Historical Role-Play
As seventh graders studied medieval West Africa, they worked on their ability to develop historical perspectives. While learning about key leaders who shaped the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay, they imagined and inferred the values, mindsets, emotions, and decision-making logic of those individuals.
To get inside the hearts and minds of historical figures, we used the improv technique “Hot Seating” and a perspective writing assignment. Students prepared for hot seats by taking notes on leaders’ positions in history and formulating juicy interview questions to ask. When the day came, students demonstrated their understanding of historical events, different leaders’ motivations, and the relationship dynamics within kingdoms. Students took their learning a step further by adopting one historical figure’s persona and writing a letter in their voice.
In their hot seat interviews and “Letters from Songhay,” seventh graders thought with creativity, empathy, and humor about history. Through the process, they could relate to both historical leaders as people in real life, and also medieval history as one chapter in a story of which they are a part.
Explore more interactive aspects of the middle school curriculum and how projects like this help build empathy and perspective.
Explore more interactive aspects of the middle school curriculum and how projects like this help build empathy and perspective.
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