The Rookery

In a progressive classroom, we always strive to make learning meaningful – to give students a reason to know something beyond scoring well on a test.  When it works, students feel a deep need for information.  One of the most powerful tools I've found to create this need is role play.  There is something incredibly powerful about slipping into someone else's skin and imagining life for a while.  You want to know everything you can about the person you are being.  You need to know.

At the outset of a theme on Elizabeth the First's London, we are in the midst of that urgent need right now in the Herons.  On Friday, students rolled a die to determine what class they were born into (a nice chance to review probability — students had a 5% chance of being born into the gentry – that's a roll of one on our twenty sided die.)  Some students were relieved to learn that this was a rare time in history where you could end your life at a higher station than you began it.  The vast majority of the class was born into the yoeman/citizen class.  These were working middle class folks who learned a trade or owned some land.  Often, they could become quite successful.

Beyond the social class, students are able to construct their character from scratch.  There's a lot to consider.  Male or female?  You certainly had a better chance of living to a ripe-old age as a male (if you consider 42 "ripe-old.")  You could also own land and learn a trade.  Students wanted to know if there were any jobs women had and we set about trying to find an answer.  Then students worked on a name, looking at the most common names from records of the time.  Student: Why are there so many spellings? Me: Well, formal spelling didn't exist. Student (disbelieving): Cool.  

What would they do for a living?  What did they worry about?  What did their house look like?  What was their favorite food? (Another conversation from yesterday: Kid:  My favorite food is spaghetti!  Me:  Didn't exist yet — and tomatoes are a new food that has just been discovered in the New World.  People think they might be poisonous…or they could make you fall in love.  Kid:  Yuck.  What about french fries?  Me:  Also just discovered in the New World — people think they might give you leprosy.  Kid:  What's that?  Me:  A kind of rotting skin disease.  Kid:  Yuck.  What would I eat then?  Me:  Do you want a link to a website?  Kid:  YES!  Does it have recipes?!?)

We're also putting together a map of London so we can locate our houses – we're still researching neighborhoods.  Turns out that living near the Tower of London means that you have to walk past spiked heads every day.  Doesn't do much for property values.

This morning, well before all the students were in the classroom, students were working on their characters.  Their imaginations are so strong – this is very compelling work.  Students are constructing such detailed worlds – two were even arguing about how many chickens they should have.  One of the challenges is helping students play within the constraints of historical accuracy (at least as best as we can research it.)   Those constraints make the role play more challenging but also more rewarding.  At first, students struggle to see the world from a lens so different from their own.  But it's in this struggle to imagine a world so different from our own that we learn the most.

In conjunction with our character development, we'll read a few Shakespeare plays such as Twelfth Night (in shortened versions with authentic text).  Some Carleton students will be coming to share their work as historians with us – they have been studying the world of Twelfth Night, too.  (And Twelfth Night is being performed at Carleton this term (you can get free tickets here.))