The Plight of Pigville (see description and attachments)

In the Fall of 2012, I was invited by U-Teach coordinators to conduct a one-day workshop which would engage U-Teach participants in ways to integrate children’s literature with middle and secondary Math and Science. Using multimodal methods (reading, writing, researching, constructing and presentation), I used a fractured tale: The True Story of the Three Pigs (by Jon Scieszka) as the foundation for the work, which combined real life problems (how to reconstruct the Ninth Ward of New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina) with the fractured fairy tale (the Wolf’s claim that he had a cold, allergies and therefore, “blew” the pigs’ houses down as a result). See attached PPP used in this workshop as well as the handout that all participants received. Participants’ charge was to (in small groups) measure, X and build model homes for the residents of the fictional town of Pigville (i.e., the Ninth Ward in New Orleans) who had lost their homes due to the Wolf’s devastation (i.e., storms which decimated the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, whose residents were already living below the federal poverty level).