I have been asked to do a paid presentation about WWI at a Grade school in Burlington!I did a presentation there two years ago, and this year at the end of the WWI segment, my presentation came up several times in the kids final reports. As a surprise to the kids the teacher has asked me to come back next week and do another one, with some hands on time with some of the artifacts. I am really looking forward to it. My goal last time was to spark some interest in Canadian military history and it looks like it worked!
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Some pics of the first display I did two years ago and a little write up I did about it.
Well I did my first school display today. It was the kick off to the Grade 8 classes WWI section.
It was a very positive experience for both the kids and me. I tried to keep them involved, asking them questions, letting them handle some things and telling them about everything.
I tried to make my presentation more personal..the teacher can teach the who's, the how's and the why for's. My objective was to educate them on the men behind the uniforms and their personal experiences. Many of them stayed inside during recess to talk with me and students from other classes came in during recess to get a look and ask questions. When I was done the grade 5 class was allowed to come in and take a look and ask questions.
Throughout the presentation I had several teachers and parents come in, even the principal of the school came in to have a look.
It was well the work of packing, loading and setting up the collection.
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Excellent! Keep it up - God knows Canadian kids need more history. I've just retired after 33 years in the trenches.. uh, the classroom, and what most kids and their parents, sadly, know about Cdn history can be written on a bar napkin with space left over.
For me, one of the best parts of re-enacting the War of 1812, for me, is the chance to answer questions from both kids and adults. I spent 20 minutes with a 10 year old on Sunday and I could see the wheeels turning - I'm betting he'll buy a musket as soon as he's old enough! With luck, some of the kids you spoke to will go on to take more than the single mandatory History course in high school and all of them will know, after seeing, hearing and handling, that history is NOT dull.
PeterComment
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That's fantastic! I totally agree that kids these days need to take a greater interest in history. If your presentation and display encourages one kid to pick up a book and learn about the wars from something other than a glorified video game you were a success.
Love your cuff ranked tunic btw!Comment
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Thanks guys! I really enjoy taking the collection out into the community and sharing my passion and knowledge with anyone who will listen! I know that there were at least two kids who took a really keen iterest in my presentation. Asking some really great questions and staying in on recess to talk some more.
Greg, the cuff rank is a grouping I picked up from a guy who got it at a museum auction. All you see there belonged to the officer plus I have two more pairs of trousers that were his. He gave me the original museum inventory sheets with the items and he had written on them what he paid for them. Would you believe he got the tunic for $10, trousers he paid $5. I paid conderably more than that, but still got a great deal on the stuff.Comment
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