Ms. Barre’s Grade 7 History class has been studying historical figures from the founding era. Students have researched individuals, such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, who are considered “Founders,” as well as ground-breaking women and people of color, such as Elizabeth Freeman, Richard Allen, and Abigail Adams, who also played an important role during that time but were excluded from the Constitutional Convention and political office. On Wednesday, students participated in an activity called a “Constitutional Circle,” where students acted “in character” wearing placards they designed, and re-created an imaginary meeting of these “real-life” historical people.
Students listened to actual quotes said or written by the individuals they researched and took turns talking and responding from their famous person’s point of view, contributing to an engaging conversation, and sharing if their character would have a response to each quote, and what that response might be. While students listened carefully to each other’s responses, they could also ask a question of another character, and they could choose to sit in the hot seat! What is the hot seat you ask? If a student had just spoken and couldn’t wait to respond to someone else’s comment, they could choose to sit in the hot seat, in order to respond again!
