These Students Have A Teacher And Author

Teacher writes book that surprises students: It keeps them reading and teaches them at the same time
By: Papyrus Publishing
 
Feb. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- With school budgets being squeezed ever tighter, getting an author to visit a classroom has become a luxury many districts cannot afford. However, when students at Badger Middle School have a question for the author of the book they’re reading, they just ask their teacher.

That’s because the book they are reading, Athena’s Son, was written by Jeryl Schoenbeck, their 6th grade teacher. Although students are reading the book as part of their mythology unit, the historical fiction novel is about Archimedes, one of the greatest scientists of the ancient world. The school, located in West Bend, Wis., is using the book as part of their reading curriculum.

“I wanted students to be able to read a book about ancient civilizations that made it exciting and educational,” Schoenbeck said. “Using Archimedes as the main character was a great choice because of all the science and mechanics that can be linked to other curriculum.”

The plot involves Archimedes as a 12-year-old boy trying to solve a series of murders in Alexandria, Egypt in 256 BC. Like Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Archimedes was a gifted scientist and a creator of war machines, Schoenbeck said, hence the title.

“The story includes Greek and Egyptian mythology, but it is portrayed accurately as a religion, not something magical,” he said.

While magic and fantasy genre books are very popular for middle grade readers, the students are enjoying Athena’s Son just as much.

“It is an awesome book,” Spencer, age 12, said. “It has a lot of action, mystery, and a little romance. Anyone who likes mythology or murder mysteries will absolutely love this book. I never wanted to put it down.”

Lizzie, age 12, said, “I really enjoyed how much imagery and details Mr. Schoenbeck incorporated in the book. It made the reader feel like you were actually standing next to the characters.”

The students don’t want to give away the ending, but Connor, 12, did say, “The end of Athena’s Son was an amazing plot twist and had my mind absolutely blown. The inventions and alternate solutions that Archimedes comes up with are crazy cool!”

Those “crazy cool” inventions are real, Schoenbeck explained, and based on the science that Archimedes invented or worked with. That was one of the main goals of the book; to have other teachers connect to the content area they teach while students are reading it.

For science, the book includes physics, such as leverage, pulleys and pneumatics. One of the students’ favorite chapters is an autopsy of one of the murder victims, which a science teacher can connect to human anatomy. Because it is a historical book it includes Greek history from Aristotle to Spartan soldiers and Egyptian history, such as hieroglyphics and mythology.

Modern technology is also part of the lessons because several students downloaded the book onto their Kindles. One student, Ella, demonstrated how she can touch a word on the screen and she has the option to look up the definition of a word, find out more about it online, or write notes about a passage and store in on the Kindle.

“Hopefully, in the near future, all students will have some type of E-reader or tablet so they have all their resources available all the time,” Schoenbeck said.

And, of course, Schoenbeck is sharing his experience on how to write a book in language arts. He said there is so much to share with students about the challenges and rewards of writing a book. It takes more than a good idea; it takes perseverance.

The idea began more than six years ago when Schoenbeck saw how disconnected students were to the lackluster information in history textbooks. There had to be something better to teach with. Because he enjoyed reading historical fiction and students were very interested in ancient Greece, he thought he could write a good book that would capture the interest of students and teach history at the same time. He started writing it more than two years ago.

“All I needed was a great central character,” Schoenbeck said. “I eventually decided on Archimedes because of all of his great inventions and discoveries. I didn’t have to make it science fiction or fantasy, because he already did fantastic things.” Although Schoenbeck already had an extensive knowledge of ancient Greek and Egyptian history, there was still an exhaustive amount of research that went into the book to make sure it was accurate.

But completing the manuscript was only half the battle, Schoenbeck said. He explained that finding a publisher was too time consuming so he decided to publish the book himself. He created his own publishing company, Papyrus Publishing, and in addition to teaching students about the creative side of writing a book, can now teach them about the business side.

The book is published by Papyrus Publishing and available at Amazon.com in both print and Kindle versions.



For more information or to schedule an interview with Jeryl Schoenbeck, email the publisher at contact@AthenasSon.com
End
Source:Papyrus Publishing
Email:***@athenasson.com
Tags:Schools, Students, Budgets, Teacher, Author, School, Classroom, Athena’s, Son, Written, Jeryl, Schoenbeck
Industry:Education
Location:West Bend - Wisconsin - United States
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