Visit 2 11/6

 Hello Again!

My first experience doing Drama was in fifth grade, and was actually with a social studies project about the discovery of the Americas. My teacher asked if any of us wanted to volunteer to go down to an assembly wherein we could be given a few lines about the discovery and exploration of America. Three of us were chosen; one as a viking who wore a big coat and a horned hat, another who wore a headdress and animal skins over his shoulders, and finally, me, a young Christopher columbus wearing purple pants, a 1400's hat, and a great big smile. I hoped to incorporate some of the ideas about how we can understand the order in which the explorers came to the Americas.

Interview with "Portugal"

We started our lesson on this day by playing the game "Red Light/Green Light" in teams. The students lined up and as I called out Green Light and faced away from them, the first person in line from their team got the chance to run and try to get to me. The team that made it first was dubbed the "Native Americans" and their captain was Moctezuma, the leader of the Aztec nation at the team of their conquer. The second team, representing the second group known to reach the new world, was the the Norse Vikings led by Erik the Red. Christopher Columbus led the way for the third team, Spain. Pedro Alvarez de Cabral and John Cabot finished up respectively finding what is modern day Brazil and Canada for Portugal and England. 

Vikings Banish Erik the Red

These captains then led their crews back into the class where we interviewed each crew about something they'd read about their nation and leading explorer. The interviews involved introducing important points in the history of their people, or plot points for their part of our story, and then seeing how the stories all fit together.

I led these brave explorers back into the Kiva (open area outside their classrooms) where each nation sat together to form an audience. I then narrated the earliest people (represented by the Native Americans) who researchers believe came across a land bridge from asia into the north American continent. These people walked down, and set up establishments, but spread out and ended up fighting somewhat with one another over time. The students spread through the "Western Hemisphere" and made angry gestures at one another to represent this part of history. 

English drinking their tea
before their voyage West

We then had the Norse Vikings Kick out Erik the Red for Killing someone, (seen right) where he then others from Scandinavia over to Greenland after his exile. We explained that the vikings looked to create settlements, but eventually were driven away by the Natives of those new colonies. Then we fast forwarded a few hundred years to where those Scandinavians are out of the exploration picture and the Natives of the "New World" were still doing their own thing. 

Queen Isabella (Right) and King Ferdinand (Left) are examples of people who wanted to expand their power and influence by exploration.

Queen Isabella (Right) and King Ferdinand
(Left) are examples of people who wanted
to expand their power and influence by
exploration.

Along came a man called Christopher Columbus who had a little bit of sailing experience and wanted to find better trade routes by sea. He petitioned to the King and Queen of Spain, who gave him three boats and they sailed off for what they thought was the East Indies. Ferdinand and Isabella stayed behind as the rest of the Spanish Fleet went in search of better trade routes, when they arrived the Spanish announced "India, we've found you at last!" The Natives didn't know what they were talking about, but they did trade with them, and this began several other Nations exploring the New World. Portugal sailed further south, and the English sailed further North, but each crew found new things, bullied the Natives a little, and then the narrative ended.

At this point, the students were full of excitement and questions. We had an excellent dialogue about what motivated the explorers and their backers to to what they did. Students asked questions like "Why did the explorers want more land?" And "Why did they fight when they got there?" Often I would turn these responses back to the students themselve and enable their peers to teach and share with them. It should be a shock to no reader of this blog that these are a very bright bunch of fifth graders. 

Until Next time!