In this online learning environment we will be exploring authors from the Victorian Era.  We have already studied Victorian England and Charles Dickens, in particular.  We have read Great Expectations.  Now we will expand our exploration to learn more about the people who wrote books, poems, and stories during this period.  We will be using a Spread Sheet as a mind tool to help us organize and analyze our research.

     Spread sheets are computerized, numerical,  record keeping systems that help us organize and retrieve information.  Spread sheets are similar to mind maps in the sense that they graphically depict the information that we  have gathered in our research. We used  mind maps in a previous lesson to show how Charles Dickens' childhood experiences influenced his choice of topics when he wrote. Spread sheets can also help us sort, analyze, compare, contrast, or study the information we have gathered.

    We are going to construct a spread sheet of Victorian writers.  Since this is our first spread sheet, you will be given a list of authors to research.  You will be given the field names for your spread sheet.  Then in groups, you will sort the information by pre-arranged fields that will help us compare and contrast the authors, their lives, and their works.  Lets move on to the lesson page to begin our exploration!

Art Hamilton
03/02/2005

© 2003 A. Hamilton