Preservation Blackboard: How Are Your Bringing Preservation Into the Classroom?
By Paul LaRue
Since I started Research History in 1998, I've focused on getting students out of the classroom and into our local community. Year after year, one of our ongoing projects is to help restore and protect nearby neighborhood cemeteries. What are your strategies and ideas for teaching preservation?
am a firm believer that preservation has a place not just in our country's historic towns and heritage areas, but in our classrooms as well. Whether you teach third grade or college-bound seniors, these places matter and our students should learn about and appreciate them.
My name is Paul LaRue, and I'm a teacher at Washington High School in Washington Court House, Ohio. In addition to economics, I teach a senior-level elective class that I developed in 1998 called Research History. Right off the bat, that might sound like your typical high school course, complete with textbooks, overhead projectors, book reports, and pop quizzes; I assure you it's not.
I like to bill my class as the ultimate in hands-on learning. We get out from under the florescent lights and into the field – our local community – for service learning projects that are all designed through the lens of preservation. In fact, my students and I are partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and PreservationNation.org last semester to share our experiences in preserving a nearby cemetery on our blog, Teaching Preservation.
Over the years, I have found that teaching preservation makes history so much more than words and pictures in a book. Lessons about local and national heritage make it real for my students – something they can touch and relate to. At the end of the day, these are the lessons that they will remember and carry with them long after they've forgotten the exact date of an important battle.
The good news is that you don't need an entire elective course like mine to integrate preservation into your lesson plans. All it takes is a slice of time and a healthy dose of creativity. And to get those juices flowing, we're opening up this forum to teachers for some ideas and tips to help you on your way.
It’s my hope that you’ll see that preservation has a natural place in every classroom.
Paul LaRue teaches at Washington High School in Washington Court House, Ohio. LaRue has developed many hands-on history projects in his Research History seminar.
What are your ideas for bringing preservation into the classroom?
Comments
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Submitted by Suzanne Stanis, Director of Heritage Education, Indiana Landmarks at: June 7, 2010
Although it's become increasingly harder to get students out of the classroom, Indiana Landmarks continues to see a demand for our traveling education resources. Our "Stories Buildings Tell" trunk, first introduced in 1988, has been updated several times to address current academic standards and technology shifts. The trunk includes a look at Indiana architecture, endangered properties, a grab bag of architectural elements, and rubber stamps in geometric shapes and textures used to replicate buildings. For more information on this and other classroom resources, visit Indiana Landmarks' website at http://www.indianalandmarks.org
Submitted by Smartie at: April 16, 2010
Interactive dialog, research, know your family history, group studies, and many other things which were use to help students to understand why preservation is important today and forever!
Submitted by University of California, Berkeley at: September 21, 2009
Each year the Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence - whose primary goal is to foster a larger awareness and understanding of the social art of architecture - sponsors an Essay Competition, a Travel Fellowship Competition, and an Architectural Design Fellowship Competition. All are open to undergraduates studying architecture throughout the world. Students are asked to submit a 500-word essay proposal in response to a posted question. The 2010 prize question revolves around the topic of Historic Preservation/Heritage Conservation. Learn more at http://www.berkeleyprize.org/.
Submitted by Teaching in Texas at: September 1, 2009
Oral history is a fascinating way for students to develop communication and research skills while still learning about a historic place. Have each of your students adopt one building in your town and then conduct interviews with older residents, neighbors, etc. This way they can piece together the story of the building, how it was used, and how it changed over the years.
Submitted by Max van Balgooy, Director of Education, NTHP at: September 1, 2009
A great source for lesson plans and activities is "Schoolyards to Skylines," a 500-page resource book produced by the Chicago Architectural Foundation for K-8th grade teachers. It contains 47 units for teaching social sciences, science, math, language arts, and fine arts using buildings, sites, people, and events (most of the examples are from Chicago, but can be easily modified for any town, large or small). It's so good, it received an Honor Award from the National Trust!