A TOUCH OF GREATNESS: YOUNG ADULT STUDENT VISITORS
“I think of the feathered cap and wooden sword that they have that we as adults have lost. I think they’re looking for mystery, a magic -- just an inkling of it and they’re with you.” Al Culum, from the film, A Touch of Greatness.
Our children had been visitors for school in the past, and it was always great. For this Swords of Honor year, we invited the young adult students to be visitors for the entire year. We did some classes on presentation and how to be a good visitor. We also added the element of peer reviews.
These students would be responsible to:
- research the historical figure and/or key points
- come in costume and stay in character
- present the key points to the younger students
- and for those observing--give immediate feedback in the form of written peer elvaluations of the performance.
The young adult visitors exceeded my expectations!
The mom's responsibility in the past was to find a guest to be a visitor, and give them key points and costumes. This year our student visitors did the research, and contributed to the entire group in a very meaningful way.
Schools unnaturally divide children into castes by age, but these teenagers served the younger students while enhancing their own scholarly pursuits.
PREPARATION TO BE A VISITOR
Here is a little of the back story behind Giselle's preparation to become our Joan of Arc visitor.
First, she had to find someone who would teach her how to ride a horse. Frosty spent time with her every week for a few months. She learned how to care for the horse also.
Giselle had to be able to ride a horse with one hand and hold a banner in the other. This was a little stressful at times because she had a deadline.
On one particularly windy day when she was riding, her horse got spooked and she fell off. Afterwards she was having some trouble making him obey her. I happened to be nearby when the horse wouldn't go where she wanted.
I spoke up and said, "Giselle, make that horse obey you."
Her reply caught me off guard when she said, "I'm going to be a pushover as a mother."
I would not have dreamed that she was thinking about her leadership abilities at that moment. But her experience caused her to make an unexpected connection to her future.
Next, she had to have a costume. She wasn't too interested in her costume while she was busy with other things, so I went ahead with it. I modeled Joan's armor after this tv series Joan of Arc armor.
I made the plate armor from a plastic used for signs, called Sintra. It was really fun to do, but took a long time.
These were the days before the huge popularity of cosplay, so I had to make everything up. I didn't mind though because I was dressing Joan of Arc!
As Giselle watched me put a lot of effort into her costume, she became excited about it too. She thanked me for putting so much time into her presentation and then she announced that she would make real chainmail to go with it. For weeks we worked together in the afternoons and evenings, watching Joan of Arc documentaries and movies while making armor and other parts of the costume. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot.
Giselle in costume, minus the blue tunic. Those are real battle scars from the time she was thrown from the horse.
Her preparation took months of work riding the horse, brushing the horse, shoveling manure, reading about Joan, reading about horse psychology, writing out her script, trying on costume parts, performing her story for us. She really put her heart into it.
LATIN CLASS AND COLLOQUIUM
At this same period of time Giselle’s Latin class colloquium was reading Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. Everything Giselle was learning fit into one big EPIC adventure.
PEER REVIEWS
After our young adult Latin class, Tammy taught a writing class. She taught the students how to write constructive, specific feedback for the other young adult visitors. Here she is as a medieval scholar on the first day of writing class.
After each student's presentation as a visitor, pulled her students together into a little pow-wow. They talked about the presentation and then each got to work writing a review.
The students writing peer reviews had to pay attention and be engaged. They took notes throughout the presentations, and wrote a complete review afterwards. For the student visitor it was a powerful way to receive immediate, positive feedback from their peers.
Mikala "really enjoyed her peer evaluations which made her confidence increase."
On our drive home from the Joan of Arc day, Giselle immediately began to read her peer reviews. She read some aloud to me. I could see how much they meant to her. In that moment I thought about one of Susan Kovalik’s nine ingredients of brain-compatible learning: immediate feedback. I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with this significant addition to our school year. It was powerful.
THOUGHTS ON STUDENT VISITORS
The moms in our group provided great feedback throughout the year: From a mom of young children, "The first visitor of the year was a big hit. Having the young adults as our visitors was an inspired idea."
This mom went on to say, "The older students seemed to have a great time critiquing his performance, though they only wrote positive things. The older kids have to prepare all the key points and stay in character, and the younger ones get the benefit of seeing "King Arthur."
I received these text messages following Giselle’s presentation of Joan of Arc:
“Today was great!! You should hear these kids talk about it! They said their favorite part was listening to Joan tell her story. Very memorable. Huzzah…”
“I want to be as good as Joan of Arc!” (spoken by a 5 year old boy a week after this day)
“My girls have not stopped asking about, talking about, drawing, singing about Joan of Arc…the whole ride home. : ) Hearts captured.”
THANK YOU NOTES
In the past whenever visitors came to our school, we wrote and mailed thank you notes to them. This year we made a rule that every student visitor would need receive thank you notes from all who participated. Giselle loved receiving notes from families and individual students. Some drew pictures of her. It was wonderful reinforcement for the student visitors.
A STUDENT'S THOUGHTS ON BEING VISITORS
“I think that was a superb idea, because it gave us the opportunity to share so much, even though we didn’t share everything we learned. I learned so much more. It’s helped me become better at researching, staying in character…I learned a lot.” Giselle
We did something this year that changed EPIC Adventures. There was a symbiotic relationship between the student-visitor and the student-learner. There could have been no Joan of Arc if there were no children to watch and admire her. This EPIC time for Giselle was a highlight of her life, in part because of the children who fell in love with her.
Read more about Giselle's time as Joan, and the EPIC pattern of a scholar (in 5 parts) on Karen's blog: Lessons from Joan of Arc, Part 1
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