This article concerns the use of an historical event to teach interdisciplinary design and reading strategies to content area preservice teachers at a Connecticut state university. The course, a requirement for state certification, seeks to give secondary content area teachers strategies to help struggling readers. Teachers from all subject areas can build cross-curricular lessons and activities around one historical event. The Hartford circus fire of 1944 was chosen for its local interest. The class was divided into groups of teachers from different content areas and each group produced interdisciplinary units using books, documentaries, news articles, and a song about the fire. (Contains 7 figures.)