Wow, you turn your back for one second, and a month goes by without a blog post. The seventh grade humanities students haven't been sleeping on the job, though. During that time they've been busy with this and that, especially with a comparison/contrast paper looking at the reality of Pocahontas and Disney's depiction of her as a movie character. Lately, though, we've been focusing on a big group project where a mix of my students and students from other humanities classes have been reenacting the trial of Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson, an outspoken advocate of women's rights and independent thought, found herself at odds with the Puritan ministers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630's. After a dramatic trial in which she defended herself fiercely, Hutchinson was banished from the colony altogether.
The group has worked hard at exploring Hutchinson's beliefs, the conflict between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works, and the social and political attitudes of colonial America. They have memorized lines, struggled with costume decisions, battled with cameras and movie software, argued with each other, and overall, done a splendid job throughout. Here is a picture that gives a sense of what they've been up to (it's a bit blurry, but then, the whole project has gone by in a blur, so perhaps it's appropriate):
