1) Pirates in Historical Fiction and Nonfiction: A Twin-Text Unit of Study
I really like the fact that this lesson is not just about the literature concerning pirates but it goes into the social studies aspects as well. Students can learn about real life historical pirates as well as discuss the types of pirates today. Students can also analyze how pirates are portrayed in movies or books like Peter Pan to discuss truths from myths abuot pirates. I also like the theme topic of pirates because it is a fun topic that would interest many kids in the classroom. It gives them the opportunity to learn about how to research, find resources with factual and fictional information. Learn about a different way of life, and even use their creative and imaginative writing skills. Students also learn a lot about group work as they are in partners or small groups for many of the activities throughout the unit. It is just as important to teach your students to work as a cooperative team to learn together and from each other as it is important to teach them basic reading and writing skills. I also think it is a good idea to use a variety of genres when introducing a topic or having children research a topic. It shows students that there are all types of sources of information and different ways in which something can be portrayed depending on the author and the point of view of the story.
2) Pullout: Swashbuckling Adventures on the High Seas: Classroom Activities for a Unit on Pirates
I used DED’s when I was in school and I found this to be a very good tool for me because I had a very hard time with reading comprehension. I think it is a great way for students to be able to look back at their DED quickly to remember what is happening in the story, what their thoughts were, and any questions that they thought of while reading the story. It is also a good place to write down defintions you need to look up, or a specific instance you would like to bring up in class.
Something I really liked in this article was how it also incorporated some fun with art by making wanted posters for individual researched pirates. I beleive that through this fun artistic process it branches out of the ordinary reading and writing a small summary paper and allows students to also draw pictures of their pirate or images that relate specifically to their pirate. The teacher can easily access student’s gained knowledge by looking at their posters for information about their pirate that they researched. These pictures could be displayed for the rest of the pirate unit as inspiration for more story writing or poetry. I really beleive that students learn better when it is a fun topic that is out of the ordinary and when it is made to be extra fun and exciting.
