Part of Our Classroom Re-creation

Posted on April 26, 2012 by jmcclurken

After a semester of work, we recreated a typical class in the 1950s era including clothing and appropriate discussion of viewpoints for the time.

This clip is one excerpt of that class, a re-creation of what we imagine a debate over “A Woman’s Place Is in the Home” might have looked like in 1952 in a Current Events class in the History Department at Mary Washington College.

Class re-creation of 1952 views — Debate over Women’s Place in the Home from UMW History.

Please note that the material here is based on research the students did in MWC sources from the 1950s. They are an attempt to understand the issues and concerns facing college students at a mostly female teaching college in 1952.

They do not represent the actual viewpoints of the students or Dr. McClurken.

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Images from the Re-Creation

Posted on April 17, 2012 by jmcclurken

Pictures now, video may follow.

In our best approximation of 1950s clothes.

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An Outline for Re-Creating a 1952 History Class

Posted on April 14, 2012 by jmcclurken

Based on the work the groups have done, this is our schedule for the class.

Schedule/tasks for HIST 328 Re-creation class
Set in 1952
Professor Almont Darter-Quinzel
HIST 381 – Current Affairs

12:25 – Arrive early, if possible to get things set up for class

12:30—Have cameras ready, books, material items in place

12:30-12:35 – record students walking into the room, talking about social events

12:35 – Begin the “pre-class” announcements with material from the non-academic group.

  • Grace – May Day and nominee in the class for May Queen.
  • Other announcements? (non-academic group)

12:40 – Roll call (Using last names), with each student responding, “Present” and adding their Major and class (Devil or Goat).

  •  During roll call, theatrical whisper in the back that Prof. D-Q will stare down

12:50  Announce the topic for today’s debate, “A Woman’s Place Is In the Home”
– Divide into halves of the room

12:50-12:55 Talk in small groups about plans for the debate

12:55-1:00 – small groups go back into the big groups on each side to coordinate their debate

  • During these group discussions, some students fall off into their own discussions of social matters (assigned/prepped by Non-academic group)

1:05-1:15 – Debate between the two sides, employing the arguments that we’ve been talking and reading about for the last few weeks.  (Bonus points for mentioning specific authors/speakers/politicians.)

1:15-1:30 – Discussions –

  • Why is it important for mothers to raise sons and daughters who will support the ideals of a democratic nation?
  • What does the fight in Korea have to do with democracy and/or motherhood?    [Background on the war]
  • Could you see a Third World War in your generation?  What might it look like?  Since the Soviets have the atom bomb, do you feel unsafe?  What can you, as college students, do about it?
  • During this time, someone will clumsily pass a note, Dr. D-Q will get it and read it to the class, scolding them.

1:30-1:35 – end of class announcements from Dr. D-Q.

 

1:35-1:40 – Record student leaving the room talking about other non-academic items (or just complaining about classes)

 

 

For TH class –

  • Photo re-creation in normal clothes – 30-40 minutes
  • Discussion of the process of research and re-creation – 30-40 minutes

———————

The posts that each group did about our plans.

 

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Class Re-creation Schedule going forward

Posted on April 5, 2012 by jmcclurken

By end of class, Thursday, April 5: Have detailed work plan with clear assignments for each person in the group.

By class start on Tuesday, April 10: Have made progress on your group’s assignment*, and everyone post a brief bio about your character for the class on your blog.

*Minimum progress defined by group:

  • Class Content — clear explanation for plan for class activity
  • Photo group — choose 5 photos to recreate with list of supplies, locations needed for each, and plan for what to do with them.
  • Clothing/materials — Dress code for students/faculty; list of allowed supplies
  • Activities — flesh out specifics about what announcements will be made, which will be discussed casually, fliers made(?).  Need details for these and how they will be worked in to class time.
UPDATE: Outlines for the various parts of the recreation are now up, including specific advice and instructions for students.

By class start on Thursday April 12: Come prepared to discuss what still needs to be done.

Tuesday, April 17 and/or Thursday, April 19 — class re-creations

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Clothing and Material Culture

Posted on April 3, 2012 by rwelker

Today, we basically put together a list of things we need to learn about in order to make decisions on how we want to go about portraying the 1950s.

The first thing, of course, is to learn about what students wore; what styles were common for both men and women, and how students actually dressed for class. (A Google search turns up serious fashion, but how fashionable were students trying to look for lectures?) We’ll try to answer that question by looking at the pictures available on the 1950s website as well as those in the library’s collection.

We also talked briefly about material culture, and “no laptops” seems like a fairly basic place to start. We also considered handing out (or asking students to bring) college ruled paper and pencils. Books from this time period would help create a kind of ambiance, a sense that the 1950s is happening outside the classroom as well, and so we plan to borrow books from that decade from the library, so that people can carry around materials for “other classes”.

 

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Non-Academic Ideas

Posted on April 3, 2012 by lepa
Our group talked about which events we could incorporate into daily conversation. We tried to include in our list school-wide events (such as Devil Goat) and day-to-day events individual students would be talking about (dates, classes).
  • Devil Goat Day
  • Going to lyceum after class
  • Opening of Dupont Hall (early 1950s)
  • Weekly convocation
  • Weekly chapel
  • Having to get permission to go on a date
  • Visiting UVA
  • Swimming class
  • Dances, theater performances
  • Having to get permission to keep your lights on later
  • Freshmen discussing notable faculty and how cool the school is (ex: Dr. Iltis’s life story or the Coke machine in Chandler)
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Initial ideas for class re-creation

Posted on March 27, 2012 by jmcclurken

Class ideas

  • Recreate History class (4)
  • Recreate Education class
  • Recreate Home Economics
  • recreate photos from decade site — Sarah L.
  • Recreate Theater class (in the amphitheater) — Stephanie
  • Senior Day? — Brooke
  • One fun class and one serious class

 

Roles

  • Include veterans (a few) who were still around in early 1950s.
  • “Maybe each person could pick a major, not necessarily the same one they’re pursuing now, and look through courses and make a list of classes they’ve already taken, then think of a reason why they’re taking the particular class we reenact. If that works, maybe the same can be done for extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, etc.) so that we each have a small built-in scenario we can play with and use to interact with each other; this could bring in the non-academic resources as naturally as possible.” — Carrie
  • Students as students, McClurken as Professor


Working in non-academic items

  • – “There can be discussions in class about things that are happening and perhaps announcements made at the beginning of class of things that are happening socially around campus.”–Carolyn
  • – “I think the best way to do this would be to do what Dr. McClurken does at the beginning of our classes today: ask the class what they did over the weekend/ what their plans are for the week. Maybe there could be a dance or other social event coming up, or a new rule or privilege could have just been introduced.  A short discussion at the beginning of class of the world outside academics would be a great way to give a little authenticity to the class and also work in the elements that are not purely academic.” — Grace


Material/props/dress

  • Library — “ a handout, maybe – that would capture what using the library was like for students in the 50s.  A guide to the Dewey Decimal System, how to use a card catalog. “
  • Dress — General agreement that we should try to dress in 1950s style.  Ask Prof. McCluskey for help?
  • Material Culture — books?  Technology?  Notepads
  • Lots of suggestions here: http://umwtimewarp.umwblogs.org/2012/03/26/how-to-recreate-the-1950s-class/

 

Sources:

  • 1950s site, interviews, Dr. Crawley’s book, Battlefield, photos, Prof. McCluskey
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The Decade Has Been Chosen

Posted on March 22, 2012 by jmcclurken

We will be recreating the 1950s

– What class/discipline should we re-create?

– What roles should people have?

– What sources will we use?

– How will we work in non-academic material?

– Material aspects (clothes? books?)

Blog your suggestions this weekend.

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Further instructions on group sites

Posted on February 27, 2012 by jmcclurken

1) Building on the research done by each of the group members, each group will construct a site for their decade in UMWBlogs.  The design, format, and presentation of these sites will be determined by the group, with a broad audience in mind.  These sites are due by 11:59 PM on Monday, March 12 Noon on Friday, March 16.

2) Sites are completed by one (or more) members of the group creating a blog post introducing the site and linking to it.  Sites are “turned in” by emailing me with the links to  the group site and the blog post introducing it.

3) Starting Tuesday after class, based on these sites, we will vote on the best decade for us to recreate as a class using this page….  [In addition to the class votes, I will invite DTLT and the Alumni Association Board of Directors to vote, as well as those people who have been following the posts online.]

 

 

 

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Updated info about week 4

Posted on February 7, 2012 by jmcclurken

All,

Here are the plans for this week, as I also talked about in class:

Before Class Time on Thursday

  • Post (to your blog) a few observations (a paragraph) about one or two of the readings this week.

Thursday during class

  • Tim from DTLT will walk the class through some of the possible approaches to creating a project site for your decade, using UMWBlogs/WordPress
  • You will meet with your group and begin/continue to plan for the group project sites which are due right after Spring Break.  Take good notes.

Thursday (after class)

  • Post a brief summary of what your group decided (each of you should post your own summary, then compare notes).

By Tuesday (2/14) at class time

  • Have posted your 3rd Research Log Post, discussing your research progress and your findings related to the classroom experiences for your decade.
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Weekend tasks

Posted on January 19, 2012 by jmcclurken

As I said in class today, please do the following over the next few days:

  • By Noon Friday, let me know if you want to work on a particular decade for the project.  I will post the groups assignments by Friday evening on the blog.
  • By Sunday evening, create a new blog for your individual research log, email me the link to that blog, and publish your first post in which you introduce yourself and include an image (with attribution).
  • Next Tuesday, Remember that we’ll be meeting in Special Collections on the 2nd floor of the library.  We will see what materials are available for the project.  You’ll also have a chance to meet with your group and begin to talk about what set of sources you’ll be working with.

I’ve also updated the online syllabus with more information about the first research log assignment.

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