Students enrolled in Peter Evett’s history class at Woodrow Wilson High School know not to set foot in class without an open mind, a good attitude and tons of poster board.
Evett’s effort-intensive American and European history projects have become legendary among the school’s juniors and seniors. Unlike many teachers, Evett doesn’t give tests; doesn’t like them, he says. Instead, he grades students solely on the quality of their projects, which are turned in every six weeks.
Make no mistake — these aren’t your typical high school history projects. Evett’s classroom during project presentation week looks similar to a theater prop room before curtain call. The colorfully elaborate displays are the result of countless hours spent fastening together cardboard, crepe paper and other accoutrements, not to mention the time students spend researching the historical aspects of their presentations.
“There are two main things I want to accomplish through this,” Evett says. “First, I think of my students as future historians. A good historian is a great storyteller, because if the story isn’t interesting, you can’t teach history well. Their project presentations have to be interesting and well-made enough to hold the audience’s attention.
“Second, I want to encourage students to take on a more challenging class. I want them to feel confident that they can do college level work.”
This unconventional teaching method comes from a man who graduated law school at Duke University and began his career as an attorney.
“I really loved teaching, and I started to feel that what I was doing wasn’t fulfilling me as a person,” Evett says. “I decided to pursue teaching after I found out about the alternative certification program at Dallas ISD.”
That led him to Woodrow, where Evett has been teaching since 1995. He says he grades each student on effort because he feels a student doing the best work he or she can do is worth more than simply making a high grade.
If the vibrant, project-covered walls of Evett’s classroom are any indication, his students take their projects very seriously.
“Their projects are amazing,” says Catherine Pate, a Woodrow teacher and former Evett student. “They take hundreds of hours to make, and I remember the sense of accomplishment I felt when I had completed it.”
Many of the projects are set up like colorful storyboards with elaborate drawings and side notes; however, some students go to the extreme. One of the biggest projects is displayed in mural fashion on the ceiling and stretches from the front to the back of the classroom.
“I’ve pulled all-nighters on many occasions to finish projects for this class,” says senior Liz Kizer. “He makes you really want to try, and I enjoy doing it.”
Evett’s engaging approach to teaching doesn’t end with his notorious projects. Every two years, he leads a group of students on a “10-day whirlwind tour” of the East Coast.
“I take them in the summer, and we have a blast,” Evett says. “We visit all kinds of cool, historical sites in places such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. It’s very rewarding to see students experiencing those types of things outside the classroom.”
