Hileman Makes History Come Alive for PLMS Students!
by Grace Hupe and Taylor Korth
February 07, 2008
On January 21, 2008 a man of knowledge came to Perry-Lecompton Middle School to discuss with the students about many different eras of history. This man’s name is Keil Hileman, and he is a teacher at Monticello Trails Junior High. Mr. Hileman takes a very different approach to teaching his students, instead of using books and worksheets he likes to use artifacts and videos to help the students understand.
When Mr. Hileman was at Perry, he started off with Martin Luther King, and showed everyone the exact spot on where he stood when he made the “I Have a Dream Speech”. To get the students involved he brought artifacts that could be passed around to the students, for hands on learning experience.
Mr. Hileman explained to the students that when slaves would be brought over they would be attached shackles with a chain that could tighten the grip to everyone. This way they would not have to go around tightening every single person, it was a big time saver.
Once the slaves got to the port, the auctioneers would put oil on their bodies to make them look stronger, healthier and cleaner. When it was time for them to be auctioned off, they would then be sold to the highest bidder. Your owner would then brand you, which implied that you were property to him. Another form of showing that you were owned was having bracelets. The heavier the bracelet made the owner look wealthier.
Sometimes though people would fool each other and make the bracelet seem heavy, but in reality it was lightweight. The slave could have multiple bracelets covering an arm or a leg. Once the owner hammered on the bracelets there was no way of getting them off, unless the slave happened to escape and have a blacksmith take the bracelet off. The students got to handle all types of bracelets that were used in that era.
Mr. Hileman also let the students hold meteorites, one came from Russia and the other came from China. He also taught the students about Buddhism and how to handle the chimes properly. Once you hit them together they would make a very high pitched ringing noise. This caused the students to plug their ears and squint their eyes.
Other musical artifacts were presented that day. For example if you take a wine glass filled with water and slide your finger around the rim of the glass it would create various sounds and a technique like this one was demonstrated using a bowl and a wooden stick. Mr. Hileman brought out a one of a kind wooden frog that if you pinched its back legs and took a wooden stick and scraped it against the frog’s back that created a noise that only certain parts of the room could hear.
At the end of his presentation he allowed the students to come up and test their strength by seeing if they could handle the weight of a cannon ball. You could tell who spent time after school in the weight room, by the way they held the cannon ball, and with confidence might we add.
Mr. Hileman taught students about the past to prevent those
mistakes from happening again in the future. This style had a
positive impact with the students and really got them to think.
Four 7th graders were interviewed and they all had positive
feedback as to how the presentation went.
Melissa and Tanner both agreed that they liked hearing the
chimes.
Lillian said, “ I was scared when I heard of what they did to the people in the shackles.”
“I enjoyed listening to the sounds of the frog”, said Brady.
“I felt very strong when I held up the cannon ball”, added
Tanner.
All of the students had positive comments about the presentation
and all the students were interested in having Mr. Hileman come
back to visit them again.
Mr. Hileman was very gracious as to how the students accepted his
teaching and hopes that the students will walk away with a
different outlook on the different eras of history.
