Throughout history there have been people whom often possess the best or worst of human characteristics.  They are notable, but that notoriety can be in a positive or negative sense.  After all, how else can we understand a Hitler or a Caligula, a Churchill or a Kennedy? 

            It is important for our students to be aware that just because a person is known and studied in history doesn’t mean that the person has had a positive influence on a particular period of history.  Students must begin to evaluate what contribution a person has made or why a person should be studied.  That is the inspiration behind the project that my students were involved with during the spring of 2002.  Our Historical Figure contest was developed with the intent of having students research and evaluate famous Romans.

            The idea for this contest came from a colleague, Mark Stephens.  When Mark was a fourth grade teacher in Germantown Academy’s Lower School, he organized a school-wide Outstanding Literary Character contest.  Students entered characters into different categories which had been determined by a group of students and then after making a presentation, a panel of teachers selected the outstanding character in each category.

            The idea to organize a Historical Figure Contest occurred to me as I thought about how I wanted my students to do a research project for the last quarter of the year.  I knew that I wanted them to work step-by-step through the research process, but I didn’t want their final report to just be a summary of the information they had found.  I wanted them to think and make decisions based on their knowledge of the person and the definitions of specific characteristics these people may have possessed.

            Once I made this decision, the rest of the project easily fell into place.  The students knew that there would be three components of the project: a written report, a PowerPoint presentation, and a costumed visit to the class to present an oral report which was actually a “campaign stop” to influence the voters to determine the winner in each category.

            We did this project over a four week period.  During that time my students visited our school’s library for two periods; they were given specific Web sites to use so they could continue their research at home.  They spent four periods in the school’s computer lab to put together their PowerPoint presentations, and were given a demonstration of an oral report (Cleopatra visited classes to campaign for being elected Most Determined.)  She demonstrated how to use a PowerPoint presentation instead of having to read information from note cards. The posted results are a part of this Web page.

Teacher’s Directions

Before the assignment was given, I decided which Romans were to be studied.  I wanted to make sure that there was enough age appropriate material on each person and I wanted to be sure that some women were included in our study.  I put together a list of appropriate Web sites and emailed it to each of my students. 

            The day before we were to go to the library, each class spent 20 minutes of class time brainstorming questions that would need to be answered regardless of whom a student was studying.  When these questions were drawn up, we were ready to get started.

            There was nothing scientific about how students were assigned to their person.  We simply drew out of a hat.  In some cases, students made trades, especially when a boy selected a women or a girl selected a man.  (There’s just so much that a middle schooler will put up with!)  Once the students knew their “person”, they were given the student assignment sheet which had to be signed by their parents.  In this way, I was certain that parents knew about this long-term project.  They were also given a bibliography sheet, a question and answer sheet, and later, an organization sheet.

            Students spent two days in the library.  Their continued research was also their homework for the first week of the project.  By the end of the first week, we were ready to determine the categories in which people would compete.  I asked each student to write down five adjectives which they felt described their person.  We then put all of the adjectives up on the board.  In some classes, we had close to 60 to choose from.  We began to group similar adjectives and the students did some negotiating among themselves to come up with their categories.  In the classes which have 16 or 17 students, we decided on five categories.  In my small class of nine, we limited the number of categories to three.  Some of those categories included Most Devious, Most Determined, Most Powerful, Most Influential, Most Intelligent, and Most Destructive.  Students then had to decide which catefory was the most appropriate for their person.  Most students were content with the categories and we wound up having 3 to 5 people in most of them.  A few of the students did have a hard time determining which was the best category, and there was a bit of a limit, yet I had decided that each class should operate independently.  It was too hard to coordinate the presentations with three classes because of our schedule.

            While students were preparing for their presentations, they were given an instruction sheet which told them how to organize their information and how often they should practice.  I suggested a minimum of ten times.  They had to keep track of their practices and I asked that their parents sign off on their sheets.  The students were also given directions on how to make a toga.  Many also made crowns of ivy.