Provided to seniors only, Penn-Trafford’s History Reel to Real class allows students to view American history through the eyes of Hollywood. The class is taught by history teacher Dan Edgerly, who also teaches Honors American history for juniors, America in Conflict, and Current Events classes. The class looks at movies in chronological order of American history, starting with the American Revolution, and including other topics such as slavery, the Civil War and the Cuban Missle Crisis.
Edgerly stated that Reel to Real is not a movie class, but instead a history class where movies take the role of textbooks. The films that are watched are one of the main sources of information for students.
Besides studying the movies, students will investigate events through research, reading and presentations. This is in order to discern what in the films is real, and what is nothing more than “reel.”
Edgerly stressed that Reel to Real is not a blow-off class, stating it requires students to pay attention, take notes and ask questions. He also recommends that students talk about and share their notes with each other.
Several students who responded to a poll about the class stated that while it was very enjoyable, there were some difficult aspects of it. One student stated that, “it’s a very entertaining class.” They went on to say that, “the most difficult part was the presentations. Although we only did two
presentations during the semester, they were only picture-based and memorization.” The same student also said their, “least favorite part of the class was taking notes. My [the student’s] hand usually hurt after listening to someone’s presentation.”
Something important to note is that due to the inappropriate nature of some of the class’s movies, a parent signature is required to take the class.
Edgerly called History Reel to Real a “great class.” He stated that for as long as he taught it he has “yet to have someone who said they didn’t enjoy it.”