Chalkboardwalk Empire

Guest Dragon Dropper Hang Le, an undergraduate student at Swarthmore College, has been assisting Stacey in researching teaching and learning here at Freire. Here is the next installment in her series of reflections on "what works here".

Hovering his fedora just above his head, Mr. Brian addresses his class: "Once this hat goes on, we are not in 2015 anymore. We will be back in 1926!"

Pulling his hat down low, Mr. Brian ushers his students into an animated debate about the merits and challenges of the Volstead Act--commonly known as "Prohibition". The students in his 10th grade U.S. history class have been randomly divided into two sides, representing the Traditionalists and the Modernists. They quickly immerse themselves into their given roles with an air of confidence and dedication, taking up their respective causes with the fervor of actual stakeholders. Mr. Brian, transformed into the mayor of Philadelphia, completes his look with a (fake, of course) cigar in his mouth, it was as if the classroom had really been transported back in time to a meeting at City Hall in the 1920s.

This was not the first time I had experienced such a simulation in Mr. Brian's classroom. In previous weeks, I observed students stepping into the shoes of immigrants, internment camp residents, and soldiers in the trenches. Through these activities, the students were able to authentically build and share historical knowledge in the classroom, moving beyond the mere reading of textbooks and into the more dynamic sharing of narratives.

10th grade teachers at their annual Speakeasy event

Of course, these role-playing activities require clear instructions and constructs, as I learned from Mr. Brian. For example, prior to the debate on Prohibition, Mr. Brian spent at least ten minutes setting up his expectations. He repeated multiple times that the students would be randomly assigned to the two sides, and that they would need to argue based on the perspective of their side rather than their personal opinions. To further help the students understand their assigned positions, Mr. Brian called on two students to remind the whole class of the main beliefs of each side--serving as an activation of prior knowledge gained in their class. He also explained in detail the system for earning credit for participation in this activity. The students were then given about five minutes to prepare their arguments based on the readings. After such thorough preparation, everybody was eager to participate in the debate once the class hopped into their time machine.

Through the use of such historical simulations, replete with costumes!, Mr. Brian is able to foster a lively and engaging learning environment with healthy competition among the students.