Finding the Facts Behind the Historical Fiction Ms. Austin's
Fourth Grade Class HOW did we find out all this information?
While we were reading the book, Forbidden Friendship, we kept
writing down questions we had about what really happened. Since
North Adams, Massachusetts is right down the road from our
school, we were particularly curious about the important places
in the book, such as the train depot, Sampson Shoe Factory, and
the Burlingame home where Lue Gim Gong and Fanny Burlingame
started their life-long friendship. After reading the book and
organizing our questions into who, what where, when, and how
questions we invited technology experts from Hampshire
Educational Collaborative, or HEC, to come into our classroom
and teach us the fundamentals of web design and storyboarding.
We followed the same process that movie directors use,
organizing all our questions, and deciding what was important,
what wasn't, and what would be the best way o design are website
for our "audience" - other fourth graders