Bring history to life with a Living History Day!

A Living History Day turns students into teachers and challenges them to think historically.

By Melissa Thibault

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Rethinking Reports

Creative research-based assignments provide alternatives to the President Report, Animal Report, and Famous Person Report that ask students to think about old topics in new ways, work collaboratively, and develop products that support a variety of learning styles.

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• Alternatives to the famous person report: This "rethinking reports" series of articles provides alternative research assignments that challenge students to think critically about historical actors.
• Reading biographies and autobiographies: How good is that biography your students are reading? Here's how to make sure they get the most out of their reading and research.
• Intrigue of the Past: Teach your students about North Carolina's fascinating past. This edition contains lesson plans about the fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, as well as essays for the teacher with detailed information about four periods in North Carolina's ancient history.

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• Learn more about American history, English language arts, History Day, arts, role-play, social studies, speech, theaters, and world history.

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The National Standards for History require students to build skills, not just cover time periods. The ability to assess the importance of an individual in history, to construct a historical narrative, and to formulate historical questions are independent of time period or geographic region. These skills must be cultivated from the student’s first exposure to history. Biographical study is one logical approach to building these skills, providing a manageable topic to focus on — an individual — and encouraging students to consider the context of place and circumstance in which the individual lived. The key is to move from reporting the facts, an activity that can be done without demonstrating any understanding, to historical inquiry, an activity that engages the student and brings the subject to life.

A Living History Day event might be just what you need. Depending upon your circumstances, it can take many different forms. Will the individuals studied be ancient or current? Local people or from anywhere in the country or world? Learning objectives of your class grade level will determine the scope of individuals included. Will this be a class project or involve other grades? What about the greater community?

Depending upon the magnitude of school involvement this could be a culminating event for a unit of study or an annual school observance. The one common thread is the creative context of student projects; the biographical subject is not a flat collection of facts but a living human being interacting with the people and events relevant to their lives.

One idea for the creation and planning of a Living History Day is to share your event with a younger class. Groups or individual students study a chosen individual and then create an activity, experience, or skit that teaches about something relevant to the individual studied and is appropriate for the period of history in which he or she lived. By presenting to younger students, your students will not only bring to life the person they studied and the time period in which he or she lived, they’ll also learn from the process of teaching.

For an interactive experience, your students could demonstrate a craft or trade or present learning games incorporating relevant information. Students may also present skits, images, and exhibits and then answer questions from their audience.

If more than one class is involved in presenting, you may need to book a bigger space such as the media center. The exhibits may be organized by era, in a trade show format, or students may be given a schedule for their performances. The older students can determine their success by surveying the younger students to see what they learned. The creation of the survey or test would be excellent review for the older students.

Bringing history to life serves a dual purpose

To research and prepare a Living History Day, students must synthesize the information they learned to create an exhibit representative of their subject; this can’t happen unless they are actively engaged in the event.

In order to select pivotal events or recreate significant circumstances in an individual’s life, students must not just locate facts about the person but critically evaluate the people, places, and events to develop a powerful exhibit. Deciding on a format, selecting key material for younger students to understand, and putting it all in context requires active learning and encourages creative interpretation. As they work write a script or design a hands-on activity, students will really need to understand the subject and the world in which he or she lived. In addition, a Living History Day introduces younger students to subjects relevant to their grade’s curriculum goals but beyond their reading ability. For example, the Grade 2 social studies curriculum requires students to “identify historical figures and events associated with various cultural traditions and holidays celebrated around the world” (goal 3, objective 5), but biographies you may find in the media center may be too difficult for many students to read independently. Focusing a History Day on individuals or time periods relevant to the students in earlier grades creates an authentic audience for the event and reinforces for all participants the themes of character and civic responsibility that span the grades.

What about a field trip?

Historical reenactments and working historical farms and museums are another way to bring history to life. As with a Living History Day, placing people in the context of historical circumstances and living conditions is a powerful teacher. Of course, students are just observing history when they attend these demonstrations; it is possible to view the events without engaging historical understanding. Still, as a part of a deliberate path toward encouraging student inquiry, a field trip might be a valuable activity. Find out what is available using LEARN North Carolina’s Discover NC resources. Locate cultural museums, state historical sites, and history events nearby and contact the curators for a list of upcoming events. Be sure to visit the related websites and consider the linked lesson plans as pre- and post-visit enhancements

Ideas and examples on the Web

This Living History Museum activity from Carol Hurst presents guidelines for creating an Old Salem-like environment in your classroom or school. This resource links to the rich historical literature integration ideas and book suggestions for which Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature site is famous.

Move over Halloween: here comes Historical Figure Day! This article from Education World outlining an educational alternative to the usual array of ghosts and ballerinas of Halloween. While the research and activity suggestions are traditional, the idea of giving students the opportunity to be in character may fit well as a part of the event. A great activity choice for the drama club kids!

National History Day is an annual contest to encourage “discovery and interpretation” of historical topics. Designed for grades 6-12, students produce dramatic performances, exhibits, documentaries and research papers based on research related to an annual theme. These projects are then evaluated at local, state, and national competitions. Step by step directions for creating a project are available on the National History Day website.

The Virtual Schoolhouse project-based learning site includes a Living History Day event. Unlike the activities above, this high school event is schoolwide and also includes the greater community. Originally designed to honor fallen veterans, the traditional Veteran’s Day assembly has grown to a more intentional community outreach that involves students in the stories of World War II participants.