A lesson in revolution
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 20 2009 05:07 AM
By Rebecca LaFlure
Killeen Daily HeraldHARKER HEIGHTS – A crowd of students stood behind Tracey McDaniels outside Eastern Hills Middle School Monday as he prepared to fire a Revolutionary War-era flintlock pistol.
One, two, three. Fire.
Nothing.
McDaniels reloaded his weapon.
One, two, three. Fire.
Still nothing.
He went through the process six more times until the pistol finally let out a loud boom. The students screamed.
"I didn't think he would actually do it," eighth-grader Sheldon Guillory said. "This is one of the most fun things we've done."
McDaniels, an eighth-grade history teacher at Eastern Hills, gave students an idea of what it was like to fight in the American Revolutionary War Monday with an outdoor firearms demonstration.
"A lot of the kids don't understand that the weapons back then are not like today," McDaniels said. "The one thing that really comes through to them is that it isn't very reliable. … If we have wind and we're trying to fight a battle, well, it's time to use the bayonet."
Dressed in a white hunter's smock, britches and a red sash typical of a Revolutionary War general, McDaniels conducted the demonstration to increase his students' interest in the 18th century war that gave the United States its independence from Great Britain.
McDaniels loaded the pistol with toilet paper instead of musket balls because the demonstration took place within the city limits.
Earlier this school year, McDaniels dressed as a Spanish conquistador when his class reviewed the period following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World in 1492.
"It gets their attention," he said. "As soon as they come through the door and see me in this, it's like, 'What's he doing today?' rather than, 'What am I doing tonight?'"
McDaniels also brought a "Brown Bess" musket replica, a set of wigs and a tomahawk – an alternative weapon used when the pistol or musket didn't fire – for the kids to look at and touch.
"Usually in a history class, you just sit there and do nothing," eighth-grader Hana Hamilton said. "He makes it more interesting."
Contact Rebecca LaFlure at
rlaflure@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7548.