You can learn much from history books, but you can also make gains by putting yourself in the boots of a soldier.

Across Canada, more and more high schools are going outside the classroom to learn what it was like to be a soldier at the front. If your school is planning a special Remembrance Day event, please let us know and we will post your comments on our Witness to Remembrance blog.

Students at Eaglesham School in northwestern Alberta are a perfect example.

Six years ago teacher Mike McKay got them out of the classroom and into a muddy field where they dug and occupied a trench similar to the trenches used on the Western Front during the First World War. “When students found out I was a former soldier (reservist) they would always ask questions like, ‘how many people have you shot, what war were you in,’” explains McKay. “Their perception of war was largely coloured by movies and video games. One day I thought to myself, “If the kids spent the night in a trench, I think they would gain a greater perspective of a soldier’s life.”

And so in the late fall of 2007, McKay and his students trudged with backpacks, picks and shovels into a farmer’s field roughly a kilometre from the school. That’s where they started digging. “We stayed in them (the trenches) all night and then came to school the next day and hosted an in-school remembrance ceremony.”

The following year, students went even further, and organized the community’s Remembrance Day ceremony. “Kids were expected to research a relative or family friend that had served in the armed forces of any country. At the Remembrance Day ceremony they presented their researched person as a “Portrait of Remembrance.”

McKay says each year the students try to add or change things a bit. “We now sing songs from some of the major wars during our ceremony, and involve members of the Canadian Forces as consultants. They come and show the kids how to dig trenches and do patrols. And in the morning our local veterans come and inspect the trenches. This year saw two of our veterans pass on, and we only have one veteran left.”

Originally, McKay just wanted the students to stop thinking of Remembrance Day as “just a day off school. It has serendipitously blossomed into an event where they really appreciate the efforts of those who served, in war and in peace.”

With Remembrance Day fast approaching, Eaglesham’s students are gearing up to “dig in”—ready to spend a cold night in the trenches, re-living the life of a First World War soldier.

Here’s what some of the students at Eaglesham had to say after spending the night in the trench in previous years.

Kaegin liked it because it got him outside, out of the house

Jordan:  “It was a good experience because you got to feel like when they were in the war.”

Isaac:  “It’s kinda like honouring the soldiers who fought for our country.”

Kale:  “We have new people do this every year and we try to do some new things.”

Sami:  “It helps me to understand how lucky I am for them to have fought for this country.”

First Time Students:

Kolton: “It sounds like lots of fun and everyone else said it was really good.”

Educator:

Mike Mckay, teacher: “Playing video games and watching movies does little to realisitically impart the monotony and discomfort of a soldier’s life.  On another note,  I wish there was some way we could re-enact a typical sailor’s or aircrew’s life.  (Example being on a WW2 corvette or being the ball turret gunner on a bomber).