On Thursday at work my name kept coming up in other teachers' classroom. Apparently the kids liked my lesson. Of course, its not every day that you can have a lesson that turns into a glorified version of dodgeball.
In my lesson about trench warfare i turned the classroom into a battlefield. Desks were turned on their sides for the trenches, other desks were strewn in the middle of the 'field for obstacles, yarn was stretched across them for barbed wire. I gave the kids review questions for the opportunity to earn firepower (really soft balls). Then the 2 teams have a free for all. 2 ways to earn points- hit an opponent or get across to the other side without getting hit and crawling under all the barbed wire.
If any one student broke the rules, they had to wear the "soldier's equipment pack". Even though it was only books and weights from my bench at home, it weighed about 40 lbs which made it hard to crawl under everything quickly.
Everyone had fun, AND they actually learned and retained ideas about trench warfare (don't go to the middle cuz you'll die quick= No Man's Land, lobbing the balls over the desks= artillery can get into the trenches) However, there were some downsides- 3 periods in my room smelled like a gym locker, someone ripped open a scab on their knee and was sent to the nurse, and someone hit the back of my computer at work and now the screen is yellow (i can't fix it because its a district computer.)
see. history can be fun!
