Fever 1793

A WebQuest for Sixth Grade Language Arts

Introduction

You've read Fever 1793, but did you really understand all that's going on? Mattie's world was much more challenging than we envisioned. We're going to use the Web to delve more deeply into Fever 1793 and get a better handle on life in Philadelphia at that time.

Task

Using the novel Fever 1793 and Internet links your group will research, write, and edit a newspaper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1793. There is a shortage of paper, and your group realizes that the next edition will be the last one for awhile. You have just enough paper to put out a two page edition.

Process

Since you will be writing a 1793 newspaper, as a group check out these 1700s newspapers:

Newspapers of the 1790's

Pages from the Past

When you publish your newspaper, you shall include:

a minimum of five historically correct vocabulary words
three or more historically accurate graphics.

As individual reporters each of you will be using your news writing skills to submit an article on one of the following topics:

An article about historical Philadelphia in the 1790's.

Suggested sites:

A Background to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia History

An article about the disease of yellow fever.

Suggested sites:

Yellow Fever

The Diseased City

A Short History of Yellow Fever in the US

An obituary of a fever victim or someone in the story.

An article which makes reference to the Free African Society.

Suggested site:

Africans in America

An article which references Dr. Benjamin Rush and Dr. Jean Deveze.

Suggested sites:

Dr. Jean Deveze

Africans in America

Don't Forget to Read This!

Primary source documents will guide you in how to best read and evaluate an authentic source.
Students striving for excellence are encouraged to explore beyond suggested sites and utilize supplementary information in the creation of their newspaper.
You will be required to produce a "'Works Cited" paper in the format directed by your teachers.

Evaluation

Your newspaper will be evaluated using the following rubric:

Evaluation Rubric

Newspaper reflecting historical period of book Fever 1793

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Research	Group performed minimal or non-existent research.	Group located information using secondary sources.	Group performed research using primary and secondary sources.	Group used primary and secondary resources beyond those suggested.
References cited	No references cited	3-5 references cited, with errors in formatting.	6-8 references cited, with mostly correct formatting.	More than 8 references cited, using correct format.
Spelling and Grammar	Finished product includes 10 or more errors in spelling or grammar.	Finished product includes 7-9 errors in spelling or grammar.	Finished product includes 4-6 errors in spelling or grammar.	Finished product includes 3 or fewer errors in spelling or grammar.
Historical Vocabulary	Group included no historical vocabulary in newspaper.	Group included one or two historical vocabulary words in newspaper.	Group included three or four historical vocabulary words in newspaper.	Group included more than five historical vocabulary works in newspaper.
Graphics	Group included no graphics, or graphics were not historically appropriate.	Group included one historically appropriate graphic.	Group included two historically appropriate graphics.	Group included three or more historically appropriate graphics.
Newspaper layout	Newspaper produced covers two or fewer expected areas in unattractive format.	Newspaper produced covers three or four expected areas in an acceptable format .	Newspaper produced covers five or more expected areas in an acceptable format.	Newspaper produced covers more than five expected areas with a visually enhanced format .
Group cooperation	No cooperation evident in this group.	Group made some efforts to cooperate, but had difficulty.	Group members had few problems with cooperation.	Group members did an excellent job cooperation. All members contributed.

Grades
25-28 points = A
21-24 points = B
17-20 points = C
13-16 points = D
12 points or less = F

Written by Betty Wolfe. Last updated 08/13/02

Conclusion

If you enjoyed the book as much as many others have, you may be interested in further information on the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, and how she researched fever. You can find out about her life, interests, and other books she's written. Go to the site Laurie's Bookshelf.

Credits & References

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever 1793. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002.

Original Note from Barbara, Tricia, and Betty:

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

Last updated on August 16, 2002. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page