The Last Words--Using Richard III's Case in the Classroom
- Kay Janis and Nina Fleming
"After finishing The Daughter of Time...the students were
sputtering about what had happened to Richard. At this point they were gathering
at the town library almost daily.... We were extremely pleased with the
quality of these reports and the enthusiasm the students showed as
we progressed through the unit. High school students are a great
audience for Richard's story. They have a very keen sense of fairness
and once interested, they really do care about this long ago king."
- Larissa Taylor
"It's absolutely one of the best motivational history exercises I've
ever found... Tey 'gets them in the mood' -- they realize history isn't
always what the textbooks say, so they learn to question. Some, of
course, become true partisans. (Of both history and Richard.) Although
I would say most people eventually were convinced Richard has gotten
a raw deal, it wasn't an overwhelming majority. A number took the
more Machiavellian approach that he probably did it, but it was a
reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.... I think the
main thing that came out of that is that students get truly excited
about history. I've converted a fair number of science types."
- Charles T. Wood
"I find that whatever is assigned, an incredible amount of
additional material either about Richard in particular or the Wars
of the Roses in general gets read independently."
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