Pirate Diary:The Journal of Jake Carptenter Article and Shared Readings Article

I think the DED is a great way to organize the information to learn more about pirates through the Diary of Jake Carptenter. I think in general this would be a great technique for any reading material in any subject, but I think it works particularly well with this book because it allows you to formulate opinions and thoughts concerning the book as you are reading and organize your information for a class discussion or group discussion. I also really liked the activities and the group work associated with the book in this article. I think it allows students to really express their opinions, work on speaking to their classmates, and group cooperation and participation. I also liked the way in the What if You met a pirate there were guiding questions and ideas to be thinking about the entire time you are reading the book. The questions were good in the way they did not just ask simple knowledge or recall questions but they asked things about what you learned and asking you to choose a pirate and tell why they were your favorite. I think it is good when questions that go along with books go beyond the simple reading comprehension and get students to think more in depth about the story and their feelings that are connected with the story.

I really liked the first sentence of the article when it was talking about how modeling is the primary way in which teachers can show how readers interact with text because I think many times teachers forget that their students have no idea what to do or where to start with reading and writing. Reading is something we take for granted because we have been at it for so long, I think we have to step back and think about what it would be like to be a child that is practicing reading techniques and still learning how to use the text and comprehend the text. We teach in every subject at school, but sometimes we forget that we must too teach reading and all its practices. I thought it was interesting in the case study that the teachers modeling their thinking and focused on demonstrating their own thinking rather than asking pointed questions to the students. I think this is especially important to get students to see and understand how they should be thinking through text and the only way for them to see this is by seeing someone else model the behavior. Another aspect of the study that I liked was when the teacher said that she does not have time to tell the students every word they do not understand and so it is important to teach them how to figure out the definition or the meaning to an unknown word within text. There are so many more aspects to reading than just learning to read and this is also something that is often overlooked by teachers. We must teach our students to research and decode to become independent readers. Finally I really liked the idea of modeling the books in large book format or having a page or two of what you will be reading for the students to read along with you and see where you are asking important questions and see your stopping points. Students could work in partners to learn new reading material, work on comprehension, and shared reading. It would benefit students to ask each other questions that they deem important to begin getting in the mindset of questioning as they read independently.

October 1, 2009

I began working on my DED today for the Pirate Diary along with What if you Met a Pirate. I found it to be most interesting that it really requires you to do a lot of in depth reading that you don’t really realize you are doing until you look back at your notes. I have always had a lot of trouble with reading comprehension so I especially found this technique helpful for me to remember what is going on and to organize key facts and ideas. I found it really helpful after Dr. Frye went through the first page diary entry by Jake Carpenter in class today because it helped me know what kind of items to think about as I was reading. I was a little confused until she went through the series of questions or thoughts really that you would go through with your own class. I found it easier for me to make my own DED to think about good stopping points and try to think about what I would say or think as I would be reading. I also tried to think about how a child might view the big vocabularly words and where they might need extra help with the text. I think it is a really good idea to try to get children in the habit of writing down words that they are unfamiliar with and finding examples in the text that they can refer back to which the DED helps you do.

DED for section 1 and 2

Section 1

Part A

Pages 1-13

Quote: “Do you think we are going to sea in a tailor’s shop?” p. 7	Inference/Question: So I am thinking that the clothes Jake packed to go to sea must have been pretty nice. A tailor makes special made clothes that are not just regular play outside type clothes. I wonder what kind of clothes they wear at sea?
Quote: “This hammock is where you shall sleep, Jake. By day you stow it away with your clothes rolled inside.” P. 10	Connection: This makes me think that there is not a lot of room aboard the ship on the inside. Maybe there are a lot of people on board and a lot of people sleep in the same part of the ship.
Quote: “The upper deck of the Greybound I measured today by walking: it is thirty of my paces.” P. 11	Inference/Question: Okay so I am getting that the ship is not that large. Thirty paces is not a whole lot. Maybe this does explain why Jake has to take down his hammock everyday. Maybe there is not a lot of room?
Quote: “Still half asleep, I clambered up the companionway (which is the ship’s staircase, as steep as a ladder) and onto the deck.” P. 12	Reaction: I really liked the way the author used the word companionway, and told us that it is the ship’s staircase. I am feeling that it is pretty hard to go up and down since it also says that it is as steep as a ladder.

 

Pages 13-21

Quote: “Instead we unload cargoes in Spanish, Dutch, and French ports in the West Indies and pay nothing.” P. 13	Reaction: I am then that the Spanish, Dutch, and French don’t really either get along with the English. Maybe this is why they can unload their cargo there and not pay taxes.
Quote: “You’d better get to like beans and salty hog, lad. It may be dull but ‘tis nutriment enough-and to be sure you shall eat precious little else while we sail.” P. 15	Inference/Question: From this I am getting that there are not a lot of options of food choices while you are at sea. I am also feeling like they might not get to eat a lot of the food either.
Quote: “It is like sailing a ship uphill.” P. 16	Author’s Craft: Wow, I am thinking that this must be a really tough time at sea. The ocean must really be pushing against them.
Quote: “The captain yelled to the second mate: “Daniel! Flog the stupidity from that idiot landsman or so help me I’ll throw him in the ocean!” p. 19	Reaction: Wow! I really don’t think I would want to be on a ship, if you make one small mistake like losing a bucket and you are punished by flogging.
Quote: “He will surely die without any provisions, and it is all because of my awful clumsiness.” P. 19	Inference/Question: I wonder what provisions are? I am thinking that it might have something to do with food or water, maybe even supplies since Jake says that he will die without provisions.
Quote: “Just before sundown, I really did see another vessel, though the ocean swell often hid it behind the wave tops.” P. 21	Prediction: I wonder if Will is on the boat that Jake sees in the distance. I am thinking that maybe another ship came by and found Will and let him board their ship.

 

Other feelings and ideas:

• Jake and his family came to England, possibly from religious freedom?
• His mother died when he was very young, too young to remember. Maybe from the voyage?
• Colonists don’t really care for the taxes, they don’t feel as though they should have to pay taxes to a king on the other side of the ocean that doesn’t understand their problems.
• I am thinking that Will was picked up by another ship and he is on the vessel that Jake Spots during his punishment.
• The pirate punishments seem very brutal especially the cat o nine tails. I think that it would hurt a lot and based on the pictures it looks like it is pretty bloody as well.
• I think it would be very difficult to be on a ship for a long period of time without proper medical care. I guess that the main goal would be to not get injured or sick.
• It is interesting that the pirates carried so many weapons even though they didn’t really want to injure the people on board the ship they were trying to take over.
• The 10 pirate articles in the oath were very interesting and well thought out. I especially liked number 10 about respecting women.
• I figured out what the sea monster was that Will was talking about in the beginning of pirate diary, it was a whale.

Dictionary of Piratical and Nautical Terms

• Flogged- p 17, 23, 26- being beaten with a whip that has nine tongues. You were tied up, the whip was sometimes referred to as the “cat o’ nine tails.”
• Brig- p 10- this is found behind the mainmast and has an oddly shaped sail that is stretched between two spars making a K shape
• Masts- p 10- the tall wooden poles that hold up the ship’s sails
• Starboard- p 11- the right side of the ship, the left side of the ship is the port side
• Contraband- p 13- smuggled goods
• Companionway- p 12- the ship’s staircase, which is very steep almost like a ladder
• Plunder- p 22- anything that could be taken, or found, and anything that could be sold
• Boatswain- p 23- the person that checks the sails, rigging, and the anchor of the ship
• League- p. 35- a league in nautical terms is used to measure a distance that is roughly equal to that of 3 miles.
• Powder Monkey- p. 37- the person that fetches the gunpowder
• Magazine- p. 37- the magazine is in the lower deck of the ship and it is a specially designed place with wet canvas curtains that ensure that sparks will not light the area on fire or the ship would explode. The gunpowder is kept in this location.
• Moored-p 30- moored is when the ship is secured tightly, in this case it was secured off the island
• Company- p 32- all the group of pirates and those that are sailing aboard the ship

Part B

What If You Met a Pirate? P. 6, 7, 10, 11, 22, 23

Quote: “Between 1500 and 1750, a pirate or privateer ship was the only real democracy: The entire crew voted on important questions. A pirate captain was elected by his own men, and they could fire him.” P. 6	Connection: This tells me that a pirate ship was a lot like our government now. We elect a president that can be impeached and we all have a chance to vote on issues as well.
Quote: “Pirates didn’t make long voyages like the royal Navy. Their trips were short…When they traveled; pirates were packed into small boats like dogs in a kennel.” P. 10	Fact: I think it would be hard to be a pirate because I do not like small spaces. The good thing is that you don’t have to be all cramped up for too long though, since they made small voyages.
Quote: “A pirate bazaar was a local celebration.” P 22	Inference/Question: I am thinking that the colonists really enjoyed the pirates coming into town because it gave them a chance to buy new things or get stuff that they couldn’t get from England. I wonder how often they had the bazaars.

 

 

Section II

Part A

Pirate Diary, p 21-37

Quote: “At this signal, the ship’s hatches flew open and out rushed a swarm of the fiercest men I have ever seen. All of them carried weapons- short swords, pistols, knives, axes.” P. 22	Prediction: Based on what I know about pirates, I am thinking that these might be pirates coming aboard the ship. Especially since he said they were fierce looking. Lets see what happens next.
Quote: “ Already the wound has maggots and unless his leg is cut off below the knee, he will surely die.” P. 27	Reaction: This quote really makes me feel sick inside. I feel very sorry for Ahab but it also makes me realize just how hard it is to be a pirate. It would be hard to be at sea and not have a doctor around.
Quote: “Bart sewed up poor Ahab in sailcloth with cannonballs at his head and feet. “ p. 28	Inference/Question: Interesting, I think that maybe they put cannonballs at his head and his feet so that he will sink to the bottom of the ocean when they throw him overboard. I wonder what they would do if they did not have extra cannonballs to use?
Quote: “As one of the few crew members who can write it fell on me to draft an oath. “ p. 32	Inference/Question: From this I am thinking that maybe there were not a lot of people that could read and write during the time period, or maybe pirates just didn’t take the time to learn to read or write. I wonder how many people could actually write during the time?
Quote: “If at any time a man meets with a prudent woman and offers to meddle with her without her consent, he shall suffer death.” P. 33	Reaction: This quote to me shows that the pirates have a high regard and respect for women. I wonder what they do with women that are on board of a boat they are attacking. What about children?
Quote: “ Last night we slept not a wink, for we were tortured by a mournful song that seemed to come from the ocean’s depths. “ p. 35	Prediction: I have a feeling that the sound that the sailors are hearing is a whale in the ocean. Since he said it sounded like it came from the depths of the ocean and that it was a mournful song, I think it was a whale using echolocation speaking under the ocean. Later in the passage we find that they think it is a sea monster and it is in fact a whale.

 

Part B

What if you met a pirate? P. 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Quote: “ A fortunate pirate might swashbuckler just a few hours each month. The rest of his time was taken up with the work of sailing a ship, pumping water out of the ship, repairing the ship, patching the ship’s sails, painting things on the ship, and pulling the ship’s ropes.” P. 4	Reaction: I had no idea that pirates did so much work on the ship. It sounds like it would be a lot of hard work and a lot of manual labor to be a pirate. You definitely couldn’t be a lazy pirate could you?
Quote: “Pirate cannon were aimed to cripple the prize without hurting it too much- pirates ransomed or sold back prizes for a lot of money.” P. 18	Fact: I think that the pirates did not really want to hurt people and maybe that was more of a stereotype. It seems like they were really after the goods that the other people had aboard their ship rather than injuring people.
Quote: “The real trick was to take a prize without getting a lot of people killed- your own pirates or the sailors on the prize.” P. 20	Reaction: This is exactly what I was thinking before, so we now know that my previous thought and prediction was true.

 October 6, 2009

We continued to talk about the DED’s in class today and we worked through some examples of DED’s. I thought Shelby did a really great job working through her passage and leading the class and specific students through a series of Q&A to reach a certain point that she wanted to address. I tried to think more like a teacher as I worked through my DED’s today to think about certain ideas and questions I would want to bring up for discussion. I also tried to recognize more of the author’s craft portion of the books as I realized today that I seemed to be missing a lot last time I read. I didn’t pick up on very many similies and personification details so I read with more attention this time around the books.

DED section 3&4

Section III

Part A

Pirate Diary. Pages 37-54

Quote: “I run to the lower deck to fetch gunpowder. It is stored there in a “magazine,” a cabin protected by curtains of wet canvas against sparks that fly in a battle.” P. 37	Reaction: I really liked the way the author chose to explain what the magazine is. I can really envision what the magazine of the ship would look like and why it is important.
Quote: “It is a paradise, where pirates do as they please without fear of the law.” P. 38	Inference: This quote makes me feel as though the pirates must have a lot of trouble with the law and with other people because the new place they are going is a paradise for a pirate where they do not have to worry with law abiders or enforcers.
Quote: “When it came, we sprang upon the Spanish from the shadows. Most fled like frightened rabbits, but not their capitano.” P. 39	Author’s Craft: I really liked this image. I especially thought it was great because he mentioned rabbits earlier in the book. It really shows how scared the men were if they were fleeing the scene like frightened rabbits.
Quote: “Sure enough, there she sat on a sandbank. I had heard of these creatures, half fish, half woman, but I doubted they existed.” P. 42	Question: Are there really mermaids? What are some of the sea animals that they might think is a Mermaid? What might you see on the bank of the shore?
Quote: “One of the seamen who has hunted whales in the north, passes the time by decorating the skin of his messmates in a manner he learned from the Eskimo people.” P. 45	Prediction: I think that by decorating the skin, he means that he is giving his messmates a type of tattoo. I wonder if it is a permanent tattoo or a temporary tattoo.
Quote: “Noah has decided it is not safe to sail for Bath town port, for it is yet sixty leagues away. Instead, we must return to Charleston, which we shall reach tomorrow, God Willing.” P. 52	Question: I wonder how it is going to work out for the men sailing back into Charleston since they are not wanted there? I wonder why they can’t sail the extra sixty leagues, why is it not safe?

 

Part B

What If You Met a Pirate? Pages 12, 13, 14, 15, 30, 31

Quote: “When the weather changed, they changed the sails. If the wind died down, the sailors would put out more sail. If the wind got stronger. Sailors would take in some sail. If the weather changed directions…” P. 14	Inference/Question: Wow, so the pirates were kind of like meteorologists. They had to understand the weather patterns and change the ship and the sails based on the type of weather. I bet it would be hard to have to think about the weather and sail the ship.
Quote: “Food on a pirate vessel was kept in barrels. Pirates had no refrigerators.” P. 15	Connection: Thinking about all of my favorite foods, I am not really sure if I could make it without a refrigerator. Can you imagine having dried meat and bread all the time?
Quote: “Going to the bathroom wasn’t difficult for pirates in calm weather. They went to the head- the front of the ship- where they sat, perched over the water, on a bench with holes (called the seat of ease).” P. 15	Response: I would think it would be really embarrassing to use a toilet in front of everyone on the ship. What would happen if it was night time?
Quote: “Some pirates died by drowning (very few could swim) or in common shipboard accidents.” P. 30	Reaction: It really surprises me that anyone would go out on long voyages and not know how to swim. I would have thought that they would have learned over the years.

 

Section IV

Part A

Pirate Diary, pages 56-57. What If You Met a Pirate?, pages 29-29

1)      Who were the colonists?

1. a.      The colonists were those people that came to North America or the New World from England. Many of these people came to escape religious persecution. The colonies stretched across the eastern portion of North America. During this time there were 13 English colonies that were under direct rule from the English monarchy. The colonists had a lot of problems with England and their representation as they were far away but yet they required the colonists to pay taxes on goods without any real representation. The colonists had a lot of strong feelings and ideas towards their mother country as well as new ideas about starting their own country and breaking away from England. The colonists experienced a lot of hardships in their new land as they had troubles with the Native Americans, cold winters, disease and hunger.

2)      What are the Navigation Acts?

1. a.      The Navigation Acts were imposed by England that made the colonists to trade only with England and only use English ships and English crews. The purpose of these acts was to ensure that England was going to prosper in the successes of their new country.

3)      How did the colonists feel about the Navigation Acts?

1. a.      The colonial people hated the Navigation Acts because it made them take lower prices for the goods they were making even if they deserved more money for those goods. The colonists went as far as deciding to ignore the Acts and continue producing whatever they wanted for however much they wanted.

4)      Who were freebooters?

1. a.      Freebooters were the pirates in the colonial days because they mostly smuggled goods into the colonies that were not allowed. The goods were illegal because they were not taxed, which is why the colonists got the goods from the pirates. The word freebooter comes from the Dutch word “vjirbuiter” meaning free booty. The freebooters most feared enemy were the colonial officials that were trying to make the colonists pay taxes.

5)      Describe the relationship between the colonists and the pirates

1. a.      The colonists really enjoyed it when the pirates came because they brought them a lot of goods that they could otherwise not receive from England. Some of the colonies even had members give the pirates their letters of marquee and financed them on voyages. As time grew onward the pirates wore out their welcome and the colonists did not allow them to sail into their ports as they felt the pirates were too violent and had bad manners.

Part B

Pirate Diary, pages 58-61. What If You Met a Pirate? Pages 24-27

1)      What did you learn about the different kinds of pirates?

1. a.      Pirates have been around a very long time, up to 4, 600 years ago in the Mediterranean region. Vikings in the north were also considered to be pirates as they traveled in fast ships and raided many towns and villages. Privateers were also a type of pirates that were commissioned by countries with letters of Marque to attack other countries ships and steal their goods. These privateers were loyal to their country that commissioned them and they often served as an unsaid navy for the specific country. Many times these privateers turned into pirates as it was a better way to become successful and continue to gain wealth. In the sixteenth century the pirates in the Mediterranean fought for religious reasons, or so they said. The pirates that were fighting for religious reasons and freedoms were known to be corsairs which comes from a Latin word cursus that translates into plunder. These corsairs would take over ships and take the passengers hostage and would then force them to work on the ship or become a slave. There were also pirates known as new world pirates who went around in the Spanish Main plundering from the Incas and the Aztecs. They spent time stealing their gold and then taking it back to Spain. Finally there were buccaneers who came after the use of privateers. The privateers were outlawed and thus they had to invent a new and rougher breed of pirates. These buccaneers came from the Hispaniola area and were named from the way they barbequed their meat on the boucan barbeques. The buccaneers resided at a base camp type area known as Tortuga and they spent a lot of time hunting. I found it really interesting learning about all the different types of pirates and found it intriguing that there were different types that focused their time and adventures not only in different regions but also on different “treasures.”

2)      Out of all the pirates mentioned in this section, which ones do you find the most interesting? Please explain why.

1. a.      I personally found Mary Read and Anne Bonny the most interesting. It is not very often that you get to hear about women pirates in stories and movies. Most of the time they just show a group of mean men aboard a ship that sing songs and drink rum. I thought it was really cool that they dressed up in men’s clothes to play the part and they even fought in the battles. I wish that they didn’t have to play men though, it would have been cooler if they would have just been known as the women pirates instead of being incognito the entire time. I also did not like the part where they escaped being executed for claiming to be pregnant, it kind of bothered me that they wanted to be pirates until it came down to really being a pirate and then they found a sneaky way out. I also liked Sir Walter Raleigh primarily because he is a North Carolina man. I never really considered him to be in a classification of pirate. The book says that he is a seadog which falls under the privateer category, I would consider him to be more along with the patriot side under privateer rather than a pirate because I feel as though he did a lot of good things for our country, and North Carolina to be specific.

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