A challenge faced by many teachers is taking information from a textbook and truly making it come alive for their students. In Spanish four, Senora Anderson has more than met this challenge in a fun and interactive way. She is leading her students through a reenactment of The Chalcolithic Era through the Pre-Roman Empire, which is an era of transition between the stone tool-using farmers of the Neolithic and the metal-obsessed civilizations of the Bronze Age.

“I love the era that we covered; it’s one of my favorite times,” said Anderson.

During the reenactment, the students took different roles and brought this period of time to life. The students were eager to jump into this activity, unlike previous classes that Anderson had led.

“They volunteered for their roles when normally I need to assign them, but this year with this recent reenactment they chose the roles and it just worked out that that was just enough people for all the different parts that needed to be done,” said Anderson.

The students got to let their creativity shine through with many even making their own props.

“We made swords, shields, and crowns out of cardboard, posters, and tape,” said Kylie Morad (‘23).

With the materials given, some students had to get innovative with how they made their props.

“I had to like manipulate the cardboard into a circle out of a cardboard box and then figure out how to make handles so I could hold them,” said Rachel Runsick (‘23).

Some people even went out and bought their own supplies.

“We made them out of cardboard and different poster boards and I bought a crown from Walmart,” said Isabella Duphorn (‘23).

Many of the students felt that they have benefitted from this unique learning experience. 

“It helped us understand the material much better than just reading it out of a textbook, and we actually saw how everything unfolded instead of just words on a page,” said Runsick.

This activity was so fun and impactful that these students are eager to do this again.

“I learned a lot more and it was more fun,” said Duphorn. “I would do this again and everyone else should do it too.”