The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, is an amazing book that has a lot of potential for teaching may different subjects in the classroom to a variety of age and reading skill levels! I first read this book when I was in about the fifth grade during the summer for pleasure. At the time I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense and learning about the time period through the characters' experiences. At this age, the story would be very beneficial to students who need to be read aloud to, learn to enjoy the act of reading or practice their understanding of plot, since the plot of the story is very complex. I read it again in middle school for an English class and had my interest in historical fiction renewed after looking at it from a different perspective. At this age, I remember my teacher trying to teach us to read between the lines and gain information and understanding through what the authors implied through the actions of the characters, such as Kit or Hannah. Again in reading this weekend, I was more aware of the life lessons present in what the characters learn throughout the book. I was completely unaware in the 5th grade that I was being taught a lesson of standing up for what you believe in and not being afraid to be yourself. These are fairly common themes of children's stories, but in this case, the lessons are presented in what appears to be a true story in its historical context. Cleverly, the author sends her message through the plot of the story. I think at a young age students can benefit from learning of a historical time and enjoying the suspense of the story, but in my opinion more is to be learned at a slightly older age, even in college years, about life and the sticky situations we are faced with at times!

Because I am going to be a teacher, and have taken many education courses so far, I now automatically think about lesson writing and how to incorporate ANYTHING into my future classroom! So, my thought on this books are as follows:

The story itself, as a whole, is too lengthy and confusing to be used in early elementary classrooms, such as 1st and 2nd, but sections of the book, where Kit gets herself in comical situations could be used for story starters, discussions about the historical time Kit and Hannah live in and even some discussion of lessons learned if I were to paraphrase the story so that the students could understand the lessons the author has tried to portray. I also think that the younger grades would enjoy drawing scenes of the story from descriptive passages about Hannah's house or the ship, the Dolphin. This would greatly improve their listening abilities and planning abilities in thinking about the described place and putting it on paper!

This book would be great to use with younger grades, possibly 3rd and 4th, for a read aloud or partner reading to learn about the historical time period that the book takes place in. The students could compile a list of all the new things they learned from reading this story about the daily lives of the early Americans. As a class we could briefly research the Salem witch trials and talk about how the lessons that are present in the story would have effected the events of the time, if the citizens of the colonies had followed them.

In the older grades in middle school and possibly high school, students could do extensive work in researching on aspect of colonial life that appears in the book. Although this would be an easier read for many high school students, the book would be a great, quick starter on a colonial unit. This kind of unit could be done in either an English class or History class. This kind of great literature can be used in many different areas of learning.

This has been a wonderful story at many different parts of my life and I would highly recommend reading it to anyone, especially teachers in their classrooms with their students!!!