I found that many of my students were very interested in the French Revolution because of all of the war that occurred during that time. One of the specific lessons they gained interest in was the introduction of the guillotine. Thousands of people at that time were being executed by the guillotine and my students were fascinated and disgusted with the process.
To get my students really involved with the unit, I had them go back in time and pretend they were a citizen of France during the revolution. Their job was to be a witness of an execution by the guillotine and express their feelings and reactions. This was after the letter from prison idea so I was a bit more prepared for it. I created a criterion for students to follow that was a bit more specific. First, students had to state three reasons why executions were taking place. Second, they had to describe what was going on in France at that time. Finally, they had to describe how a person living in France at that time would be feeling after watching their fellow citizens being murdered everyday.
My students did much better with this lesson. I feel that as a social studies teacher, the best way for a student to understand a historical event is to put themselves in the shoes of someone who lived through it. By having students go back in time and write in the first person, students get to state the facts as well as get an idea of what it was like to be living during that time. I strongly suggest using this idea if you ever find yourself in a position where your students are studying an important event like the French Revolution.
Interesting twist on a difficult subject to teach. Good ideas!