Medieval Living

We held our first chainmail class yesterday . . . we have a second one scheduled for this afternoon. How did yesterday’s class go? Well . . . one of the things I’ve learned as a teacher is that MY expectations for a class are often different then my students’ expectations. Learning to be flexible with the outcomes is important. Because of the age differences throughout the class – we had around 18 students, ranging in ages from 8 to 18 – we were presented with a lot of different skill levels. It was quickly apparent that many of them lacked either the experience of using simple hand tools or the dexterity to manipulate them. Like any of us, not having the skills to do something can lead to frustration and a loss of interest. Also, the class was much larger then I wanted . . . given the age spread and skill differences, 10 to 12 is about the limit – we had 18.

However . . . we had also brought with us a variety of armor pieces, including a chainmail coif and vest, a couple of leather breastplates (solid leather and lamellar) and “legs”, a plate helm, “arms”, and gorget, and a lorica segmentata breastplate. The students enjoyed trying on the armor (even when it weighed more then they did) and posing for pictures. The dress-up time served as an excellent opportunity to answer questions about the development of armor and its history. We also had some samples of the different chainmail patterns, which led to other discussions about the history of armor.

So . . . even though the class didn’t go quite as expected (from my point of view), I do think that the students and their parents had an enjoyable time and learned more then just how to weave a piece of chainmail. I do have some changes in mind for this afternoon’s class – things that will help to reduce the early onset of frustration and loss of attention. I’ll let you know how they go! I will also post some photos on the webpage by the weekend.

Thanks to the Cherry Hills Library for the use of their large meeting room . . . I hope we weren’t too disruptive to the rest of their activities.