Pirate Internet Workshop

I found completing the Internet Workshop to be very easy and informative. I liked the idea of having the sites for finding the information already listed. When doing research, I find that I spend a lot of time looking through sites unless I get lucky and hit just the right site the first time. This process requires a countless amount of time for me to find good information so I can imagine how long it would take students. Having the sites already bookmarked for them enables them to focus more on the information and less on the search. I think as a teacher, another advantage of having the sites already available is that your students will have accurate information and will be able to focus on the information that you want them to learn. If allowed to search on their own, the students could find different information, some of which might not be accurate or applicable.

I don’t have a lot of background knowledge on the subject of pirates therefore I found conducting the Internet Workshop informative. I didn’t know that pirates, buccaneers, and privateers were even close to the same things. I had an image in my mind of what a pirate was but that image came mainly from the fictitious pirates portrayed in movies and children’s fictional books. I have heard the words buccaneers before but for some reason I associated them with cowboys instead of pirates and I associated privateers with businessmen. Using these websites to learn more about what pirates were, where they came from, where they lived, and their lifestyles has given me a truer understanding of piracy. While I like internet exploration, I also like that the unit on piracy integrates other types of resources as well as the internet.

I found it interesting that not all of the websites contained the same information about buccaneers. I found variances between where they came from, and in the origin of the name buccaneer. Some of the sites were much more detailed than others but each site shared much of the same information just presented differently. Being able to compare the information on each site in the DRC was a useful way to distinguish differences in my findings. Comparing more than two websites gave me more of a research base to decide what information was the same in more places. This helped me make a choice about what information I believed to be correct.

I was extremely impressed that three of the sites we visited were created by students in either elementary or middle school. Showing students that other children have done this research and created a place for them to obtain this information would seem to be a real motivator for students. I’m sure that I will use the idea of Internet Workshops into my classroom.

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