Submitted by: Mary Mahoney
Collaborator: Doug Saunders, ITRT
School: L. Douglas Wilder
Summary
A real life modern day scenario in response to the novel –
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy.
After Hurricane Orlando, Central Virginia is devastated by floods. Aid workers were flown in from all over the country to assist. Some workers just returned within the past three days from Asia and Africa. Three of the aid workers fell ill in Henrico, Virginia. From there, several other people began to fall ill from the disease – Yellow Fever. Most of the cases are being handled at Henrico Doctor’s Hospital by the Center for Disease Control. The county has enlisted Ms. Mahoney’s class to gather relevant information in order to help stop this tragic outbreak before it gets worse! Once your group gathers all of the information, you need to assemble the information in one of the following ways – design a website, public service announcement, or podcast. Students were able to suggest other means of assembling information.
TIPC Ratings
Ideal – This lesson relied heavily on student research and information fluency. The students had to select the most appropriate websites in order to create a Google custom search engine that they could use for researching about yellow fever and emergency preparedness. They used digital tools such as titanpad to answer essential questions (collaboration), a Google doc acted as an online repository that housed the reliable links, the Google custom search code was used and embedded in the wiki to create their search engine, and one note contained all of their information digitally – notes, research, pictures and citations. The students were able to powerfully display their end product using google earth, as well as other software applications that the students deemed most appropriate.
Approaching– The teacher had the students work in collaborative groups where each child assigned a designated role to others in the group. Titanpad was used to allow for all students in the class to answer essential questions in real time prior to the introduction of the lesson. Student work is showcased via an online wiki: http://henricodisaster.wikispaces.com for the parents and community.
At the end of the lesson the students completed an online peer survey to evaluate each person’s role and contributions to the overall assignment.
Ideal – This lesson had the students think critically about a real life scenario and how it might affect contemporary American society and the county they reside in. After reading the novel: An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, The class was able to compare and contrast the differences that might occur between a yellow fever outbreak today versus that of the late 1700’s. Students had to collaborate, investigate, acquire, predict, create, and reflect in order to successfully complete this project. Students were given an authentic task and had to reflect in order to develop set goals for future growth.
Ideal – The class truly enjoyed this lesson. This was evident by the fact that some students who typically have “motivational” issues rose to the challenge presented to them. The students used modern tools (Audacity, Windows Movie Maker, Google Earth, OneNote) to create projects that demonstrated mastery of content. Students analyzed trends using Google Earth, and reflected on the project via a google form.
