Meet Our Teachers
Carla Smith
Bringing History Alive in Three Dimensions
鈥淚 have always considered myself a three-dimensional teacher,鈥 said Carla Smith, a graduate of the . Smith teaches eighth grade history at Licking Heights Central Middle School. At this crowded suburban school east of Columbus, she works to generate the excitement that makes students ready to learn.
A lot of her students rely on free and reduced breakfast and lunch. Often, the parents of her students both work outside the home. They may receive little support with their school work, especially from Somali or Nepali immigrant parents who themselves are still learning English. Still, the children of immigrants bring to class their parents鈥 appreciation for America, an appreciation Smith works to build.
鈥淚 love telling stories,鈥 Smith said. Adopting the personae of historical figures, she tells the story of history as if it were her own experience. 鈥淭hat draws students in,鈥 Smith said, allowing her then to put students themselves inside of history.
It Begins with Primary Sources and Written Scripts
She teaches two sections of the school鈥檚 highest-performing students along with two sections of those who struggle most with learning disabilities. With both groups she uses costumes, props, and dramatic reenactments to bring to life decision points in American history. Students entering Smith鈥檚 classroom may find her dressed as an 18th century patriot, Shawnee warrior chief, or Civil War battlefield surgeon. What begins as Smith鈥檚 impassioned performance soon becomes a story in which each student plays a role.
As the year begins, she helps students imagine 鈥渢he adversities early Americans faced.鈥 Teaching the Puritan experience, she gives students excerpts of documents related to Salem, Massachusetts and the infamous Witch Trials. As students read and answer document-based questions, 鈥渢hey pick up on the anxieties of those who settled in Salem,鈥 Smith said. They struggled to grow crops in a short growing season, feared attacks from Native American tribes and jealously guarded property lines in disputes with neighbors. Meanwhile, they feared the 鈥渄evil lurking in every corner to steal their souls.鈥
Then Smith recreates the trial. Wearing Puritan dress, she ushers students into a darkened classroom lit by a battery-powered hearth fire. She distributes a script based on her research into the actual backgrounds and fates of the accused. Each student reads the part of a magistrate, witness, or suspected witch. As they discover who is pardoned and who is condemned to death, they realize that making a confession鈥攆alse or not鈥攕aved an accused person鈥檚 life.
As Students Learn, They Create Their Own Roles
The year continues, and students step into new historical roles. Speaking as Loyalists or Patriots during the Revolutionary period, they debate the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and finally, the decision whether to declare independence and go to war with Great Britain. As they come to 鈥渟ee both sides of the story, we end up having a surprising number of British sympathizers.鈥 Recognizing the strength of the British position on American independence helps students grasp that the founding of our republic was neither inevitable nor easily accomplished.
Later, students reenact debates at the Constitutional Convention and the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
The story of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh 鈥渋s local history for us,鈥 Smith said. Her own fascination with Native Americans led her to write a MAHG thesis on 鈥淭he Fate of the American Indian in the Ohio Country.鈥 In her classroom, Smith recreates the impassioned appeal Tecumseh made to tribes of the Ohio and upper Mississippi River valleys as he built a confederation to prevent white settlement in the Northwest Territory.
鈥淲hen the students enter the classroom on this day, they鈥檒l again find the room darkened with my indoor fire blazing. Their desks will be arranged into tribal groups: Iroquois, Shawnee, Wyandot, Huron, etc. Wearing a chief鈥檚 headdress, I hop on top of my desk to address the tribes.鈥 She reads John Dunn Hunter鈥檚 record of . Afterwards, 鈥渟tudents work in groups to learn about their respective tribes and create an argument on whether or not to join Tecumseh鈥檚 confederacy.鈥 Some discover that their tribe 鈥渉as already assimilated into American society and doesn鈥檛 want to go to war,鈥 making the decision difficult. 鈥淭hen we gather around the council fire and each group of Indians comes forward to tell Tecumseh their decision.鈥
The Pandemic Changes the Plan
When the pandemic shut down schools across Ohio last March, Smith sprang into action to assure the continuity of her students鈥 education. Her first priority was to provide students materials to work on, since, she said, 鈥渨e鈥檙e not a district with one-to-one computers for all students.鈥 Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that campuses would close after school on Monday, March 16. Smith suspected that the shut-down would actually occur on Friday, March 13. At 2 am that morning, she went to school to assemble activity packets for all 350 students in the eighth grade, including those taught by colleagues. 鈥淚 photocopied primary source readings, short biographies, and a portion of the social studies textbook. Before the day ended, I got all the packets passed out.鈥 Although the Governor stuck by his order to shut schools the following Tuesday, the school district decided not to wait. That Friday was the last day she saw her students in person.
Within two weeks, the school district loaned Chrome Books to students whose families lacked computers. The district used Google Classroom to post assignments and link to the on-line textbook and short informational videos. They scheduled weekly Zoom sessions between teachers and students in each class section. Yet many students were not doing schoolwork. Midway through April, Smith had still not heard from 40 of her 140 students. 鈥淎 lot of my immigrant students don鈥檛 have internet access, or have to share a computer with their parents and siblings,鈥 she explained. The district had implemented a pass/fail grading system for the last quarter, but passing required completing assignments. Before recording interim grades for the quarter, Smith spent a day trying to call the parents of students who鈥檇 dropped out of sight.
Lack of access to internet and computers was not the only problem. In some cases, 鈥渂oth parents are essential workers and therefore are leaving the kids at home alone while they work. I鈥檝e been on several Zoom sessions where one student was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for his younger siblings while attempting to listen,鈥 Smith said.
What鈥檚 Possible Online 鈥 And What Isn鈥檛
She felt her advanced students were coping well with distanced learning. She worried about her struggling learners. Who would ensure they kept learning from home? 鈥淓ven in the classroom, I have to stay right behind them, pushing. As we work through primary documents, I need to explain phrases and unfamiliar words. Some of these students have made tremendous strides in middle school, and we risk losing everything we worked so hard to accomplish.鈥
Moreover, 鈥渟tudents at age 12 and 13 need to have hands-on experiences of history鈥 in order to care about it. One of Smith鈥檚 chief goals as a teacher is to convey 鈥渢he tremendous sacrifice earlier generations made鈥 to build and preserve our Constitutional system. Hence her disappointment when the corona virus shut the school campus just as she began teaching Civil War history. 鈥淚n that war alone, 620,000 Americans died to preserve the nation and our individual freedoms.鈥
She had planned to convey the human cost of the Civil War by showing how the weapons used in it eclipsed leaders鈥 understanding of battlefield tactics and medicine. She鈥檇 designed a new exercise recreating Pickett鈥檚 charge (鈥淚 had character cards made up for everyone鈥) and readied her usual 鈥渂attlefield hospital.鈥 Using 鈥渁 make-shift surgery table and a virtual medical kit,鈥 she simulates the amputation of a volunteer student鈥檚 leg. 鈥淚t is not for the squeamish, but I have done this for years and never received a complaint. I first show the difference between the older musket balls and the mini茅 ball used in the Civil War. The mini茅 ball shatters bone, creating a deadlier wound that is more prone to gangrene.鈥
This year she鈥檇 teach the Civil War online, doing her best to keep students engaged. 鈥淩eaching every student remained a tremendous challenge. Yet I was able to transfer lessons to an on-line format,鈥 she said. 鈥淔or example, I found visual resources that helped students understand Civil War battlefield conditions. My advanced students continued learning American history through primary sources and discussion via Zoom. I helped my students with learning disabilities in small work sessions, also via Zoom.鈥 聽But she could not create the three-dimensional experiences possible in the physical classroom. 鈥淭here are some things you just can鈥檛 replicate on-line.鈥
Staying Committed
Smith is planning for the new school year, which will be both on-line and in person. 鈥淒uring the first semester, a good portion of the student population will study only virtually,鈥 she said. 鈥淗owever, some students have opted for a hybrid model allowing them into the classroom twice a week. When I have them in the classroom, I hope to engage them in the creative learning process.鈥
Reflecting on her experience in the , she says, 鈥淚t was challenging. I gave up being department head while getting that degree. But after I finished, I missed being around other teachers in the program: people who are like-minded, who understand history and want to help their communities by teaching it. Such a void opened that I resumed my research on my thesis topic鈥攚hich I hope to turn into a book. I also became a tour guide at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus.鈥 Smith will always share her passion for history and for what it means to be a United States citizen.