DED

Double Entry Diary

Pirate Diary
Learning the Ropes- “Adam sent me to climb to the very top of the mainmast, for as well as helping him, I must share the work of selling the ship.” Pg15	I liked the picture it reminded me of those ropes on playgrounds and ropes courses.  It hard to climb those things on steady ground, I believe it would be harder on a ship that is moving.
A Great Stormed Endangered Us- Entire Passage page 48 and 49	I wonder if this was a Hurricane.  I know Hurricanes are huge storms in the Atlantic Ocean.  I remember watching the Weather Channel during a hurricane and there was a lot of wind and rain and the waves were big.
We Hide our Cargo ( Cannon Diagram) page 36 and 37	I guess it would take a long time to reload.  This seems to be the same process as a musket.  I wonder if the cloth is used the same as the musket so the ball does not roll around too much and flies straighter.  There is also a picture in What if you met a pirate on page 19.
What If You Met a Pirate?
Draft- how deep in water a vessel floats. Page 13	I guess the closer to the coast, the smaller the draft of a boat needs to be.  I wonder what the draft of QAR was.
Sparks was the vessel’s blacksmith. Page 16	Why did they call him Sparks?  I wonder if it is because of the sparks of the metal when he hits it with his hammer.  I remember seeing a blacksmith in Williamsburg Va.
What about the plunder (Jean Lafitte would sell stuff tax free in New Orleans)	This picture reminds me a flea market.  I wonder if he sold stuff tax free because people were tired of taxes that the British Government issued onto the colonies.

Pirate Books

Today we will look at 3 books that have related content about pirates.

The first is Not So Jolly Roger, a story about 3 young boys who have the ability to travel in time.  Only this time, they run into the meanest, nastiest pirate around, Blackbeard.  This story is a quick chapter book that is great for young readers and a must have for those boys in your class who do not like to read.

The second book is Pirate Diary: the Journal of Jake Carpenter, a story about a young boy from North Carolina who goes on board a ship with his uncle.  There he is shown the ropes of a pirate ship.  This book is very detailed including the graphic nature of the treatment of people on a pirate ship.

The third book is What If You Met A Pirate.  This book is a information book laid out that is very appealing to kids.  This book contains information about the weapons, the ships, sailing and other various pirate related information.  I really enjoy this text  because it included graphics, diagrams and illustrations while maintaining all the information.  I believe students will enjoy this layout more than the typical layout of a textbook.

Shared Readings: Modeling

I believe we can all agree that we can learn something better from someone who has knowledge in that field.  This can cover a wide spectrum of fields.  You wouldn’t look at me for information on how to cross stitch, instead you might approach me if you wanted to learn guitar.

The classroom should be setup in such a manner that the teacher in the model.  This model is not limited to the instruction time, but should include all times.  This article mentions ideas that we have discussed during our class.  One way of modeling is to create an interest in learning by being interested in learning as the teacher.  For instance, if students have a time that is set aside for reading, as a teacher this time should be setting example and spent reading also.  During this time you can bring to the students attention interesting passages or words.   By letting them see you interested in reading, they will hopefully be interested in reading also.

I believe that as teachers we are models in and out of the class.  We can not be like Charles Barkley and say we didn’t ask to be role models.  It doesn’t matter if we chose to be role models or not, all that matters is that we are regardless.  This means if we show a disgust for a subject, our student may develop the same disgust.  How can we expect our students to exhibit something that we ourselves do not expect ourselves to do.

Internet Workshop and Blogging

The Internet is a valuable tool that can be extremely useful in the classroom.  However this tool can also cause some problems for the classroom.  The first problem is information.  Anyone can post something to the Internet, which means that not everything on the Internet is true.  This can cause problems for students who are using the Internet for research.  This means that the teacher should inform and educate children about how to use the Internet appropriately.  Teachers can do so by providing a list of bookmarked sites to students which have reliable information.  The second problem with the Internet is due to fear.  Some teacher may have a fear of letting their students use the Internet because they are afraid to use it or feel inferior with advancements in technology like blogging, website building and or podcasting.  Teacher, I believe, must embrace technology in the classroom because it is the direction in with business in the world is conducted.

The Internet is not limited to just knowledge obtainment, but can be used for knowledge sharing.  Through blogs and free websites like webs.com, students and teachers alike can share information over the Internet.  This can be a great way to communicate within the classroom (Teachers can upload links to sites for research projects) and out (Teachers can keep parents up-to-date about homework and classroom happenings, as well as allow students to share their work with a wider audience.

More thoughts about pirate reading.

Within these articles there were different ideas as to how approach and organize students thoughts during the instruction.  These ideas were usually charts and diagrams that can be easily modified regardless of the subject being taught.   One method is the trusty old KWL, where students state what they already know (K), want to know (W) and what was learned (L).  Another method is the Double Entry Diary where students have one column that states what the passages says and the other column for what that passage means.  This method can help students organize thoughts about the read passages.

Frye Articles for 2-10 Class

Often social studies text are difficult for students to read because of the way they are written.  Most of the time these text are written fact after fact and not necessarily with rhyme or reason.  However, there is a way to help students fight the complexity of social studies basil books.  The use of historical fiction in relation with the social studies text can help students draw more out of the lesson because the historical fiction is written in a storyline format which students are more comfortable with.

The main challenge with historical fiction is to weed out books that may have content that is contradictory to what the real content maybe.  Historical fiction should be viewed much like using a film in class, in that the content needs to be a true representation of historical content.  For example, a novel about the Holocaust may use a fictional character but the content and what the character goes through must be real.

Another challenge is finding books, there are many books that can be used, and funds for History books do not need to be used to buy new textbooks, how much does the text book change over 3 years?

Intergrating Instructional-Level Social Studies Trade Books for Struggling Readers

As soon to be teachers, once we are in the classroom, we will have students at multiple reading levels.  What do we do with those students who are below reading level with it comes to subject areas like Social Studies where most of the instruction comes straight out of a basil written at grade level?

There are two problems that arise with using basil only instruction with below grade level readers.  First is that they will struggle with the way the text book is written.  Most text books are written in an information style that does not use story style writing that most students are familiar with.  Second is that when the information of the text is the focus, a lower level should not be penalized because some of the non-essential vocabulary is beyond their level.

What is the solution to basil only instruction?  First we must offer alternatives to the basil like trade books.  These books cover the same material that is covered by basil; the advantage is that these trade books can be tailored to the reading level of the student.  This allows the student to have success in reading and understanding the Social Studies content.   Second advantage to trade books is that they are written like stories that most students are familiar with.  No longer is it just social studies facts, but facts encased in a story.  After all shouldn’t history be history.

Poems

Poems in the classroom are not embraced with open arms when compared to other language arts mediums like books.  I can not recall liking the process of learning about poems.  I felt that there was always the contradiction that teachers presented to us, they said that poems are relevant to the reader and the writer and when asked to tell what the poem was about, what it meant to me was wrong.

Like many students, my first fact about poems was that they had to rhyme.  I learned however, that such a fact was fiction.  I thought the poems were just like very old songs lyrics without the music.  Song lyrics were poems I could relate to because music is an essential part of my life.  As my musical knowledge increased, my exposure to poetry increased as well.  I started to see how songs lyrics did not all the time rhyme and noticed that poems did not have to rhyme either.

I have gained a greater appreciation for poems as of late, because I write songs myself.  I see it as an art form different from novels or books, because it is the goal of the poet to convey a message in s manner shorter and more abstract that the writer of a novel.  If the poet is really superb then the poem itself comes to life.

What’s In A Name?

My name is David Gene Norton.  A name given to me by my parents.

David comes from the Hebrew name  meaning “beloved”.  David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC.

David has been used in Britain since the Middle Ages. It has been especially popular in Wales, where it is used in honour of the 5th-century patron saint of Wales , as well as in Scotland, where it was borne by two kings.

Gene- Is the middle name of my father so it has been passed down.

Norton- From a surname which was originally derived from a place name meaning “north town” in Old English

(http://www.behindthename.com/)

There are 3,653,705 with the first name David in the US (the 7th most popular first name) and 70,671 with the last name Norton.

Notebook Know How

Writers notebooks have been used throughout education in multiple ways.  Many of us can remember coming into the classroom putting our things away and sitting at our desk writing in our journal based on a prompt that the teacher had posted on the bored.  Is this the right way to approach the use of writer notebooks.  Based on the first two chapters of Notebook Know How writers notebooks should allow students a stress-less avenue of writing and make writing enjoyable.  I believe that there is too much pressure on students that they are afraid to write because they are afraid to make mistakes.  However, as adults we can testify to the fact that life in general has its fair share of mistakes that we must take advantage of and learn from.

What is your opinion of writing in general.