Historical Fiction and Blended Learning

Students in the middle school are actively engaging in a blended-learning project which is attached to the exploration of historical fiction. As students read Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (about the Yellow Fever outbreak in the colonies) and Nory Ryan’s Song by Patricia Reilly Giff (about the Irish potato famine in the 19th century), they are being asked to create a series of technology- based mock “newscasts” which will show their understanding of the novel’s characters, theme and plot, and its relation to historical events and processes. The beauty of this project is the sense of exploration and student ownership of learning taking place in the classrooms. Classes decided to work as a whole class on the project (a major undertaking!) self- organized, established roles and responsibilities and are creating creative scripts. We're looking forward to the end results the students will produce.