It works for me … Sharing successful techniques and ideas. 5.3

In a previous issue of The Docent Educator, a docent invited readers to contribute humorous interpretive JL. experiences. I would like to share an incident that happened at Colonial National Historical Park, where I am an interpretive park ranger at Yorktown Battlefield.

Among the programs at our park is the non-firing artillery demonstration, in which we select a gun crew from our visitors and teach them the steps necessary to load and fire a cannon. During one of the demonstrations, I chose a 3-year-old boy for the role of captain, with his father as the aide decamp. The captain was perfect, issuing commands in a loud, clear voice. He also realized that rank had its privileges; halfway through the program, I turned from instructing the gun crew to remind the captain to give the next command, only to see the captain with his back to us, partially shielded from view by his aide de camp, facing a tree with his pants pulled down.

Lee Pelham Cotton, Locust Hill, VA

Pelham Cotton, Lee. “It works for me…Sharing successful techniques and ideas.” The Docent Educator 5.3 (Spring 1996): 15.