Historical markers identify and designate a place where something of significance occurred. They are useful in the study of history because they clearly illustrate, "history happened here." Too often, students think of history as something in the long ago past that happened to people with whom they have no connection.

Here are some ideas to change that thinking through the use of historical markers in the classroom. A template has been prepared to use in conjunction with several of these activities.

Make Your Own Marker

Ask the class to write the text for a historical marker for the classroom. Without giving them too many instructions, tell them they can include a physical description of the room, describe its use in the school, how the classroom was important in the life of the school, write about the people who used the classroom, or any information they might know about the "site." The marker text should be limited to a paragraph. Ask students to read aloud their paragraphs or choose several to read aloud. The purpose of this exercise is to get students thinking about historical significance, to connect them with local history, and to teach them how to state things concisely. To conclude the activity, ask students to imagine that someone well-known in the community's history (or suggest some well-known person) attended school and used the same classroom. How would that affect what is written on their marker?

Visit Marker Sites in the County

The web site /Projects/gainfo/gahistmarkers/ contains a list by county of historical markers in Georgia. Students could visit the marker sites on the list and confirm that the markers are in place, in readable condition, and accessible to the public. They could take a photograph of the marker and thereby record the text. If the marker is missing or damaged, students could report it to the Department of Natural Resources rangers at the nearest state park or to the responsible organization.

Putting Marker Sites on the Map

After locating markers in the county, or reading their location online, students can locate marker sites on a map of their county. If it is a very large county with numerous markers, you may want to divide the area and just identify markers within a city, a neighborhood, along a trail, or whatever is a natural area to use. Area maps can be obtained from the Chamber of Commerce or Visitor's Bureau. A detailed county map can be purchased from the Department of Transportation Map Sales (404-656-5336). The county map could be displayed in the classroom and marker sites noted on it.

Going Further

The text of a marker may inspire additional research on the subject. Allow students to locate markers and write a report on them as an enrichment activity. Students could find out more about the people, places, or events described on the marker by using the web or visiting the local library or historical society. Depending on the date of the recorded information, there may be people still living in the community familiar with the marker story or descendants of individuals described in the text. Those people could be interviewed and their oral histories recorded for the class.

Community Investigation

Students or the class can look at the topics of local markers and see what's missing. Who knows the community better than the people who live there? For example, what is the oldest cultural feature (a house, building road, cemetery, etc.) in your community? Thinking of what is missing is a great opportunity to really look at and think about the area-the buildings, the people who live or came from there, and the history of the community. If students identify potential marker subjects, they should talk to the local historical society about a possible marker placement. Visit the Georgia Historical Society web site at http://www.georgiahistory.com/Markers.htm to read the requirements for making a marker placement application and downloading an application. The web site also has photographs of recently dedicated markers and their text.

The Classroom Marker Project

Students can use any of the above activities as part of a classroom project on markers. The completed activities could become part of a classroom exhibit on historical markers with every student contributing. The exhibit could also be put in a hallway display case or in the media center for the entire school to see. Students could draw facsimiles of markers or do wax rubbings of actual markers for the display. The project could include a list of Georgia counties and the number of markers in each county. That information could be shown in graph form or transferred to a thematic or data map. Marker topics could be categorized by commemorations for people, places, or events-and those categories could be further subdivided into historical time periods, e.g., Civil War, colonial Georgia, and so on.

Other Activities

For additional teaching strategies on historical markers, see:

http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Past/Teach/hist.html

Other Web Sites