Last week my friend Adriaan called me and asked if I wanted
to go to a World War II re-enactment. To
say it was last minute is an understatement since he was in the driveway when
he called. Ten minutes later my kids and
I were on the highway headed to Rockford for what turned out to be the largest
WWII re-enactment in North America.
My kids never really asked much about where we were going
and I never really thought to explain it because it was so last minute. When we arrived I was planning on having to
sell the experience, especially to my son who likes to say “I’m not really a
history guy dad.” I never needed
to. As we walked into the event there
was a re-enactment of the allies liberating a French town that was so loud and
so fascinating that we all just stared in awe.
I spent the rest of the day trying to keep up with them as
they ran from display to display. Each
re-enactment group had been camped on location for days. As we walked through the camps the “soldiers”
explained their equipment, their trenches, why they were there, and what they
were fighting for. They walked through
the trenches and climbed on the equipment.
My kids just soaked it in.
On the car ride home it was quiet for about 10 minutes and
then the questions started. There were
lots of questions. I answered them one after another. This went on for the entire ride. I love it when that happens. There was no
need to generate interest or to distill some connection. I I was just giving
them the knowledge they wanted.
Moments like these are gold in the classroom and in life
too. Creating this dynamic is what I do
for a living. It was nice to have my children embrace the event and learn so
much. It was pure authentic learning as it should be.
I am pondering how I can make such pure interest a bigger
part of my classroom every day.
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