The Pirates article was interesting because I was introduced to Twin Text and pairing fiction and non-fiction books. I enjoy that idea because students can not only explore and use their imagination with ficiton, they can also learn facts from non-fiction and notice that between the two the story could closely resemble their facts. This will intrigue students and they will want to learn more about the unit they are discussing. To allow students to roam around a room and learn on their own about Pirates or what they think Pirates are is a great idea. This allows their brains to start working and the wheels to start turning in their minds and get a feel for what they are about to tackle in the classroom.
The Pirate Journal/Notebooks really helps students stay organized and allows them to have an entire journal just on that subject. All of their questions, definitions, pictures, anything are all in one place. From beginning to end they can look back at what they did not know at the beginning and how those questions are getting answered. It seems to start off very broad and slowly narrow as the unit goes on which does not overwhelm the student. The Pirates Pullout read really focused on students digging deeper, visitng and revisiting their book and really understanding what they are reading. I think this helps students develop a discipline of how important re-reading is and really taking apart a text.
