The Dixie Clicks

Imagine blending Oprah’s Book Club with a little interactive technology, adding a bunch of junior high students and a dash of local history, and you have a book blog. My eighth-grade American history students at South Valley Junior High (SVJH) in Liberty, MO, participated in such a project this fall. Over four weeks, the kids created a lively collective journal centered on, of all things, an assigned piece of reading: Guerrilla Season (Farrar, 2003) by Pat Hughes.

The historical novel, set during the Civil War in northwest Missouri, has inspired students, other enthusiastic readers from across the world, and the author herself to come together on the blog (www.guerrillaseason.blogspot.com). There, on a free Web site that took only minutes to set up, this diverse group exchanged thoughtful impressions about the book and pondered some provocative questions, adding a whole new dimension to the reading experience.

I am always disappointed when I hear someone say, “History class is boring.” Boring? Are you kidding me? Terror and fear, loyalty and deception, innocence and guilt, it’s all there, the entire dramatic spectrum contained in our past, just waiting to be brought to life with a little creative teaching and learning.

Through the interactive means of the Web, for example, more than 300 local students—SVJH’s entire eighth-grade class—have come together over Guerilla Season. They’ve been joined by a classroom of their peers in California and a college professor in Louisiana. Even a few of their parents have gotten into the act. After a blogger in Spain mentioned our project in an online post, we suddenly had dozens of European visitors on our site. Author Hughes, who lives in Philadelphia—1,300 miles away from our classroom—joined us every day to answer questions and hear feedback from her readers.

A great example of how the “read write Web” can help expand the boundaries of traditional learning, the project was a successful follow-up to our first book blog.

Last spring, I created an online journal devoted to Gary Blackwood’s novel The Year of the Hangman (Dutton, 2002). The book is historically based, but with a fictional twist: the British have won the Revolutionary War; Ben Franklin, among other patriots, has been exiled to New Orleans; and George Washington is awaiting execution. During one month, students read an assigned portion of the novel each week, then posted comments on the blog, using only a first name or a pseudonym to protect their identities. As moderator, I reviewed all posts before putting them on the site.

Sixty SVJH students participated in the project, and again, through the magic of the Web, they were joined by distant peers, including an eighth-grade home-school student in Minnesota and a seventh-grade New Jersey reading group, whose teacher had heard about us through a podcast I produce for history students (speakingofhistory.blogspot.com). The author also contributed posts of his own. Together, they fostered a dynamic learning experience, with lively discussion ranging from a debate about rebuilding the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to a student brainstorm session in which they created alternative endings to the novel. Our success inspired me to plan a similar program the following year, but on a larger scale, using a novel that incorporated some element of local history.

I first encountered Guerrilla Season in the fall of 2003, long before I had even heard of a blog. A local bookstore owner handed me a copy of the novel, calling it an interesting book about the Civil War with local references. Written for young adults, the novel provides an accurate, detailed picture of the onset of the Civil War and how it affected this particular region. Back then, in northwest Missouri, the horrors of war appeared on your doorstep every day. You never knew if the stranger who came knocking was a Union supporter or a Confederate sympathizer seeking to discern your own allegiance. Farms were routinely burned to the ground, and entire families cruelly murdered by both sides. Guerrilla Season brought this period of history to life through its compelling story about two teenage boys growing up in Clay County, MO, in 1863. It was the perfect book to blog.

In 2004, I contacted the author, Hughes, and told her of my intention to use her book with my students. She not only encouraged the blog, but asked if she could participate, too.

Then there was the practical matter of getting enough copies of Guerrilla Season for the entire eighth-grade class, as well as parents and other community members, who wanted to read along with us. Thanks to a grant from Sprint, we were able to place a copy of the novel in the hands of every student. After a summer of planning, the project was ready to launch. I reread the novel and finalized a list of provocative questions, which I posted online to help spark student discussion. To provide Web links for further study, I identified online resources that offered more information about the historical figures and events described in the novel.

What aspect of the blog experience proved to be the most rewarding? The involvement of the author, as well as parents and others outside of the classroom. For her part, Hughes has been an enthusiastic participant from day one. While she readily admits to being a digital immigrant, rather than a native, Hughes didn’t hesitate to jump online to answer each student’s question. The ability for a reader to pose a query to an author and receive nearly immediate feedback is an incredible opportunity.

In addition to my own discussion questions, the students came up with queries of their own. A youngster posed a tough one directly to Hughes. Recalling the same dilemma that the characters in her novel struggled with in 1863, the student asked, “Which side would you have supported in that situation?” Hughes said that she would have probably done anything to keep her family safe, regardless of her own politics—an insight not commonly available to a reader.

In brief podcasts, which we posted on the blog, Hughes also described the process of researching a historical novel using online sources and provided a deeper analysis of the characters and their actions. She also related a cute story about how the book had included a description of prairie dogs scurrying about the plains of Missouri—until she learned that the creatures are not, in fact, native to our state. She corrected the error just before Guerilla Season went to press.

The contact with Hughes truly resonated with our students, as did the participation of their parents. Schools often overlook the role that parents and other adults can play in the lives of young people. A blog is the perfect opportunity for both students and adults to learn alongside one another. One girl read the book with her father and, together, they posed questions to Hughes on the blog. Another parent who grew up in the area told me she was amazed at how much Guerrilla Season had taught her about the history of her own community.

For her part, Hughes says, “Effective participation in a blog like this is a big time commitment for an author, but I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every minute. A few kids posted so frequently, I feel like I’ve gotten to know them. I think the Internet often gets a bad rap because of issues concerning predators and MySpace. But in the hands of a superior teacher like Eric, you can really see how the Web can be utilized to engage and excite students.”

I invite you to visit our blog. While our class project concluded in late November 2006, the blog will remain available, and you can read students’ comments and see for yourself the messages between the readers and the author, which made this project so special. If you’re inspired to launch your own book blog—and hopefully you will—feel free to use our project as a template. With free software, a book blog is an easy project to replicate. In fact, I’m already planning next year’s program. Who knows, maybe Oprah herself will stop by.