JACKSON — A wiki page collaboration between the St. Aloysius School in Jackson and the Bayhead School in Bayhead has joined pupils at both locations with a focus on reading, language arts and history.

A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content.

Social studies teacher Donna May and integrated language arts teacher Dana Hoover, both of the St. Aloysius School, have linked with Bayhead School history teacher Tom Kennedy to join their seventhgrade classes.

"Our goal is to reach across traditional boundaries to allow the students to be active participants in a learning experience focused on the novel 'My Brother Sam Is Dead,' written by the Collier brothers," Hoover said.

With the help of their teachers, the pupils created a wiki page where they share responses in a manner that coincides with modern educational methods.

"The novel, set in a time when the 13 Colonies belonged to England, follows a young man named Sam Meeker, who, against the wishes of his family, became quite an outspoken Patriot," May said. "The war tears the father and son apart. The father, who is loyal to the king, is devastated when his son becomes a patriot to fight for freedom from the king."

The seventh-graders studied this time period in depth, learning all about the road to revolution and the battles that were fought, Kennedy said.

"Students at both schools read the novel simultaneously, responding to discussion questions, all of which were posted on the wiki page," Kennedy said.

In addition to sharing their written responses, the students used podcast technology to record work they had written, such as limericks about Patrick Henry and opinions about the American Revolution set to "Yankee Doodle."

St. Aloysius School seventh-grader Nicole Feleo said the project was innovative and captivating.

Joey Marra, also a student at St. Aloysius School, said it was cool to be able to work with another school.

Hoover, May and Kennedy said they are proud of the work their students are doing with the project and said they are looking forward to continued opportunities to make learning interesting, active and relevant in today's world.