I regret that I have not posted anything for a long time. The state of the world, perhaps, has somewhat dried up my comic muse, and one or two new articles on education should await a time when I am no longer connected with the profession on a salaried basis. Here, however, is a comic sketch I published on this blog in July, 2011. It occurs to me that some visitors to this blog may not have taken time to review many earlier posts, so, if you have not seen this, here it is. Several other such essays await those who boldly delve into the many items easily accessible via the chronological menus on the left side of this page.
And, of course, a Happy Thanksgiving to all!
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PROJECT 1812: HISTORY FOR THE KINESTHETIC LEARNER
A Modest
Proposal by B.A. Libby, B.A., M.A., etc.
INTRODUCTION
Teaching
history to kinesthetic high-schoolers is challenging because history is usually
studied by reading and listening; to learn history has heretofore meant using
books, or hearing about events from savants who, having devoted their lives to
such study, can highlight, and simplify complex matters for easy reception by
tender minds.1 Now, however, with students who find it difficult to
learn by such antique methods, modern pedagogues must develop new rubrics, new
praxis, new epistemologies.2
We
present here an exemplary project that we hope will stimulate many other
educational professionals (“teachers”) to develop and expand innovative
methodologies.
PROJECT 1812
OVERTURE
One
of the most dramatic and important events of the early 19th Century was the
French invasion of Russia. Project 1812 focuses on the catastrophic dénouement
of this, the largest military operation before World War I, which set in motion
the downfall of the First Empire and the victory of the reactionary regimes of
the Age of Metternich (1815-1848).
The
retreat from Moscow has often been described--e.g. Tolstoy’s magnificent
treatment in War and Peace--but how can one bring the reality of what happened
to people who cannot readily comprehend the written or the spoken word? We
think we have found a way.
METHODOLOGY
Most
Modern European History courses will reach the second half of the Napoleonic
Era in December or early January, which is the perfect--indeed, the only--time
when this Project can be properly conducted.
- On a very cold day with high wind chill, all the kinesthetic learners
will be driven to a mall, or other public location, about five miles from
campus. They may wear only light summer clothing, such as T-shirts, shorts,
cotton slacks, and sandals. Each will receive a sandwich, a pint of bottled
water, and a knapsack containing about fifty pounds of hockey pucks.
Rationale: The flimsy clothing and scanty food simulate
the dress and rations of most French soldiers during the retreat from Moscow.
The knapsacks simulate the vast assortment of loot that the French took from
the ruined city, confident that they could bring it back to France.
- The students will be told they will get $1 for each hockey puck they
bring to campus.
Rationale: Students will have the opportunity to
experience the common dilemma of greed vs. reason, in that they must decide
whether, and when, to lighten or discard the valuable but heavy knapsacks in
order to have a better chance of reaching home.
- The students will walk back to campus.
- It is highly desirable that, as a part of our Community Relations, a
number of local people take part in the Project. Their job is to follow the
students, and, when any fall behind the main body by more than fifty yards, to
pelt them with stones, throw them into ponds, or beat them with clubs.
Rationale: The citizens simulate the Russian peasants
and Cossacks who followed the French army from a safe distance but attacked
stragglers.
- A teacher will ride beside the students in a chauffeur-driven car,
calling out encouragement to his “troops” and composing bombastic “official
bulletins” announcing that the campaign is going very well. (To assist with the
bulletins, he may be accompanied by a “chief of staff” provided by the Office
of Institutional Advancement.) When his limousine is half a mile from the
school, he will wave encouragingly to the freezing remains of his “army” and be
driven quickly back to campus, leaving his men to finish the trek on their own.
Rationale: The teacher
simulates Napoleon, who departed the army in a swift coach on December 5, two
weeks before the epic retreat ended.
- Those students who reach campus
will be given a cup of hot chocolate and sent to the hospital. The others will
be buried.
OUTCOMES
The
1812 Project gives haptic learners a “hands-on” experience like no other.
Instead of merely looking at artifacts in a museum or using colored markers to
occupy their fidgety fingers, they will feel they have actually participated in
an important historical event. It is an experience they will remember to the
ends of their lives. (This is especially true for those who do not reach
campus, since their lives and the Project will end simultaneously.) At least
half of the survivors will have permanent “memory triggers” right on their
bodies (such as the stumps of frostbitten fingers and toes after amputation at
the hospital).3 No need for hard-to-read books or boring lectures to
teach them what happened!
ENRICHMENT
Hardy
kinesthetics who insist on remaining at the school after Project 1812 will take
part in Project 1941, “Hitler’s Retreat From Moscow” (which is very
similar to Project 1812 except that the local people may use rifles).
Schools
in warm climates may obtain satisfactory results from Project 1917 (The
Project to End Projects), a simulation of Passchendaele (3rd Ypres). It takes
place in soft, muddy ground in early spring or late autumn. (Project 1917
provides a fine opportunity for some cross-disciplinary activity: for added
realism, the Science Department can manufacture phosgene and mustard gas for
use as the kinesthetics slog through the knee-deep mud towards distant,
unattainable objectives.)
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1
Kinesthetic (or “haptic”) learners (for the benefit of nonprofessionals
who might not know) are those who, we are told, cannot learn much from reading
or listening, but who learn best by doing things with their hands and the
movement of their bodies. Some laymen, ignorant of current pedagogical “best
practice,” might think that such students would not be enrolled in preparatory
schools or aspire to college diplomas, but would instead be directed into shop
classes, vo-techs, the lower enlisted ranks of the armed forces, and similar
places where they could use their talents to best advantage without cluttering
up the halls of academe; but that is not the case today.
2
I do not really know what these last words mean, but I have noticed that
the most esteemed educational experts and holders of Doctorates of Education
use them quite a bit. I thought I should use them too, so I will be taken
seriously.
3
For these, the “hands-on” experience can also be a “hands-off”
experience!
