Creativity with blogging and podcasting.
Tom's interdisciplinary creative writing/historical simulation activity calls on students to research the plight of homeless teenagers during the Great Depression and then create their own fictionalized account of a day in the life of a Hobo. Students posted their story on their blog and read each other's work. Students commented by articulating what they liked about the story they read -- and what made it seem authentic. Students were then interviewed in character and recorded as part of a "1930s Radio Show" podcast. Music, clapping, and special effects were added to give it an authentic "studio' feel.

Why blogging and podcasting? Tom's comments:
"Blogging provided a venue to publish student work to a broad audience. Indeed, the assignment has been profiled in Web English Teacher, and other web sites, and hundreds have read my students' stories. It is gratifying and motivating for them to know that others read their work. As for podcasting, the 1930s were the "Golden Age" of radio, so it only seemed natural to create a radio show podcast. We used Apple's Garage Band and I interviewed the students in small groups and later edited the assorted interviews. I added music samples from the GarageBand program and recorded my students clapping to simulate a live audience sound. I simply copied and pasted the clapping at different points of the podcast.

Students were nervous but excited to participate in an assignment that stressed creativity and artistic expression while being grounded in historical authenticity. It was an overt attempt on my part to gain a deeper understanding of my students' abilities and personalities by offering an assignment that tested a different type of "intelligence" normally found in formal essay assignments. It also personalized the experience of the Great Depression for the students."

For more on blogging visit our Discussion and Communication section.

Instructions to students:
In this assignment you are to write from the perspective of a Hobo who is "riding the rails." Use your knowledge of the period and your creativity to create a story (500-1000 words) about a day in your life as a Hobo.
Here are some questions to help guide your story: How old are you? Where are you from and why have you left home? Are you traveling alone or with someone? Who? Why did he/she leave home? What possessions do you have? What are your plans? What are your concerns? How are you feeling, physically and emotionally? What happened to you today? What dangers have you experienced? What have you been eating? What are you wearing? What have you seen? How does what you see make you feel?

Excerpt from a student story:
"When you’we gotta worry ‘bout starvin’ and freezin’ to death you forget to keep track of what day it is, but I’d estimate today’s the 15th of December, year 1932. It took me near three weeks to get here. “Here” is Lancaster, California. I left home in Abilene, Kansas when Dadi told me he’d got word from Aunt Sarah in California. “Aunt Sarah’s got a place for you to stay with her and she’s found you a good job in a shop downtown Lancaster,“ he said. “You go put your things in the bag that I’ve left you upstairs and I’ll take you to the train in the morning. . .
I made quick friends with a hobo ‘bout my age named Jim. He warned me ‘bout the bulls and told me where the camps that made the best mulligan stew were on the way from Kansas to California. I spent ‘near three weeks ridin’ the rails, walkin’ on route 66 to get from station to station and stoppin’ at hobo camps in between. Pretty much ‘came a ‘bo myself . . .