Pirates

 Pirate Diary:  The Journal of Jake Carpenter and What If You Met a Pirate? (Sections 1&2)

As I completed several double entry diaries for sections 1 and 2 I felt like I learned even more about how they work.  I think that they are really useful and would be especially useful to students as they are trying to sort through information.  I really liked how the different sections split up the pages to be covered in each book.  This kept the information from becoming overwhelming.  I also really liked how this gave options for students to write about.  This scaffolds students to begin thinking about what is important and what stands out to them.  It does not, however, tell a student exactly what to write.  The turns the responsibility over to the students. 

I also think that the Dictionary of Piratical and Nautical Terms is such a good way to get students to focus on terms that they may not understand or do not know.  This is a much more creative way for students to learn definitions because they are able to use sketches or other words that will help them remember.  I think that it was good that a sample DED and an example of the dictionary was included because students can use this as a reference to make sure that they are on the right track.  I know that it helped me because I refered to these as I was completing mine.  Again, I really feel that the DED is such a good way for students to focus on particular portions of texts because it helps them to make connections to the text, as well as find what they think is important in that particular section.

 Pirate DED

DED Section I, Part A

DED Section I, Part B

DED Section II, Part A

DED Section II, Part B

DED Section III and Section IV

RE 4030 Pirate Dictionary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retrieved on:  September 29, 2009
(http://www.villeart.com)

 

I Am Blackbeard (First Draft)

I am fierce and gruesome.

I wonder which ship I will pirate next.

I hear grenades exploding all around.

I see the terrified look upon a sailor’s face.                                                                                                       

I want all the booty that I can possibly gather.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

I pretend to have a plan if the Navy finally catches up to me.

I feel the anxiety rising in my crew.

I touch the edge of my sharp cutlass that protects me at a moment’s notice.

I worry about nothing, as I am undefeated.

I dare someone to try to fight me.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

I understand that as I am standing here face to face with Maynard, my days of pirating may be coming to an end.

I say “Arrrrrgh!  I will protect my ship down to the very last minute.”

I dream about being a well-known pirate, especially for being fearless.

I try to take down Lieutenant Maynard, fighting up until the very end.

I hope that my “Reign of Fear” does not end here.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Retrieved on:  September 29, 2009
(http://www.villeart.com)

 

I Am Blackbeard (Revised)

 

I am fierce and gruesome.

I wonder which ship I will pirate next.

I hear grenades exploding all around.

I see the terrified look upon a sailor’s face.

I want all the booty that I can possibly gather.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

I pretend to have a plan if the Navy finally catches up to me.

I feel the anxiety rising in my crew.

I touch the edge of my sharp cutlass that protects me at a moment’s notice.

I worry about nothing, as I am undefeated.

I dare someone to try to fight me.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

I understand that as I am standing here face to face with Lieutenant Maynard, my days of pirating may be coming to an end.

I say “Arrrrrgh!  I will protect my ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, down to the very last minute.”

I dream about being a well-known pirate, especially for being fearless.

I try to take down Lieutenant Maynard, fighting up until the very end.

I hope that my “Reign of Terror” does not end here.

I am fierce and gruesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retrieved on:  September 29, 2009
(http://www.villeart.com)

 

I Am Blackbeard (Final Draft)

I am fierce and gruesome with my quick temper and my sash stuffed with pistols and daggers.

I wonder which ship I will pirate next.

I hear grenades exploding all around, cannons firing a warning blast, and the screaming threats from angry pirates.

I see the terrified look upon a sailor’s face as I jump to the deck, terrorizing them so that I can take another ship.

I want all the pieces of eight that I can possibly gather, as well as anything that I can find so that I can sell these foreign luxuries to the locals.

I am fierce and gruesome with my quick temper and my sash stuffed with pistols and daggers.

 

I pretend to have a plan if the Navy finally catches up to me.

I feel the anxiety rising in my crew when I didn’t try to outrun the Navy sloops.

I touch the edge of my sharp cutlass and the triggers of my pistols that protect me at a moment’s notice.

I worry about nothing as I am undefeated thus far.

I dare someone to try to fight me because I am one of the most dreaded pirates who ever lived and I will not back down.

I am fierce and gruesome with my quick temper and my sash stuffed with pistols and daggers.

 

I understand that as I am standing here face to face with Lieutenant Maynard, my days of pirating may be coming to an end.

I say “Arrrrrgh!  I will protect my ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, down to the very last minute.”

I dream about being a well-known pirate, especially for being fearless and as quick on the draw as the snap of a finger.

I try to take down Lieutenant Maynard, fighting until the very end.

I hope that my “Reign of Terror” does not end here.

I am fierce and gruesome with my quick temper and  my sash stuffed with pistols and daggers.

 

Double Entry Diary

After reading about the Double Entry Diary (DED) I could easily see how this experience would be beneficial to students.  When completing a DED students will be reading, writing, and discussing the books.  A DED is set up into two columns.  One column is labeled “From the book” and the other column is labeled “What it means to me.”  Students are given particular pages to focus on at a time and then they take what they have learned and found interesting from these pages to complete the DED.  I think that it is beneficial to students to only give them a group of pages to look  at a time because this will help them focus on what’s important from that section.  I also like how students will make their own Dictionary of Piratical and Nautical Terms.  When doing this students can write, draw, etc.to remember the words.  Students can refer back to these at a later time if they need to.  I really like that students can write or draw or do anything that will help them remember the words.

I really like the idea of a DED because this gives students a chance to look at historical fiction and nonfiction books.  Students are also encouraged to write about things that they found important and why they think this instead of topics given by the teacher.  I think that students will get more out of the books when they are able to make connections to things that they found important. 

 

The Not-So-Jolly Roger

This book was so exciting and I loved it.  This book reminded me of the Magic Tree House series that I read last semester.  As I was reading about Sam, Fred, and Joe, I felt that I could not wait to turn to the page to see what happened next.  I really feel that students would love this book because it is an easier read.  There are not a lot of pages and it is easy to understand.  It is also very informative about Blackbeard but it is not just an informational text.  There is an exciting story that students will love.

I also liked the Internet workshop that went along with this book.  I really feel that this gives students a chance to learn more about Blackbeard and even compare the information that  they find on these websites with The Not-So-Jolly Roger.  I also really liked looking at the National Geographic for Kids website because it broke the information down into different sections that was easy to navigate through.  It also narrowed down the information so that students knew exactly what to look for.  I really feel that this is a great activity for students because it is enjoyable, but also informing.

 

Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing

I had actually never heard of Internet workshops before but after reading this article I had a better understanding of what they are and how they are used in the classroom.  I think that social studies is an excellent subject to integrate with language arts in these workshops.  I also think that technology is an important thing to integrate into the classroom because students are becoming more interested in it.  I found it interesting that in the article it talked about classroom teachers that feel that there are barriers that prevent them from implementing the best practices that are mentioned in the article.  One of the barriers mentioned was the little experience they had in integrating technology into their instruction and that further makes them hesitant to do so.  I can relate to these teachers because I feel that I do not have that much experience in working with technology, but after reading this article I feel that Internet workshops are easy to implement and a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Internet workshops are where teachers create a research activity for students in which they are directed to specific Web sites to gather information and then complete a research activity.  They then share the information that they found with classmates.  This types of activity allows students to become more independent learners while providing a scaffold for students as they collect and evaluate information.  One of the main things in creating an Internet workshop is finding age appropriate Web sites for students.  I think that it is a very good idea to bookmark the sites that you find so that students can access these sites directly.  This is very important because it is so easy for students to become occupied with other sites and therefore lose instructional time.  By bookmarking these sites this can be eliminated. 

The next step is to plan research activities for students.  This activity should introduce students to background knowledge on the subject that they are researching.  This is also a good way for students to develop critical literacy skills by being able to locate information about the author of the Web site as well as determine the validity and reliability of the Web site.  I really like how the article suggests that instead of seeking the “one correct” answer, students should be able to explore the topic so that when it is time to share information to the class each student can participate. 

I really liked reading about the classroom blogs.  I think that this is such an effective way to post news and information, as well as student work.  I feel very confident in creating a blog for my future classroom because I feel that students will really enjoy it.  I also really liked the I poems because I think that it is a very creative way for students to write about a topic that they have been studying, while incorporating some of the important information that they have learned.

I am very excited to be starting the pirate unit and I can not wait to take some of these things to my future classroom!