Students collaborate on Revolutionary War writing

Sapp, a Goshen Middle School English teacher, had her New Tech 8th-grade students read a young adult novel on the Revolutionary War and then write their own short stories.

Both classes loved the activity, she added — hers because they got to rate the books and keep them afterward, and Sapp's because they had a receptive audience.

From reading "Chains" by Anderson, to writing historical fiction of their own, with input from the younger students, and then publishing them on tablet computers with artwork.

Sapp said they worked in teams to pick an event from the Revolutionary War and then individually wrote about that event from different perspectives.

"Part of the project was to make the Revolutionary War interesting for the 5th graders," Sapp said.

Motivation and achievement both lag when a student writes just because a teacher tells them to, so having an audience outside the classroom helped them focus on doing their best, she said.