Why do middle school students at Guidepost Academy make timelines? Students at Guidepost Academy spend their middle
school years building a beautiful, detailed, and hand-drawn timeline of world and US history. We do this because an understanding of history- a true understanding- is at the core of everything we do. Every class in middle school- math, science, art, literature- requires students to add dates, figures, and events to their timeline, deepening their understanding of the interconnected nature of our world. In order to understand human beings, we must understand history: the grand story of past ideas, lives, injustices, inventions, and adventures. At Guidepost Academy, we study history, not primarily as stories of times long gone, but as an explanation of the present. An understanding of the causal nature of history requires first an understanding of the chronology; the relationship of events to one another, and the relationship of ideas and people on a grand scale. “The history of the present is enormously important, and not only the present but its roots in the past through which most of the present can be understood. History of the past should be taught with this view in mind, as the explanation of the present.” - Maria Montessori
Timelines are a key feature of Montessori history starting in early childhood, where they present an awe-inspiring view of the scope of the story of the world and of humanity. In middle school, students take this study a step further, creating their own timeline that is beautiful, intentional, incredibly content-rich, and individualized. While all timelines have a set of key events, no two timelines will be exactly the same. Each student will become fascinated by different eras, events, or people, and each student will create a work of art that is uniquely theirs. At the end of middle school, these timelines are bound and presented as an heirloom quality book that students take with them forever.
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