Mark Parker

"A Revolutionary Idea: Living the American Revolution" is the winning program developed by Parker for fifth-grade students at Wolcott Mills Elementary School. Students will be immersed in the sights, sounds, ideas and events of the American Revolution. Each student will assume the persona of a loyalist, patriot, or neutral and take on various occupational roles within a fictional Colonial town. Students will also write letters to relatives based on their point of view and journal entries for the school Website. At the end of the program, the participants will dress and interact as their selected persona and present their views in town meetings held in log cabins at a local park. The goal is to encourage the students to define their personal beliefs about American independence and learn to evaluate sources of information. Parker, who lives in Columbia City, hopes that the program will engage and challenge his students by immersing them in a turbulent time period and taking them far beyond textbook, video, or the Internet.