TTT&T Teacher Vanguard
As described in Part I and Part 2 of the debut series of TEACHERS IN THE VANGUARD, Jayne Clare and Anne Rachel have been on the cutting edge of the app industry from its inception.
Is History Boring?
Our mission at Time Traveler Tours & Tales is to Make. History. Fun.
So this summer, to test whether we are on the right track, Team TTT&T surveyed dozens of teachers and parents of teens and 'tweens on the challenges they face turning young people on to history.
We reveal some of their survey responses, paraphrased and thematically grouped, below.
Please feel free to add your own in the comments following this post...
Challenge #1: History is Dry, Dull, Difficult
“The way history is presented is all too often dry and not always developmentally appropriate.”
”No amount of outlining textbook content will help my son to memorize dates and understand time-lines. For him, this just makes the study of history difficult.”
”I teach 6th grade and somehow by the time students reach me, history’s already got a bad name.”
”Leading figures in history have been reduced to names and dates on a history test.”
”The teaching of history seems to display a linear progression of public events, a changing landscape of wars and kingdoms and governments. That’s the perfect presentation to fit a test-driven society, but not one that tells the whole story.”
Response: Make History Personal.
“Connect historical characters and events to kids’ own lives.”
”Have them interview their elders, record these stories, then make their own time-lines, linking the lives of their ancestors to historical times and places.”
”Offer kids first-hand experiences, like field trips and theater-based activities, that help them imagine the world then, so that they may build valid associations to now.”
”Offer them great, age-appropriate biographies of fascinating historical characters pitched to their particular interest and reading level.”
Challenge #2: Comprehending Time in the Past
“Helping students to understand the concept of time, e.g., 100 years ago, 1000 years ago, is a huge challenge.”
”Kids are bored by the distant past.”
”They think, ‘Old equals boring.’ They ask, ‘Why should this matter to me?’”
Response: Make History Accessible and Relevant.
“Use authentic, or primary source, materials, such as music, art, food, toys, fashion. These things make history more ‘real’ to students.”
”Show them that history is always repeating itself; that it isn’t just events that happened once in a linear fashion, but have recurred throughout time and all over the world.”
”In every major time period, there is one thing that has shaped the way kids live today. Make it like a mystery for them to figure out.”
”Encourage young people to read novels set in the era being studied. The greatest stories share the humanity in history and can be found in literature.”
Challenge #3: It Doesn’t Concern Me
“It’s the same attitude they have toward math: ‘When am I gonna use this?’”
”If young people don’t see how something has an effect on them, they find it difficult to care.”
”Students are history illiterate. They don’t understand the value of looking backward.”
”Students don’t see how history is relevant to what they need to get a job.”
Response: Make History Real.
“STORIES! That’s what makes history come alive. Travis and Crockett at the Alamo. Henry VIII. Lincoln at Gettysburg. Shooting the tsar in the cellar. Hitler in his bunker while Berlin burns. First steps on the moon. Malcolm X and Dr. King. Who could make up somebody like Ivan the Terrible?”
”All my greatest history teachers, from grade school to college, were also great storytellers.”
”I think it’s important to emphasize the stories in history – complete with hook, character development, story arc, and relevance to today.”
”Show them that history is a giant story full of rich characters and fascinating settings.”
So, what do you think? Are we on the right track? Does the world have room for a company whose sole mission is to Make. History. Fun?
* * *
Learn all about our dramatically-new Curriculum Handbook,
from TTT&T Curriculum Developer, Marcie Colleen.
Turning kids on to history?
Join our Teacher Vanguard today!
Turning Kids on to History? Join the TTT&T Community!
Sarah Towle speaks with Marcie Colleen, Curriculum Developer for Time Traveler Tours & Tales, about curriculum writing, Process Drama, and her all-new Curriculum Handbook for Beware Madame la Guillotine.
Coming September 2014, just in time for Back to School, it’s perfect for Social Studies, History, English Language Arts as well as Dramatic Arts classrooms, and an excellent complement to European and World History curricula.
But the fun doesn't stop there.
To test and distribute this dramatically-new teaching and learning tool, Sarah and Marcie are opening the doors to authors and educators worldwide dedicated to turning kids on to history.
Join TTT&T’s Teacher Vanguard today! Get both curriculum guide and book FREE in exchange for your feedback. Become part of an international discussion on immersive teaching practice.
Don't wish to join the Vanguard?
But still want access to the BMLG Curriculum Handbook?
Pre-order your copy at the low introductory rate of just $9.99.
Available for pdf download by 15 Sept 2014.
Process Drama: A Valuable Teaching Tool Bound to Infuse your STEM Classroom with STEAM!
Time Traveler Tours & Tales’ dramatically new Curriculum Handbook for Beware Madame la Guillotine is nearly here! Developed by theater educator and children’s author, Marcie Colleen, our debut Curriculum Handbook uses Process Drama to bring Revolutionary Paris to life within the classroom walls. It is “interactivity” at its very best. And bound to bring your STEM classroom to a roiling boil!
Process drama does not require a dramatic arts teacher. It does not use familiar theater devices, such as scripts, costumes, actors, and stage crew. Rather, it is a creative instructional method that offers teachers and students the experience of an event, a place, or a time period through facilitated improvisation.
According to theater scholar and educator, Cecily O’Neill, process drama begins with “a task to be undertaken, a decision to be made, or a place to be explored.” Working from this prompt, the teacher and students create an imaginary world and work to address the challenges and opportunities of that world through dramatic interpretation.
There is no written script. The “drama” is not presented on a stage. Nor is there need of an audience. The drama is “set” in a classroom. It might extend over the course of an hour, several days, or even weeks. And it involves all students. The drama unfolds at the hands of these student-actor-researchers as they explore and become part of a particular moment, breakthrough, or event in historical time.
With Marcie’s brilliant complement to Beware Madame la Guillotine the interactive tale (available at Amazon and on the iBookstore), students time travel to the French Revolution and bear witness to it first hand. They walk in the shoes of protagonist, Charlotte Corday. They experience the tremendous social and political upheaval of the time through her eyes. They absorb the ins and outs of this dense historical period in an immersive, play-like way. They take it all in and make sense through their 21st century lens. They make history relevant to today.
Process drama can play a powerful role in any classroom, even in science. But it is particularly well matched to language arts, history, and social studies curricula, especially when teaching literary genre, social concepts, or history far removed from students’ own lives. Through improvised dramas, students experience content personally, providing a deeper connection to the material, thus gaining a higher order understanding of the subject being taught. It all turns on empathy.
Process drama is a complex tool, yes, but one that offers teachers depth and breadth across the curriculum. Marcie’s example stands as an excellent illustration that turns an otherwise dense and potentially tedious historical subject for young people into a luminous and textured tale of scandal and passion, intrigue and treachery.
Turning kids on to history?
Join Marcie and me and our growing community of educatiors
at The TTT&T Teacher Vanguard today!
For more information on Process Drama, we recommend this article from Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge.
