Pirates

I AM BLACKBEARD (final draft)

I am fearless and terrifying with my flaming black hair.
I wonder who these ships are that are approaching Queen Anne’s Revenge.
I hear shouts of Lieutenant Robert Maynard.  He is shouting, “I’m going to put an end to the pirate legend of Blackbeard!”
I see the ships coming at us raising their Navy flags.
I want to discover a way to get out of this horrendous trap.
I am fearless and terrifying.

I pretend to have a plan all mapped out to escape from the Navy.
I feel my crew’s nerves getting the best of them.
I can hear their knees knocking together like hammer hitting a piece of wood.
I touch the secret treasure map tucked away in my underpants.
I worry that if I keep the treasure map, someone may eventually find it and steal my buried treasure.
I catch a glimpse of the narrow channel that I will maneuver my ship through to outsmart the Navy ships.
I am fearless and terrifying.

I understand that my Reign of Terror may be coming to an end.
I proclaim, “I will fight to the death!”
I dream that the Golden Age of Piracy will continue forever.
I try to not become fearful now as I am standing face-to-face with Maynard while pistols pointed.
I hope my life will be confabulated and recalled from now through eternity.
I am fearless and terrifying. 

Pirate DED

PirateDED

Section 3&4PirateDED

I Am Blackbeard (first draft)

I am fearless and terrifying with my flaming black hair.

I wonder who these ships are that are coming at me.

I hear shouts of Lieutenant Robert Maynard shouting, “I’m going to put an end to the pirate legend of Blackbeard!”

I see the ships coming at us raising their Navy flags.

I want to discover a way to get out of this trap.

I am fearless and terrifying.

 

I pretend to have a plan all mapped out to escape from the Navy.

I feel my crew’s nerves getting the best of them.

I touch the secret treasure map tucked away in my underpants.

I worry that if I keep the treasure map, someone may eventually find it and steal my buried treasure.

I catch a glimpse of the narrow channel that I will maneuver my ship through to outsmart the Navy ships.

I am fearless and terrifying.

 

I understand that my Reign of Terror may be coming to an end.

I proclaim, “I will fight to the death!”

I dream that the Golden Age of Piracy will continue forever.

I try to not become fearful now as I am standing face-to-face with Maynard while pistols are pointed.

I hope my lie will be talked about and remembered from now through eternity.

I am fearless and terrifying.

 

Double Entry Diary

Double Entry Diaries are a very good practice for students to work on their reading, writing, rereading, and discussion skills.  This assignment will visit genres of historical fiction and nonfiction.  The way that a DED works is that your paper will be divided into two columns: from the book and what it means to me.  So in one column, we will take words, quotes, or passages from the book and write them in the left column.  In the right column, we will write why these words or passages were important and what they meant to you.  In each section, the books are split up into pages and students are then given things to think about while reading the specified pages.  This assignment will also include making entries into a dictionary of piratical and nautical terms.  Through this dictionary, students will be able to learn about piratical terms and what they mean and how to use those terms in conversation.  Students will also learn more about pirates through this assignment.  

I like the idea of doing a DED.  I think it would be a beneficial tool to use in the classroom when reading different texts or novels throughout the school year.  Through the DED, students are not limited to writing certain things down on the DED.  Students are free to explore a text and write what is important to them in the text and explain why they think that particular quote is so important.  It gives students an opportunity to really think about what the text means instead of just taking the teacher’s word for it.

The Not-So-Jolly Roger and Internet Workshopping

I personally enjoyed this book.  I would really like to read the other books in the Time Warp Trio series.  This series reminds me a lot of the Magic Tree House series.  One thing that I think would draw students to this series is because it is adventure based and the characters are three children about their age.  This particular book in the series is about pirates.  The three boys: Fred, Sam, and Joe, are thrown into the 17th century during the time of Blackbeard.  The boys learn about Blackbeard and are also exposed to life on the pirate ship.  The boys escape back to present day just in time.  I also fell in love with the Time Warp Trio website because it is such a valuable resource for teachers!

I felt that the activities that went with this book were very beneficial.  If these activities were done with students in a classroom, they would learn all the background information for Blackbeard and why he became a pirate.  Students are encouraged to gather information from the book as well as a national geographic article and other piratical websites.  The activity that was my favorite and I think would be most beneficial is Step 2.  Here students are asked to look at a National Geographic Article and answer questions about Blackbeard.  The thing that sticks out the most to me is that the students are provided questions to answer while reading the article, but the questions are split up into sections so students know exactly where to look for these answers.  

Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing

I had never actually heard of internet workshops before.  I feel that social studies is a great subject to integrate with language arts, however I wasn’t sure of how to do that until I read this article.  Technology is also becoming more and more of a big deal in our society today.  Children are already having access to computers and games and the internet before they even start school.  With this increase of technology, teachers need to step it up and really begin to incorporate technology into their lesson.  This is easily done with something like an internet workshop.  

Through this internet workshop, teachers create an activity where students will answer questions about certain topics from what they find on the websites.  After they have retrieved this information, completed their DRC, and written it in their notebooks, then the students will share their information they have learned with all their classmates.  One thing that teachers have to keep in mind when looking for websites is to keep it student-friendly.  Teachers should make sure that they review the whole website before having students to use it as a resource.  One should also make sure that the reading is age-appropriate for whatever grade they are doing.  When discussing the background knowledge with the class, it is important to not seek the “one correct” answer but to actually have students to explore the topic and allow the students to decide which information they want to share with others in their class.  

Classroom blogs are also a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom.  As a teacher, I could create a blog and have my students to post their DRC’s on their individual blogs.  Students could also post on the different readings that they do throughout the year.  The blog could also be used as a line of communication between the teachers and the parents.  This blog can also be a place for teachers to keep their assignments and other important information so the students and parents can know what their assignments are.  I also had never thought of using a blog for a discussion of current events.  I think this would be great to incorporate into the classroom because this way students would build their technology skills while also learning about what is going on in our world.

I feel like the “I Poem” would be a great idea to have students do.  With the “I” poem students will write the poem in first person with the person taking the role of the object in the poem.  I have never written an “I” poem but I think it would be a great way to help students build their comprehension skills.  

I am looking forward to completing this pirate unit so maybe I can use it some day in my own classroom.

1. 

   Maggie Said:

   on October 1, 2009 at 4:57 am

   Great poem. The words you used were perfect! I enjoyed reading it!

   Reply
2. 

   emilykerley Said:

   on October 8, 2009 at 11:36 pm

   I really enjoyed reading your poem about Blackbeard! I could tell that you put so much effort into crafting the poem. I could really tell when I was reading your poem that you have a good understanding of the factual information regarding Blackbeard. Your word choice was excellent because I could actually imagine Blackbeard’s emotions and surroundings through your descriptions. I really like the line “I catch a glimpse of the narrow channel that I will maneuver my ship through to outsmart the Navy ships.” This line was really creative because you steered away from the typical I Poem format. I really do not have any suggestions to improve your poem because I can see that there was a great deal of time and effort put in to it and it is a true reflection of Blackbeard’s character. Great job!

   Reply
3. 

   CaseyGill11687 Said:

   on October 12, 2009 at 10:26 pm

   I really enjoyed this poem. I liked that you used factual information from our readings and infused that with your own thoughts of Blackbeard. Good Job!!!

   Reply

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