characters with character
Can World History actually be fun?
Exploring
ANCIENT HISTORY through perspective writing
W
orld History students in Nancy Almoyan’s seventh grade class were given an unusual assignment recently. Each student was required to choose a figure from ancient history, thoroughly research that figure, then write about how their character might think or feel about an event in their life. The exercise is called perspective writing, and it is an innovative means for students to think and explore the lives of historical figures. Through the perspective writing process, students discover (unexpectedly, it seems) that this type of learning is actually fun. After Almoyan’s students researched various aspects of their chosen figure, they then used the information to write a short speech as if they were that person. The speeches served as the culmination of their learning process.
10 • Tallulah Falls School MAGAZINE
In the immortal words of Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Almoyan agrees that much can be learned from assuming the perspective of another, in this case a historical figure. “In a practical sense students often don’t really believe that the historical figures we study in World History ever existed, let alone experienced feelings, emotions, thoughts and had lives of their own,” said Almoyan. “They don’t think people from the distant past could possibly have something they could relate to in the 21st century. In the end, the class discovered that these were actually real people with real feelings. Not only that, but they each went out and changed the world.”
