Our group of three had some great ideas to share for this collaborative lesson planning assignment. Teresa had a fantastic idea of developing a narrative writing assignment from a read-aloud already "in progress" for her, called Blood on the River. Laura and I shared our thoughts of further developing a persuasive writing lesson connected to the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. Since we loved both ideas, and since our timelines for teaching these two types of writing varied at our particular sites, we opted to pursue and share both ideas/lessons.
With this in mind, I began reading Blood on the River to my students. I am so glad that Teresa suggested this novel! My class absolutely loves it! I am looking forward to utilizing Teresa's Narrative Writing plan to further explore both literature themes & elements, and the historical context of the story. When students engage in period-writing, they are able to make a more personal connection to the people, the culture, the places that they learn about.
Laura, acted as our researcher during our time together, and put together several documents for us to use on a google.docs share site. We'll integrate these sources in our study of both Roanoke and Jamestown.
The Persuasive Writing essay prompt and lesson plan that we chose to develop incorporates our 5th grade standards for writing, as well as critical thinking and historical analysis of resources related to our standards for social studies, in learning about the obstacles faced by early colonists, motives for exploration/colonization, and outcomes with Native Americans.
