The Integration of Drama :: American Civil War :: Technology?

The most distinct memory as a 4th-grader that I have was when we studied, acted-out, and tested upon the American Civil War. The beauty of this teacher's creativity was that it stuck in my poorly-remembering-of-a-mind far better than I ever could imagine. Furthermore, it translated to an interest in the American Civil War that remains today.

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The trick? The teacher instigated a multidimensional lesson:

1. She began with her learning goal, which aimed in the general direction that her students would be able to understand and analyze the American Civil War. 
2. She instructed first through lecture, involved each of us in class readings, and found interesting primary sources.
3. She sparked our minds-interest further by building up this great "acting-out" of the Civil War that we were going to do once instruction on the topic diminished. Encouraging each of us to research the war, find outfits, and patiently wait to get selected to a certain side, we all eagerly looked forward to it. 

Subtly, we were taking cue after cue she through at us and REMEMBERED what we heard. In full, it worked beautifully. Test scores were undoubtedly above-par for each one of us.

How does such a tail of my history potentially impact future studies on US History in the educator's realm via technology?

Building up students interest through involved hands-on webquests, recorded dramas, or presentations of sorts really can work. In the same way as my 4th-grade teacher's plan, we as teachers today can use our technological understanding to better our students, too!

For further ideas, click here: CivilWar.Org Teacher Resources