What if reading a book didn’t end on the final page?
For sixth graders at Alpena Public Schools and Posen Consolidated Schools, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi became more than a classroom novel — it became an immersive, hands-on journey into maritime history at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS).
From Page to Port
After finishing the story of 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle, a young girl who finds herself the sole female passenger aboard a 19th-century brigantine on a transatlantic voyage, students were ready to dive deeper. Teachers partnered with the Sanctuary to transform the novel into a real-world exploration of life at sea in the early 1800s.
“I thought it was really cool that the teachers wanted to make a book come to life for their classroom and thought of the sanctuary as a way to utilize a community resource in order to do that,” said Sophie Stuart, Education Specialist and Volunteer Coordinator at TBNMS. “I was honored that they trusted me to create the plan. It ended up being really fun revisiting a childhood book that I read and that helped start my love for maritime historical fiction.”
Learning the Ropes (Literally)
The experience began with an introduction to the parts of a ship using a worksheet to learn maritime terminology. Then, students wrote a letter underwater – using special mylar paper like real archaeologists do – to their favorite character from the book.
Next it was time to board the ship, that ship being the life-size schooner replica that sits in the middle of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. As the students stepped aboard, they also stepped back into time, bringing Charlotte’s story to life. Instantly they could feel just how small a ship bed was and what it feels like for the floor to shift under your feet as a vessel moves with the unpredictable waves.
The final stop was a trip to the center’s artifact room where they saw many real-life examples of items, tools, clothes, and games that would have been part of Charlotte’s everyday life. Sophie had them pick an item that interested them, sketch it, and come up with a prediction of whether or not it would have been present during Charlotte’s voyage on the Seahawk. As a class they voted on which artifacts would have been on a vessel in the 1800s.
“I think the teachers are grateful for the level of depth we are willing to go to,” Sophie shared. “I’m sure they see some kids struggle to connect to the stories that they read, but this field trip pretty much erases that because it is so hands-on in connecting the students to the story.”
By blending English, history, science, and even art, the experience turned literacy into full-circle learning.
Posen teacher Ariane Romel shared that combining the book with a museum visit created lessons that spanned multiple subjects — and the learning doesn’t stop there. Her students continued by building their own ship replicas! Alpena teacher Courtney Gagnon shared that this was the school’s first field trip since Covid closures and it reminded her how powerful immersive field trips like this can be.
A Community Resource Brings Stories to Life
At its heart, this collaboration showcases the power of community partnerships in education. A beloved novel became a launch point for interdisciplinary learning.
“I’m really excited to see how this continues to expand,” Sophie said. “If teachers in our community have another book or lesson that connects to the sanctuary we’d love to explore that.”
When classrooms and community resources come together, stories don’t just get read — they get lived. And at the Sanctuary’s Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center history isn’t just something that happened, it’s something you can experience.
BTW – students got to do their own debrief and feedback session after the field trip and here are a few things they shared when given the following prompts:
Something new I learned was…
- fermented drinks were safer than water!
- to be classified as an artifact the item must be 50 years old or older.
- there are over 200 estimated shipwrecks in the Alpena area.
One connection I made to the book was…
- looking at the different models of ships helped me imagine the Seahawk.
- seeing how tall the ratlines were and why it was so scary for Charlotte.
- Charlotte’s room is small just like the museum replica of the ship.
Museums Help History Come Alive by…
- letting people discover what life was like in the past.
- having hands-on experiences.
- preserving artifacts to teach others about shipwrecks.
If you’d like to create an education experience for a classroom, please email Sophie.Stuart@noaa.gov.
We’ve included some photos below and you can also view a video that was originally shared on the sanctuary’s facebook and instagram page.
Top right: Posen poses for a photo on the deck of the museums schooner replica; the rest of the photos are from Thunder Bay Jr. High’s field trip exploring the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center schooner replica, writing underwater letters, taking in exhibits, and creating drawings and predictions in the artifact room.
