History Class - Open to Students!

[sepia]

Stepping back from the board, marker in hand, Philip Grey took a moment to admire his handiwork. Emblazoned in large writing across the smooth, white surface were four large questions:

What is history?

How do we know what we learn is actually the truth?

Is there any 'truth'?

How does the past affect the present?

His main purpose with these questions was to get his students thinking about what they were actually learning. He wanted to teach that history wasn't something only contained in books and lost in the misty, distant past. He also wanted to teach that history wasn't just memorising dates and listening to him lecturing. No. He wanted his students to realise that history was fluid, that it was a subject to get actively involved in, that there often weren't right or wrong answers. He wanted his students to think about what they were told, mentally pick up and shake facts until they were satisfied - he wanted them to truly engage with what they were learning, and if they came away thinking that maybe history was fun, then he'd succeeded. Even if he just managed to shake some of their preconceived notions about what they were told, he'd take that as a victory, too.

Satisfied with his words - his handwriting was legible, and the lines were written straight across the board - Philip returned his board-pen to the little ledge beneath the board, and turned to his classroom. It was set up normally, as he'd not yet had time to mess around with the tables, and such, but for now he was satisfied with the arrangement.

Checking the time, he saw he had several minutes before his students were supposed to be in class, and settled down to wait, leaning against the edge of his desk as he watched the door. Dressed reasonably smartly in a short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, he was comfortable, too, and hopefully not giving off an aura of 'scary teacher!'. No, he always ran his lessons reasonably casually, liking students to get involved and discuss things with him, and always being delighted when they became confident enough to actually disagree with him.

[Onzyy]

The young student dragged his feet to the class. Graeme loved History, but today he just wasn't in the mood for anything school wise. Rather than bunk, he suffered through each lesson on his timetable. Graeme was dressed rather casually. Jeans, converse trainers, t-shirt and a baseball cap was his attire today.

He hoisted the sling bag higher onto his shoulder. Graeme reached the designated class, took a deep breath, and entered the class. Only to find it empty, except for the teacher. Nothing had really changed, except that the teacher looked really casual. Greetings sir. I'm Graeme Donovan.

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Outfit: Here

[emmaandfudge]

Outfit : Click here


Lucie yawned looking up at her phone in the the 'early' morning. '9:07AM' it read ''SH*T'' yelled Lucie as she flung herself out of the warm,cosy bed before running into the bathroom to get ready.

She was already late as it was as class started at 9:15am and it was now 9:45am after she had spent over half an hour getting ready. She left her room with her history books in her turqouise radley bag and her light blue ralph lauren sandals.

There were no students around as she entered her way into the history block of the school campus and she came up to the room which she was mean to be in. She knocked on the door and entered before quickly taking her seat. ''Hi Sir'' she said as she put her bag down on her desk before turning to the boy who was sitting behind her. ''Hi my names Lucie.''

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara slipped into the classroom seconds before the bell sounded. She was wearing a teal pant suit, with a white shirt under the blazer and a tie that seemed to set the entire outfit off. Her hair was still wet from the shower she had stepped out of moments ago. She couldn't believe that she'd lost track of the time in the dance studio and had to race through a shower and get dressed as quickly as possibly - not that one would know this from looking at her - the only give away that she had been rushing was the slight hint of colour on her cheeks.

She bowed her head apologetically toward the man at the front of the class and slipped into one of the tables at the front of the room. While she was waiting for the man to start speaking, she took the required items from her leather satchel: her History folder, pencil case, and glasses case. She took her glasses out of the case and slipped the bifocals on. She then opened her pencil case and took out her black, blue and red pens, along with a lead pencil. Zipping the case back up again, she placed this at the top right hand corner of her desk. The folder was in the middle of the desk in front of her, and she set the pens and pencil in a straight line above the folder so that they were in easy reach. Opening the folder, she picked up the black pen with which she wrote down the title of the class, followed by the name of the teacher - well she would when she learned his name - along with whatever other information she thought would be relevant to do with the class. Turning to the next page, she capped the black pen, picked up the blue and copied down what he had written on the board.

[sepia]

Jessica and Julian slid in through the door at almost the same time as each other, just before the bell rang out, the two new students having managed to get each other thoroughly turned about in the corridors, only the intervention of an older student saving them from going in completely the wrong direction. This, clearly, Jess decided as she dropped into a seat near Cara, was the problem with striking up conversations with random boys you met in hallways. You ended up late to things, no matter how interesting the conversation had been. Julian, meanwhile, flung himself into a chair in the second row, reading the words on the board with distinct curiousity.

Stifling a grin as the last few students skedaddled in, Philip waited for a few moments after the bell had rung to check that no-one else was going to dive in, and the un-perched himself from his desk. Time to get started!

"Good morning," he began, "I'm Mr. Grey, your new history teacher, though I hope you've worked that much out already." Gesturing to the board, he continued. "My main focus for the next few lessons are going to be these questions, and my main point is that history isn't just something hidden in dusty books, nor is it something that we absolutely know for certain. I'm sure you've all heard the saying that 'history is written by the victors'? A famous example of this is the Battle of Kadesh, fought in approximately 1274 BC, between the Egyptians and the Hittites. Both sides claim that they won the battle, and that the other army lost.

"Who really did win? We're probably never going to be able to say until someone invents a time machine and we can go check it out, but it's just one of many example where history isn't clear. Some thing in history are fact: like the fact that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1941, but a lot of things are unclear, like who won the battle of Kadesh. History is fuzzy, I'm afraid to say, and often there's no easy right or wrong answer."

"Anyway, I don't want to spend all the time talking to you guys, so I'll turn it over to you. Do you have any thoughts on any of these questions? For that matter, any other questions you's like to examine during these lessons? Or any particular idea of something you'd really like to take a look at? I'd like you to enjoy these lessons, so looking at something you're actually interested in, rather than what I think we should look at, would be a good idea." He stopped, here, looking expectantly out at the class, hoping someone would take the initiative and say something.

[Onzyy]

The girl that had seated herself in front of him had introduced herself as Lucie, but Graeme waited a few more seconds before dragging his eyes away from the book that he was reading. Graeme was all that he offered. It wasn't that he was usually that rude, but he was tired and just wanted to be left alone.

Graeme knew that he should've just bunked the class, and try and sleep, rather than force himself to stay awake in class. As the class started, Graeme reluctantly put his book away, and made himself pay attention. He looked around, and not seeing anyone else venture, he made the brave leap, as tired as he was.

Sir, what about the Crusades? The Crusades were always something that had interested him. Not just because it was a war, but because of all the conspiracy and mysticism behind it.

[sal2]

Hannah rushed into class flushed red in the cheeks. She continued to blush. " Sorry I am late Professor" her russian accent thick. She was russian. She was wearing a simple jeans and white t-shirt. She slipped down into a seat, blushed and waited for more directions, as she read the board and continued to think about questions what did they really mean. She wasn't quite sure, but she would think about more. She hated history but she would try after all

[sepia]

((Eep, sorry this has taken me so long to get back to! Thank Onz for reminding me, because apparently my brain is sieve-like XD.))

Looking a little disappointed that no-one, apparently, wanted to suggest anything, Philip brightened immensely when Graeme spoke up (he chose to ignore the fact that the teenager looked like he was about to topple over into dreamland, working on the approach that unless he actually did fall asleep, tiredness was hardly fatal. And he'd also been the only person to actually suggest anything so far, which gave him a fair amount of leeway).

"Ah," he said, delightedly, "The Crusades! Brilliant choice: holy war, or land-hungry power grab? And, of course, all the conspiracies that lie behind it. Something to interest everyone, I hope." He had only a moment to write 'The Crusades' up on the board as well, in writing rather less neat and tidy than his original notations, before another voice piped up, this one given confidence by someone else having spoken first.

"Could we look at the Ancient Egyptians, too, sir?" Julian said, enthusiasm unsurprisingly in his tone.

"More into the archealogy, are we?" Philip said, as he wrote that suggestion up as well, "More interested in the really ancient stuff," to which Julian grinned and nodded. Really, who couldn't be fascinated by things - like ginormous pyramids! - built thousands of years before most civilisations had begun to do anything interesting?

"Anything else anyone would like to look at?" He asked, but seeing no more forthcoming possibilities - Jess, though very interested in the topic, not daring to say anything in a situation like this, in case everyone else thought whatever she said was a stupid idea - he nodded. "Well, these will be an interesting two to start with - very different, which is good. We'll look at the Crusades first, purely on the basis that they were suggested first."

"Right, next lesson I'll bring in a selection of books and videos I have about the Crusades," and, yes, he was a sad enough history teacher to actually own things about most history topics that were studied in school. Or well-prepared enough, in this case helped by the fact that at his school two jobs back, he'd spent a great deal of time teaching the Crusades and so had built up quite a good selection of resources. Scribbling himself a note to that effect, he moved on to the next part of his plan, something he would have been able to do whatever the students had decided they'd like to look at.

"I was thinking we could start of with a fairly independent small research project: you can each choose any aspect you'd like to look at about the Crusades, and either write an essay, or prepare a little presentation, whichever you prefer. Doesn't need to be too long - I'm thinking of giving a couple of weeks for this - perhaps a four minute long presentation, or about a fifteen hundred word essay. Or thereabouts." Looking around hoping to not see any students falling off their chairs in dismay, he continued.

"Right now I've got some textbooks that I retrieved from my last school when they utterly changed their curriculum. There'll be enough for one each and there's a section about the Crusades in there." He retrieved the books from where he'd stacked them on the bookshelf behind his desk, plunking the pile down on an unoccupied desk at the front. "So, please do ask me questions, or if you prefer, get stuck in to thinking about what you'd like to look at."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara listened as a couple of ideas were thrown out for suggestions of topics that the students would like to cover. Personally, she would enjoy looking at the Hundred Years' War, but there was nothing that was going to make her speak up in the classroom where everyone would turn to look at her.

Picking up her pen, she headed the next empty page of her folder:

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns during the time of Medieval England against the Muslims of the Middle East. In 1076, the Muslims had captured Jerusalem - the most holy of holy places for Christians. Jesus had been born in nearby Bethlehem and Jesus had spent most of his life in Jerusalem. He was crucified on Calvary Hill, also in Jerusalem. There was no more important place on Earth than Jerusalem for a true Christian which is why Christians called Jerusalem the "City of God".

However, Jerusalem was also extremely important for the Muslims as Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim faith, had been there and there was great joy in the Muslim world when Jerusalem was captured. A beautiful dome - called the Dome of the Rock - was built on the rock where Muhammad was said to have sat and prayed and it was so holy that no Muslim was allowed to tread on the rock or touch it when visiting the Dome.

Therefore the Christian fought to get Jerusalem back while the Muslims fought to keep Jerusalem. These wars were to last nearly 200 years

[/color][/blockquote]
She could have written more, but that would wait until she wasn't in class and no one else was watching the amount of information she could pull from her memory.

"I was thinking we could start of with a fairly independent small research project: you can each choose any aspect you'd like to look at about the Crusades, and either write an essay, or prepare a little presentation, whichever you prefer. Doesn't need to be too long - I'm thinking of giving a couple of weeks for this - perhaps a four minute long presentation, or about a fifteen hundred word essay. Or thereabouts."

She lifted her head and raised her eyebrows. She would need to speak with Mr Grey after the class and find out if there would be any penalties for essays that were over the word limit - some high school teachers could punish for an over written essay as easily as a college professor would - and if that were the case she would need to keep an eye on her word count.

She gently tapped the pen against her lips, wondering if she should look at one of the crusades, a division of the crusades or to look at them as a whole and write about everything.

[sepia]

Jess stared, thoughtfully, at the board as she listened to Mr. Grey talk, wondering what she could remember about the Crusades. As it turned out, very little, so after he stopped talking and let them free to do their own thing - so to speak - she was one of the first up to grab a textbook. Books, for her, were very definitely sacred repositories of information, and though she knew enough not to assume something was correct just because it was written down, she still had a great deal of respect for any written word.

Settling herself back at her desk and turning to the contents page to find the relevant section, her attention was caught by Cara at the desk over from her, looking equally thoughtful. "Any ideas?" she asked the older girl. "I've just realised that I know hardly anything about the Crusades. Other than that there were lost of them over a long period of time. Which, given I'm English, is kind of pathetic, actually." Finding the right pages, she skim-read a few of them, hoping for something interesting to leap out at her that she could focus her essay - because there was no way she was doing a presentation - on.

***

Julian, too, was one of the first up for a text-book - though he had the vague idea that he really wanted to look at one of the great Islamic leaders, Saladin, perhaps - springing happily vertical as he grabbed for one. Not feeling the need to ask Mr Grey any questions right at the minute, he sat back down again and proceeded to flick through the book to the right section. An interesting little section on the Aztecs caught his attention before he'd gone more than a few pages, though, and within moments he was unhelpfully reading about the wrong period of time, in the wrong part of the world.

[lemons]

Riley was late - so late, that he was even a little late in his mind. Riley looked at his watch, raised his eyebrows, stamped out his 17th cigarette of the day, picked up his bag, shoving the half-empty cigarette box in as he did, and headed off to History. He pulled out his cell phone, and looked at it, hoping, just hoping that Diya would text him back, or better yet, call.

Riley had to pause before he enter the classroom. He smelled like he had just smoked 9 cigarettes in a row. Axe wasn't going to cover this smell up. Riley entered the classroom, paused by the teacher's desk and said, "I'm sorry I'm late, sir" and went right to the back of the classroom.

Words: 127 Notes: I'll code whenever.

[sepia]

Philip, after helping to stop a rather over-enthusiastic boy - Julian, he remembered, later - from toppling over his neat pile of textbooks, was rather surprised when a student entered the classroom. There was late, like Lucie had been, and then there was late, like this boy, who was managing a lateness that made one wonder why he was even bothering to come to class. Acknowledging him with a pair of raised eyebrows, Philip watched him as he made his way past the desk, and caught an unmistakable whiff - and whiff was perchance putting it lightly - of cigarettes. And not just one or two, either.

"Before you deigned to join us," he began, irritation with the late student expressing itself through sarcasm (because while he might be mostly easy-going, he does demand a certain amount of respect, such as not showing up dramatically late, and stinking of cigarettes. He did have a class to teach, after all), "We decided we would be studying the Crusades. Currently everyone is contemplating a topic they'd like to research. And please stay after class has ended so we can have a word."

Great, just what he wanted to do his first class. Discipline. Hmph. And everyone else had been being so good, too. He hated having to pull the disciplinary teacher role, he really did... but sometimes it had to be done.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara followed Jessica up to collect a textbook. She knew she wouldn't need one, but it was just better to collect one than have any more attention drawn to herself than need be.

"Any ideas?" Jessica asked. "I've just realised that I know hardly anything about the Crusades. Other than that there were lost of them over a long period of time. Which, given I'm English, is kind of pathetic, actually."

Cara cast the girl a sideways glance. "I'm going to do an essay on the life of Richard the first." She said softly. "He was a Christian commander during the Third Crusade." This information she offered without even having to open up the book.

Picking up her pen, she began to write.

Richard the Lionheart - The Third Crusade
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Ireland, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was known as Cœur de Lion, or Richard the Lionheart, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The Muslims (referred to as Saracens at the time) called him Melek-Ric or Malek al-Inkitar (King of England).

By age 16, Richard was commanding his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father, King Henry II. Richard was a central Christian commander during the Third Crusade, effectively leading the campaign after the departure of Philip Augustus and scoring considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, but was unable to reconquer Jerusalem.

While he spoke very little English and spent very little time in England (he lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine, in the southwest of France), preferring to use his kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the very few Kings of England remembered by his epithet, rather than regnal number, and is an enduring, iconic figure in England.

[/font][/blockquote]She put the pen down as she read through what she had written, pleased with what would start the essay. Making careful note that that was quarter of the required word count already. In the main part of the essay, she would go further in depth about the young King's time during the Crusade, and she would finish it off with his death.

[Onzyy]

As the teacher started talking, Graeme soon found himself dozing off. Sleep was luring him to disappear into a world where comfort was the desk that he was sitting at. In his semi-conscious state, he mulled over what he knew about the Crusades. It was a war based on religion, the hunt for the Holy Grail, the start of The Knight's Templar, and everything that went with it.

The people killed was just justification for what was supposedly 'right'. Graeme didn't even realise that he had fallen asleep, until well, until a teacher woke him up. Well, until that happened, nothing would revive him from his slumber.

[sepia]

"I have actually heard of him," Jess replied, tone not put out in the slightest by having been told something she actually knew, and slightly distracted as she put half her mind into carrying the conversation, and half of it into skim-reading the textbook. " Bit difficult not to have done, really. Richard the Lionheart - one of England's greatest heroes, despite the fact he spent hardly any time there. Which is weird, really, but I he was supposed to be very charismatic, so that must have helped."

Pausing at a page which had an intriguing title, Outremer, she was only a few sentences in before she decided that she might have her topic. The concept that European settlers had actually lived in parts of the Middle East after the successes of the First Crusade immediately fascinated her and she settled down to reading these relevant pages with more concentration.

***

Apparently, life was just asking to trial him, Philip decided as he watched the descent of one of his students into what looked like quite the sound sleep. After giving the boy the benefit of the doubt for a few moments, hoping he'd wake himself up and apply himself, he had to give up on that prospect after about a minute, and instead rose from his desk to wake him up himself. Graeme Donovan, he recalled, as he wended his way through the desks to stand in front of his erstwhile sleeping student.

"Mister Donovan," he began, tone forceful but surprisingly quiet as he directed it at the lad, reaching out a hand as he did so to give him a firm shake on his shoulder. "I think you might find that a bed is a more appropriate place to sleep."