Teacher Gives Students The Shivers Through Survival Fiction

Reatha Carroll, fourth-grade language arts instructor, trembled at the thought as she explained her class’ recent writing project, “My language art students have recently finished writing fiction –‘All Snowed In’ stories. Heaven forbid.” The promising authors reminisced and then wrote about an experience when they were snowed in and forced to survive with few supplies. Students described their meals, how they passed the time, how they kept warm, and how they were able to finally get out of their confined quarters.

Students reaped many benefits from this lesson. They worked on writing skills, used their imaginations, discovered ways to survive, and learned to improvise (by reading how classmates dealt without conveniences).

Although the fiction writing assignments could be perceived as lessons in social studies, that project did not prevent the fourth graders from their usual social studies lessons. Currently the students are studying the Southeast and Northeast states of the United States and learning about the Civil War. This lesson will conclude on March 27, as they tour Georgia’s state capital building and the Cyclorama, a Civil War museum.