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April 9, 2010 =//**Out of The Dust**// Webquest=

The novel //Out of the Dust// by Karen Hesse describes life during the Dust Bowl for a girl living with her family on a struggling farm. You will use this webquest to explore the history of the time period, the lives of the people living then, the themes within the book and the author's style of writing.

Task 1 - Historical Overview
Use the links provided below to answer the following questions about the history of the Dust Bowl. Please write your responses on a separate piece of paper. [|The American Experience PBS]
 * 1) What was the Dust Bowl?
 * 2) What states were affected by the Dust Bowl?
 * 3) Explain why the Dust Bowl happened? What factors were at work to cause such destruction?
 * 4) Describe what happened on Black Sunday.
 * 5) Read about the Great Depression and The New Deal. In what way or ways were The Dust Bowl, Great Depression and New Deal linked? Why can't you study one of these factors in American history and not study the others?

Use the Cobblestone database to find one article on the Dust Bowl. Print the article out and attach it to your work so far. We will use it in class for an activity on annotation. To access Cobblestone go to the Collins Instructional Media Center website. Click on full-text databases. Click on Cobblestone and enter "cms" as the user name and "imc" as the password. [|Collins IMC Website]

Task 2 - Views Through the Dust
The photography of the early 1900s gives historians and writers a view into the lives of the people. Use the links below to select an image to use in a writing assignment for this task. When you select your image, copy and paste it into a Word document and write down a citation for the photograph. (If you are unable to copy and paste the image use: Shift,Command,4 to take a screen shot of the image) [|Library of Congress Digital Collections] [|Lange Photos with Citations and Captions] [|The American Experience - Eyewitness Account]

F.C.A.s
 * Writing Assignment for Task 2** (This writing assignment can be completed at any point during the period of this webquest. Take your time and use careful word choice) Imagine you are Billie Jo. Use the image you selected to create an additional poem for the collection in the book. Provide a title for your poem.
 * 1) Written in free verse - consult //Write Source 2000// for suggestions pgs. 221-227
 * 2) Two examples of figurative language - metaphors, similes, personification, or onomatopoeia
 * 3) A complete citation for the image selected to accompany the poem

Paste your image into a word document and type your poem on the same page. Attach all brainstorming and drafts to the final typed copy.

Diary Writing:
Billie Jo's story is told in the form of a diary. She tells us her story in several different styles of diary entry. For example:

**Important events:**
"It was Daddy's Birthday and Ma decided to bake him a cake"

**Feelings and reactions to events and people:**
"I am so filled with bitterness, it comes from the dust, it comes from the silence of my father, it comes from the absence of Ma" p. 195

**DUST entries or poems:**
"after seventy days of wind and sun, of wind and clouds, of wind and sand, after seventy days, of wind and dust a little rain came"

**Memories of people:**
"Paul Guymon took ill with dust pneumonia"

**Reported conversations:**
"Dad grumbles, 'The water'll seep back into the ground as fast as I can pump it, Pol..." p. 40

1. Make a list of poems that fit each of the categories above. List one poem for each category and record the page number. 2. How does the author, though Billie Jo, appeal to our senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste? Explain and provide clear and relevant details in your response. 3. Write a diary entry of your own which targets the reader's senses, tells about an important event, or recalls your memory of a particular person. Aim to use two or more similes or metaphors. If your diary entry is a poem, aim to use alliteration in what you write.

Rubric

 * Task and Requirements || Excellent || Good || Minimal || Poor/Failing ||
 * Task #1: Complete and accurate ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #1: Selected and attached a Cobblestone article on the Dust Bowl ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #2: Includes a photo with citation ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #2: Complete a poem in response to the photo ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #2: F.C.A.s - feedback ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #3 Examples of each of the style of poem/diary entry ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #3: Fully answers question #2 on senses ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Task #3: Write your own diary entry. Includes examples of simile, metaphor or alliteration ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

September 2009

**Post #1 Welcome to the new Historical Fiction - Middle School Wiki!**
The titles we are considering for this year are: //Fever, Chains, Cast Two Shadows, Or Give Me Death, Soldier's Secret and Boots for General Washington//. Selections from the Dear America series may be a part as a way to differentiate for diverse learners.

Please check back to see where the wiki goes next!

**Post #2**
I have invited Linda and Meghan to join the wiki. I hope that they can figure out how to hit the edit button above and write into this wiki.

Post #3
Joanne and Meghan have successfully become members. Meghan figured out how to write in the discussion but not on the page. Check out the EDIT button on the upper right hand corner on this page.

Post #4
As of today, October 6, 2009, we have not heard whether the district will support the HistorialFiction-MiddleSchool group. Should we wait a while longer and then just begin on our own?