How to Outline Your Fever 1793 Novel Study

When COVID spread across the world, it felt like everything we knew changed overnight. Everyone was home. The world was quiet. And there was a lot of fear and anxiety. For historians, though, the scene looked all too familiar. COVID wasn’t the first illness to spread across communities and countries. I created my Fever 1793 novel study long before I had even heard of coronavirus, but I find that this book has even more connections today because what once sounded like something that only happened in history books, our students have experienced for themselves!

About Fever 1793

Matilda lives in Philadelphia with her mother and grandmother in 1793. At fourteen years old, she helps run the coffeehouse that her family owns. One day, Matilda’s best friend suddenly becomes sick and dies. And soon, there is talk about a disease that is working its way through the community. This epidemic, later known as Yellow Fever, would change Matilda’s life and community forever.

This book is typically read in 6th-8th grade. You can read it inside a regular fiction unit or a historical fiction unit (more on this in the next section). It’s not too long, sitting at around 250 pages. But considering its length and the amount of historical context, I recommend spending about three weeks on reading and analyzing.

Historical Fiction with Fever 1793

You might wonder what time of the year to use your Fever 1793 novel study and within what unit. I recommend using this novel specifically within a historical fiction unit because students will be able to go deeper with their analysis and connections. As opposed to a regular fiction unit, historical fiction also takes time to look at the historical context, such as the time period in which the book takes place.

For example, in Fever 1793, a character in the book says that those catching the illness are sinners. Essentially, it’s their punishment from God. Without historical context, students might not understand why people held those kinds of beliefs or why people at the time would use religion to explain the event.

Fever 1793 Novel Study Overview

So, how exactly do you fit in all the reading standards you need to cover, plus cover the historical background? That’s exactly what I lay out in my Fever 1793 novel study. This unit is made up of sixteen core lessons, along with some bonus lessons.

My unit isn’t like the others you’ll see out there, though. Instead of worksheets and different assignments each day (which keep you constantly prepping and creating for each lesson), I use Socratic Seminar to dig deep into each chapter. I give students a question to start, and they take it from there!

I know it’s easier said than done, which is why I put together The Socratic Seminar Academy. In this workshop, I guide you through how to set up seminars and set expectations for students (so they actually meet them). Every lesson, students will meet to analyze and discuss together.

Here’s what the unit covers –

• Pre-Lesson: Socratic Seminar Norms
• Lesson One: Point of View
• Lesson Two: Key Concepts
• Lesson Three: Characterization
• Lesson Four: Elements of Plot
• Lesson Five: Mood and Tone 
• Lesson Six: Narrative Point of View 
• Lesson Seven: Theme 
• Lesson Eight: Theme and Characters
• Lesson Nine: Narrative Point of View & Theme
• Lesson Ten: Author’s Craft
• Lesson Eleven: Theme and Characterization
• Lesson Twelve: Plot
• Lesson Thirteen: Theme 
• Lesson Fourteen: Plot and Theme 
• Lesson Fifteen: Text Sections 
• Lesson Sixteen: Multimedia Comparison 
• Bonus Lesson One: Point of View Influence
• Bonus Lesson Two: Comparing Texts
• Bonus Lesson Three: Historical Account
• Bonus Lesson Four: Objective Summaries

A Look Inside the Fever 1793 Novel Study

What does it look like to use Socratic Seminar in your Fever 1793 unit? I use a repeatable, daily process to make seminars simple and get students comfortable with how they work. I’ll take you inside lesson eight as an example. This lesson focuses on theme and characters.

Students will start lesson eight with a guiding question: Mrs. Bowles says, “These are trying times. They seem to bring out the best and worst in the people around us.” How has this been proven to be true so far in the novel? Students will then read chapters 16 and 17 with that question in mind. You can have them read independently, in small groups, or as a whole class.

Students will engage in conversation together to analyze the text. Then, they can respond to a classmate by adding additional thoughts. On the other hand, they may have a different perspective and want to share it.

Then, it’s seminar time! By lesson eight, students will be familiar with how seminars work, so you can do a quick recap of the expectations and jump in. You’ll kick off the seminar with the interpretive question: How does Mattie and grandfather returning to their home and coffeehouse reveal how much Mattie has changed and grown up in just a few short weeks? Provide textual evidence.

Students will engage in conversation together to analyze the text. They can respond to a student, adding additional thoughts. Or maybe they have a counter thought and want to share that.

After the seminar is complete, students will turn back to their quick writes. They now have additional evidence and arguments that they heard inside the seminar, so they’ll wrap up their response and flesh it out more. With this process, during each lesson in the unit, students are reading, writing, analyzing, and discussing!

Want to bring Socratic Seminar to your classroom? Grab the Fever 1793 novel study unit. You’ll get a day-by-day lesson breakdown, interpretive and guiding questions for each lesson, teaching slides, student reference pages, and more. It has everything you need to fully teach this novel!