All had been relatively calm in "the colonies" until this week. We began the week learning about the causes and effects of the French and Indian War. Our understanding of this all-important event in our nation's history was played out on "stage" as students from each of my social studies classes performed a reader's theater script to gain a deeper understanding of the cause and effects and key people involved in the war. Later in the week, students enjoyed a game-based learning experience where they participated in a French and Indian War simulation, digging even deeper into why various groups of people were moving into the Ohio Valley and how and why it sparked a conflict. We ended the week with a visit from "The Queen" (acting on behalf of her husband, King George III). The Queen arrived with members of parliament and her tax collectors to assess taxes on the British colonists to help pay for the war debt and to further secure British territory. The colonists were none too pleased indeed. Bitter outrage ensued as taxes were assessed for various incidents and circumstances and money (aka Smarties candies) was slowly siphoned from the colonists. Are they beginning to get a sense of what taxation without representation means and how both Britain and the colonists felt about it? You bet and it's only the beginning...
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| Students perform a reader's theater script of the French and Indian War. See if you can identify Colonel Washington. :) |
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| Fun with game-based learning: a French and Indian War simulation to help demonstrate how conflict arises and what it looks like as tension increases. These kids (playing the roles of Native American, French fur traders and British settlers) are all in! |
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| Some of the British colonists publicly demonstrate their displeasure over taxation without representation. Booooo! |
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