Alternative discussion formats: Monuments and memorials

Creating monuments or memorials for historical and literary figures encourages students to think creatively and provides a lively structure for an in-class discussion.

By Kathryn Walbert

Handouts for the momuments and memorials discussion

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Alternative discussion formats

Class discussions often take one of two forms — either question-and-answer sessions, in which the teacher throws out questions and students answer them, or debates. Both of these formats are useful, but adding a few more ideas to your teaching repertoire can make for more variety in the classroom and provide more opportunities for engaging discussions. This edition explains how to manage dicussions in the form of a public relations campaign, a trial, a talk show, or the design of monuments, memorials, and museum exhibits.

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Related pages

• Alternative discussion formats: History and literature on trial: Putting historical or literary figures on trial makes a lively and challenging alternative to a class debate.
• Alternative discussion formats: A public relations campaign: By creating a PR campaign for a historial or literary figure, students can practice a wide range of thinking skills.
• Alternative discussion formats: The talk show: The talk show is a format with which students are already familiar, and it provides the structure for a great discussion.

Related topics

• Learn more about design, discussions, history, literature, memorials, and monuments.

Legal

Much like the public relations campaign discussion format, this activity allows students to develop a public presentation about the person, group, or idea that they are studying. While ad campaigns are primarily designed to persuade the audience, however, monuments usually commemorate important people or events and are intended to inspire visitors to remember and emulate the example of the subject of the memorial. By focusing on these goals instead of simple persuasion, students may be able to develop a more nuanced view.

Preparation

Announce to the class that we have been assigned the task of developing models for a monument or memorial recognizing a person or event from the historical or literary subject that you are studying. Examples might include building a memorial to commemorate the life and poetry of someone like Emily Dickinson, or a monument honoring the service of Korean War veterans.

Brainstorm with the class about what they know about the subject of the memorial and what adjectives they might use to describe the subject — you may want to write a list or create an idea map on the board or on an overhead as the class makes suggestions. Then break the class into groups of three to six students. Charge each group with developing a sketch of their memorial and a one-page press release describing the memorial, the inspiration behind it, and the creative or artistic decisions that went into its design.

Creating the monument

In their groups, students will want to think about the following questions:

1. What qualities do you want to emphasize in your monument? What message are you trying to send?
2. What will your monument or memorial look like? How big will it be? What colors, materials, textures, and shapes will you use?
3. Where will your monument be placed? How do you expect visitors to interact with it? Will you include a visitor’s center, picnic space, a park, or other amenities to make the space educational or functional in some other way, or will the monument stand alone?

Wrap-up

Student groups can present their designs to the class and take questions about their design process and their choices. You may wish to have the class function as a “monument committee” and vote on the design that they like best (perhaps setting the rule that no one can vote on his or her own group’s design!) or, if you teach multiple sections of the same course, you could present the sketches and press releases of each class to another class that is working on the same project and ask them to vote, as a committee, on which design they would choose. You might take notes during the deliberations or ask students to write up a summary of why they chose the selected monument and share that with the class who developed it — students may be interested to see what another class decided, and enjoy seeing the ideas that their counterparts in the other class came up with!