ASSIGNMENT
You will be working in a group to complete a research project for the beginning of our unit on “Treasure Island.” Each group should focus their research on the “Golden Age of Piracy,” which lasted from roughly 1650 to the 1730’s (some sources say 1700-1740).
In addition, each group will be assigned a famous pirate to research. I strongly suggest assigning at least one person in the group to research the famous pirate, while the other group members focus on the more general topics. You may also want to divide the topic list among group members, so that each person is responsible for researching a specific aspect of piracy. The entire group should then work together to complete the written report, oral presentation, visual aid, notecards, and Works Cited.
Topics that you should consider when researching include:
- The Pirate Code of Conduct
- The Different Types of Pirates
- Pirate Ships
- The Jolly Roger
- Life at Sea
- Who’s Who on the Ship
- Favorite Pirate Hideouts
- Rewards of Being a Pirate
- Punishments for Piracy
- Pirate Clothing
- Pirate Language
- Pirate Weapons
- Pirate Myths (peg leg, parrots, etc.)
If you find additional information that interests you, feel free to include it in your report. Remember, it must relate to the Golden Age of Piracy, though!
Famous pirates we will be researching include:
- Edward Teach (Blackbeard)
- Bartholomew Roberts (Great Pirate Roberts/Black Bart)
- William Kidd (Captain Kidd)
- Henry Morgan
- Jack Rackham (Calico Jack), Anne Bonny, and Mary Read
You will be expected to complete the following items:
WRITTEN REPORT
Each group must turn in a written report about their assigned topic. Written reports must be handwritten or typed. Each group must include a report on pirates, 3-4 pages in length, and a report on your group’s famous pirate, 1-2 pages in length. You should have a minimum of 4 pages, plus Works Cited, when finished. Please refer to my Formatting Guidelines for specific details on how to format your report.
Written reports will be due on the first day of presentations (January 14).
WORKS CITED
Please list your sources on a “Works Cited” page at the end of your report. You should list all websites you used for your research. You must include sources for any photos or information used to complete your visual aid. Remember, Google is NOT a source! Please refer to the Citing Sources page for details on how to cite your sources.
ORAL PRESENTATION
Each group must give a 10 minute oral presentation on their assigned topic. All group members must participate in the presentation. Your visual aid must be included in your presentation. Do not plan to read from your report during your presentation! Reports will be turned in before presentations.
NOTECARDS
Each group should create notecards that will be used during the presentation. Notecards should contain all of the information to be included in the presentation and should be in a bullet format. You should use your written report to create your notecards. Include all of the main ideas from your report in your presentation. As long as your written report is organized well, your notecards will be also. Do not read directly from the notecards during the presentation.
VISUAL AID
You must have at least one visual aid for your assigned topic. Please be creative! You may NOT do a poster or a PowerPoint presentation for this assignment. Please get approval for your visual aid before you begin working on it. In some circumstances, a group might be allowed to create a poster as a second visual aid. If your group wishes to do this, you must get approval first. Grading will be based on the primary visual aid (in other words, not the poster).
Any visual aids that involve original student work will receive a higher grade than those in which information is copied and pasted. Your visual aid will be graded primarily upon effort and creativity, so keep this in mind while working on your project.
SCHEDULE
- January 2: Review Writing Guidelines, Citing Sources, and Plagiarism; Assign groups and review assignment
- January 3-4: Notetaking (2 days)
- January 7-9: Work on written report, Works Cited, and visual aid (3 days)
- January 10-11: Check written reports, Works Cited, visual aids, and notecards for completion; Rehearse presentations (1 day)
- January 14-15: Presentations (2 days)
RESOURCES
You will be required to use at least three websites and two print sources for your project. You may NOT use wikipedia for your research.
The following websites contain good information about your research topics. I strongly recommend that you use them for your research! Remember to cite all sources you use, both online and in print.
http://www.thepiratemuseum.com/
http://www.cindyvallar.com/pirates.html
http://www.bonaventure.org.uk/ed/piratemythtory.htm
http://www.melfisher.org/reefswrecks/golden.htm
http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/
http://www.isd12.org/bhe/Archives/Activities/Pirates/
http://paulinespiratesandprivateers.blogspot.com/
http://www.inkyfingers.com/pyrates/pyrates/index.html
http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/
GRADING RUBRIC
You will be graded according to the following rubric:
GROUP RESEARCH REPORT WITH VISUAL AID AND PRESENTATION GRADING RUBRIC
RESEARCH PROJECT GUIDELINES
Please refer to the Research Projects page for detailed information on the research process you should follow on this assignment.
Language Arts 8 