Judge Berger presided as 9th Grade puts Columbus on trial

The trial was the culmination of the Grade 9 students’ work on Columbus going back to their summer reading assignment, for which they were to find evidentiary support from the text (Milton Meltzer, Columbus and the World Around Him) for each of his 6 heroic qualities and each of his 6 villainous qualities listed in the letter Mr. Paul Bolenbaugh and Dr. Terry Chase sent to them at the end of May.

All of the students participated, as lawyers, witnesses, and jurors. The trial role assignments were determined in late September/early October, student lawyers were encouraged to work with their student witnesses, and time was spent during class last week preparing for the actual trial (based on the Mock Trial format our older team uses in competition).

The teachers conducted debriefings following the trial to obtain student feedback from the experience. Jeff Friedman, a student intern from Yale, was the judge for the C vs. D trial.

BT Freshman, Tara Danels, is the niece of Judge Stuart Berger.

PHOTO GALLERY