(November 23, 2004) -- “And because he is the tallest, he’ll climb trees,” says sophomore Stepan Andreasian with relish while pointing at a fellow classmate and castaway on their island. His five other comrades stood behind him, waiting to tell their part of the island’s history.

This is how many of the presentations in Cynthia Nash and Yvonne Dickie’s combined world history and sophomore English classes sounded when they presented what their jobs would be when they were stranded on a tropical island for the rest of their lives. Students compiled charter books describing how they would run their island. The books contained a map, a list of supplies, the names of the characters on the island, and a plan for shelter and finding food. These books also included rules to govern their lives that could include everything from equal rights to legalized murder.

The projects, based on students’ recent reading of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, were meant to improve on the events that had happened in the book. As a result, students often came up with unconventional and sometimes questionable ways of keeping order on their island.

Students presented Nov. 6 and 8 with the wall open between the two classrooms so that they could present in front of two classes instead of just one.

“This is meant to improve their public speaking skills in front of a large audience,” says Nash. “I want students to be able to learn in a comfortable environment yet be able to present in a big class without it being intimidating.”

According to Nash, the two teachers hoped to show students that there is a definite correlation between history and English. They also wanted students to be able to apply what they read in Lord of the Flies to what they learned about government in history. They wanted everyone to learn to see the reasons behind choices that are made in a society, such as the choice of rules on the island.

“I liked how students ended up incorporating both lessons learned from Lord of the Flies and concepts they learned in history into their presentations,” Nash commented. “I even heard some make references to their philosophers [from a previous project].”

Nash has been doing this project for four years, though often skipping years in between. Every year she changes the project, adding conditions and making it conform to standards. This year was Dickie’s first year, and she says she looks forward to a similar experience next year.

Nash’s students are also doing a project on inventions based on the Industrial Revolution. She has been doing this project for four years as well, and it is also changing every year. In this project students find a problem in society and attempt to fix it with an invention that is somewhat realistic. The inventions were presented yesterday and will be presented today as well.