site.
This manual provides guidelines and information for the introduction and execution of a historically driven program which involves a large number of students in an all encompassing way.
The primary goal of the Living History Program is to provide a hands-on, experiential learning environment which fulfils the need for a creative approach to social studies. Living history is designed to stimulate student interest in learning about the human side of history and involves not only social studies but English, mathematics, and science as well as the arts and music. It is applicable at an elementary, secondary, and graduate level, but has proven especially effective at the middle school level.
The Living History Program is unique in that it is instrumental in enhancing the self-esteem of a student, which it accomplishes through the following features. First, allow the students to engage in activities and assume responsibilities commensurate with their maturity level. Second, permit the students to experiences in the program what the individual is capable of doing, not what cannot be accomplished. Third, assist students through concentrated involvement in the activities to achieve a distinct sense of personal accomplishment and self esteem.
The program began at the Blue Mountain Middle School in the fall of 1969 when I, Joseph J. Ryan, a social studies teacher of 7th and 8th grade students at the school, conducted a demonstration of 18th Century military style drill in the school parking lot. I selected twelve interested seventh grade students and had them dress in their versions of 18th Century military uniforms which proved to be more imaginative than representative of the time. Choosing a study hall or free period when the students had no other obligations, I taught them the rudiments of military drill as would have been performed by trained soldiers fighting in the American
Revolutionary War. I then had my students line up in a military formation in the school’s parking lot where I issued commands requiring my “soldiers” to perform those movements which I had previously explained to them. This was done in front of an audience of other students and certain faculty members who were interested in knowing more about the life of a soldier during the Revolution. The demonstration became the genesis for a school year program which was designed to immerse the student in what it was like to live in the latter part of the 18th Century during a period of armed conflict.
This introductory step led to a year long course of study which culminated in a three-day encampment and mock battle on a Revolutionary War battlefield. Related activities, including a formal regimental dinner and parades on holidays, were conducted throughout the school year, all directed towards a grand finale at an historic site.
This manual provides guidelines and information for the introduction and execution of a historically driven program which involves a large number of students in an all encompassing way.