He dresses up history and his students like the fit
Roosevelt High teacher Chuck Olynyk uses costumes and props to encourage his students to become engaged with distant times and connect their own lives to history. But beneath the period garb, says a school principal, is a good instructor who cares about his classes.
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 Sophomores Ricardo Plascencia, left, and Guillermo Bazan, right, help Roosevelt High School world history teacher Chuck Olynyk into a suit of armor, part of his lesson about the Hundred Years' War. Olynyk uses props and period costumes to encourge his students to become engaged with distant times and connect their own lives to history. (Katie Falkenberg / For the Los Angeles Times /December 6, 2011) The students in Chuck Olynyk's world history class will learn about the Hundred Years' War by helping him dress for it. It's not unusual for their teacher to bound around his room at Roosevelt High School — or the "O-zone," as it's known — wearing armor made of aluminum or a puffy tunic as he takes his students on a journey through history. But even for Olynyk, this day is a little different. For one, he tells his students not to bother taking notes. None of this lesson will show up on a test — it's "enrichment," he says. He wants to show them that the uniform of a knight isn't what they see in the movies: easy to maneuver or even remotely comfortable. It's hot, it's heavy, it's stinky, and it makes |
