People have always accused me of having a flair for the dramatic, so if there is any way to plan a lesson involving costumes, then I'm totally up for it! My storage closet in my classroom is packed to the gills with props and an unusually high number of wigs.
One of the most complex and interesting lessons we do is the annual recreation of the Boston Massacre. Rather than just reading through a bunch of first hand accounts(which I think is also great by the way), we take those accounts and bring them to life. I used to do a mock trial based upon the event where we put Captain Thomas Preston on trial. It worked out very well, but in the end I craved blood.
After a lot of thought, I approached our theater department to see if we could bring the event to life using a simple set, props and trained actors. Annually, our Black Box theater in transformed into March 5, 1770 complete with snow and copious amounts of fake blood.
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| The stage is set. |
The day begins like any other day but then a panicked colonist pounds upon our classroom door shouting that there is a fire and to bring our buckets to help extinguish the flames. We follow the distressed colonist to the darkened theater. Once we enter, it is pitch black with an audio track booming the sounds of an angry mob taunting the British soldiers along with the soldiers yelling back at them to disperse. One thing leads to another and the theater is filled with the sounds of musket fire
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| Students listening to the mob. |
I then hand out an investigative journal to each student that they fill out to piece together the story. First, they must survey the scene and make notes of any evidence left behind. This year I placed various QR clues around to give them some hints.
After about 10 minutes of them investigating, the colonists come out in dramatic fashion to tell their side of the story. Students cycle around to each of them asking questions and making note of their testimony. The British soldiers then make an appearance as well to counter what the colonists said. It often turns into a very confrontational experience which blows the kids minds!
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| A colonist tells his story |
I have been very lucky the past few years to have some wonderful former students give up their time to portray the witnesses. Since they experienced it as my students in 8th grade, they are really excited to return to be the actors and each year it gets better.
The day after the massacre, I have them get into small groups to discuss their findings and then as a whole group come up with the sequence of events. Oftentimes, I find that they have done such a good job with their own investigation that I don't really need to add anything. We end the lesson by looking at Paul Revere's engraving of the massacre and have some "aha" moments about his intention and the not so subtle way he was reworking the real story to meet the needs of the patriot cause.
While it might not be easy for everyone to go to this extreme to portray the Boston Massacre, it can be modified. For example, the mock trial worked really well in the past. Through the years, I have used numerous resources, but one of the best is The Boston Massacre Historical Society which has the original transcripts plus tons of other information. For the mock trial, each student was given a role to study and both the defense and prosecution worked to develop their case.
Another idea would be to split the class down the middle and have one side defend the actions of the colonists while the other side defend the soldiers. I have done this for a Patriot/Loyalist debate with great results.
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| Students caught in the middle of an argument between soldiers and colonists |
Very cool! I want to come see this.
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