Tea, Coffee, and the Dramatic Classroom

I’m conducting a semester-long experiment with my upper-level American Revolution class this semester.  I have had hot water and tea bags available all semester and we have talked repeatedly about tea as an example of British identity in the American colonies.  I told them on the first day of class that I would put out instant chicory coffee (I can’t get a coffee maker to class, unfortunately) when I thought that it was possible for American colonists to conceive of independency.  I have encouraged the students to bring their favorite mugs to class and to participate in the experiment.  When are they convinced that independence is a necessity?

As soon as we started talking about the Stamp Act they clamored for coffee.  Students routinely asked me before class where the coffee was and why I hadn’t put it out yet.  They refused to believe that the Stamp Act was anything but an onerous and intentionally burdensome tax and advocated for the Stamp Act as the revolutionary tipping point.

None of this surprises me because students come into discussions of the American Revolution with a very particular point of view honed over years of patriotic k-12 classes and a national mythology that emphasizes the honor, intellectualism, and ideological necessity of the war.  They are predisposed to see the revolution as a sensible and inevitable event and disabusing them of this idea is tricky.  So, we read a variety of monographs that look at the messy and violent aspects of the revolution and we look at the laws and taxes in great detail.

Last week, we read about Timothy Bigelow, the Worchester blacksmith and creator of the American Political Society in 1774.  We compared his attempt to oust the Chandler family from political power in Worchester County with the creation of the First Continental Congress.  In 1774, Bigelow and other back country men declared that the British government in America was dissolved.  And so, at the next class, I brought coffee.

And my students fought me on it! “Not yet!” was now their cry.  They argued that maybe some radicals could now envision an independent America but that most Americans were not ready to take such a step.  We had a great discussion about the various parties and interest groups in the colonies and debated whether this was a revolution against Britain or a rebellion against wealth disparity.

My students noted that despite the fact that I had brought coffee, I was still drinking tea.  Here was another moment for discussion about personal allegiance and public identity.  Was I still drinking tea because of my privileged position in the society of our classroom? Was I suspicious of the idea that individuals could rule themselves? Maybe, one student suggested, I just liked tea?

While I had worried that the tea and coffee demonstration was a lot of work and theatrics for an upper-level class, I have been pleasantly surprised with the results so far.  The beverages provide a tangible reminder that the revolution was not just about ideology but was a destructive, tumultuous experience for colonists.  The project has given students a way to ask analytical questions and I have been able to tie ideology to economics, gender, race, and identity.

Plus, we have interacted in a different way than a typical undergraduate class as my students become accustomed to getting up in the middle of class for more water.  They chat about their favorite brew of tea before class starts.  They have truly become active participants in the direction the course is taking.

This atmosphere could be created in other ways and I still question whether the outside work required for providing tea and coffee to a class of 30 is worth it.  But, I am enjoying bringing drama to my class.  How else can we use drama and objects in the classroom? Is this an effective teaching strategy at the college level?

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  1. Pingback: The Week in Early American History « The Junto

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