Elvis Is The King!

I am excited to see how many of you were able to stand up for yourselves and experience what it might have been like to live as a modern-day separatist.

We started off with a PowerPoint slide announcing that Elvis would be recognized every five minutes during Social Studies. When the timer went off, everyone in class had to stand, sing the lyrics to "Hound Dog," sway their hips to the music, and curl their lips. After the song was finished, we got back to studying why separatists left England for the New World, and I recorded the names of the individuals who were not respectful of Elvis (smiling, not moving to the music, not singing loud enough, etc.). Five minutes later, the timer went off and we again sang. We sang/danced about three times on day one.

On day two, the class was asked to wear white to class "out of respect for Elvis" since we would be again talking about Social Studies. Individuals not wearing white had their names recorded on the whiteboard, and Hound Dog was again played every five minutes. During the second spinning of Hound Dog, a core group of about four people flatly refused to sing or dance, and spent their time making notebook-paper posters demanding freedom, asserting their right to free speech, or declaring "Give me liberty, or give me death." One student spent his time typing revolutionary messages on his AlphaSmart and uploading it as a Word document to be displayed on the LCD projector.

After about fifteen minutes, the alternative ideas of the separatist lesson were revealed to everyone in the class, Loyalists were introduced, and "Hound Dog" has not been played since.