The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Task

TASK

*from The Columbus Academy



To complete this task, you will be creating a Travel File of your experiences.

In some cases, you may make your trip more challenging but glean more from your experience; in others, you may choose to take what appears to be an easier way; finally, as is true in life, sometimes, you will have no choice. I advise you to do the best you can to survive, use the tools provided, and learn as much as you can if you dare. Be sure to keep your materials organized to show the boss at the end of your trip. Best wishes for an enlightening and safe voyage.

Process

Use your reading and the websites provided to complete your journal entries, artwork, mapping for your notebook, vocabulary, and paragraphs.





1. Begin with the pre-voyage activities. Look at all of the activities. Choose to research topics under each category that you find interesting. Use the websites and book to research responses, and begin completing two pre-voyage activities. 



2. Create a floor plan map of the boat. Use clues from your book to try to figure out where rooms and areas are in relation to one another. You should be sure to include the following: Jaggery's quarters, Charlotte's cabin, mast climbs, bowsprit events, location of the trial, the underbelly of the ship and events there, crew members' quarters. You may use the websites below to investigate brigs and possible designs, but you will need to use your imagination and information from the book to position each location. Then, write up 10 important events from the trip, and place these descriptions next to their appropriate location on the boat. You may type these descriptions in small font, and cut and paste them onto your diagram. You must have at least 10, and they should include the more important events or turning points in the book.



 

3. Your Trip File, including all of the following items, which are explained in the chapter tasks:

 

  • Two pre-voyage activities--one on Avi and one on the setting
  • Three journal entries, showing your experiences and reflections
  • A jigsaw of chapters 8-12, showing responses that reflect your thoughtful consideration
  • A plot chart and story chart, demonstrating your understanding of the flow of activities you witnessed.
  • The definitions of various nautical and sophisticated terms
  • One piece of artwork to document the scenes you experience
  • A diagram of the boat document your experiences and important events; see above #5 for description.



 

Pre-voyage Activities



Pre-voyage Activity #1

AVI



The following list includes resources to find further information about Avi prior to your reading of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Access these web sites in order to answer the questions for some of the pre-reading activities or to learn about Avi further in any way.



For Avi--Using each of the following websites, research Avi's life, upbringing, and other books. Complete the questionnaire about Avi, OR write a paragraph about some aspect of his life that you find interesting. If doing the paragraph, be sure to include important details to support your topic sentence and a concluding sentence sharing the significance of your reading.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/avi/

https://safeshare.tv/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1j1RgRJ-0qY



http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/avi

https://www.thebalance.com/all-about-avi-1277214



Pre-voyage Activity #2

The 1830s, Women, and Stereotypes



Use the websites that follow to investigate the time period that is the setting for your trip. After learning several details of this time period, in England and America, write a coherent paragraph sharing what you have learned, including at least three new facts you have learned about this period. Write your paragraph in the first person, including the facts about these historical elements from your perspective and finishing with your thoughts of the upcoming voyage. What will it be like as a girl on this ship? What are you considering as you veture forth?





http://classroom.synonym.com/social-etiquette-girls-19th-century-18980.html

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ladiesetiquette1859.htm

https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-children-in-victorian-times/

https://safeshare.tv/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da4wxlJhqrrs

https://safeshare.tv/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxT34K_XSQvY

Pre-Voyage Activity #3

Mutiny and Seafaring Folklore!

 Mutinies:  What is a mutiny?  Create a list of at least 5 famous mutinies in your INB.  

 

Seafaring Folklore:  What kinds of folklore did sailors create?  Why did they create this folklore?  Research some of these stories and illustrate 2 folklores in your INB.

 











Nautical terms (ships' terms)



http://phrontistery.info/nautical.html

http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/gloss.htm







Chapters 1-3

1. Begin to investigate the boat on which you are travelling and the nautical terms you will encounter on your trip. Using the copy of the boat provided to you in class and the list of nautical terms, color the diagram of the outside of your boat, and neatly label each part. Then look up the other terms that you will need to understand using the language arts websites above.



2. Using the first 40 pages of the book, write your first journal entry as a person on the boat with Charlotte. Be sure to include important details of events that have occurred so far, specific locations on the boat where they occurred, AS WELL AS your feelings about each. This is a journal, so it should not be just a reporting of facts but also an opportunity for you to reflect on what is happening and the people you have met.





Chapters 4-7

Brigs

http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/pirate-life/brig.php

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/brig.htm





1. It's time to begin making your map of the inside of the boat. Use the website above and the picture in your book to research brigs and begin your diagram. You will use this map throughout your journey as a visual aid, proving to authorities on shore each important event that you witnessed. As you experience an important event, you must label it on this diagram, with a short description of the people involved and outcome of the situation. By the end of your journey, you must have at least 10 events documented. See a more detailed description of this part of your assignment under the task section.



Chapters 8-12



1. Continue to update your map of events on your boat diagram.

2. Complete one Artistic Endeavor. See below.



Chapters 13-15



http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/storymap/index.html

Characters, setting, and conflicts--Today we will talk about internal vs. external conflict.



1. How well do you understand the characters, setting, and conflicts of your trip so far? Using the above website, make and print a setting, character, and conflict map for your reading so far. Be sure to print this and include it in your documents to show the land boss at the end of your journey.





Chapters 16-18

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/plot-diagram/



1. Today you will learn about plot diagrams and where different elements of your journey might fit on such a diagram. Play with the website below as you consider the various plot elements from your journey. Place one significant event at each place on the diagram, showing where the action has turned on your voyage.



Chapters 19-21



1. Complete a journal entry as Charlotte's defending attorney. You must write a minimum of one page persuading the crew of Charlotte's innocence, using specific reasons and facts from the book. Remember, Charlotte is your friend, but you do not want to resort to emotional blabber to convince the others on the ship of her innocence. Organize your paragraph with a clear, persuasive opening sentence; follow that with specific examples of your case for Charlotte's innocence; and close with a convincing re-statement of your point.

Your paragraph could be the deciding factor determining Charlotte's "end" to the trip.



Chapters 22-end



1. Finalize your boat diagram and documentation of events.

2. Write a final journal entry, reflecting on Charlotte's decision about traveling in the future. Do you agree with her decision, or not? What would you have done? Why? Finish your journal entry indicating your own decision relative to your time with Charlotte. Will you continue to accompany her, or is it time for you two to part? How do you feel about that?

 

ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS



How has your trip gone so far? Have you experienced any storms, mutiny, or rats? You have no camera. Somehow you must convey the excitement, terror, chaos of your voyage. Fortunately, you still have your fingers and have not been blinded by a crew member. Use these tools and the materials you have in the classroom to help others visualize your experience. You must complete the mandatory assignment (cover for journal) and one choice activity (below); you choose which one you would like to complete to make your trip memorable.



Be brave and creative! Choose one activity below to express yourself!





1. Using an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper, paint or draw a picture that expresses the terror and chaos of the storm in chapter 15. Your picture may represent exact details (look realistic), or it may be more abstract, representing your feelings and experiences. Use color, shading, the medium of your choice, and strong effort to depict your scene or convey your sensory extravaganza. On the back, paste a typewritten or very neatly written explanation of your artwork and why you chose to draw it or paint it the way you did.



2. Make a collage using magazine and newspaper articles, headlines, artwork, relevant items, and an 8 ½ x 11” piece of paper to depict any scene or your feelings at any point during your voyage. On the back, paste a typewritten or very neatly written explanation of your collage and its different parts, explaining why you chose to use the materials you did as they relate to The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.



3. Make one scrapbook page (8 ½ x 11”) showing your experiences during a point in your trip or of your experiences overall. The page should clearly relate to events in the book, be neat, and have images reflective of the people, items, and memorable experiences you have had.



4. Create a storyboard with 12 frames using an 8 ½ x 11” paper divided into 12 neat squares. Illustrate each square in color, depicting a scene or scenes from the book. Create a title for your storyboard that indicates which scene(s) you chose. The storyboard should get to the most important points in the scene(s) using few, necessary words to show what happened. On the back, paste a typewritten or very neatly written explanation of the scene in no more than one paragraph.



5. Choose five main characters from your experience, using the book and an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper, and draw in colored pencil what you think they looked like based on descriptions in the book. Label each character you chose, and underneath their picture, write a short description from the book, listing the page number you used to obtain that description.

 

Credit: the Columbus Academy

Evaluation

How have you fared since you went out on your own? You have traveled for more than two weeks on a brig without your usual comforts. Could you keep track of your journal? Did you complete the requisite number of entries to detail your experiences, complete artwork to reflect your trip and wave of emotions, learn anything about the sea, gather intelligence about your resource book and its various techniques, and gain any self-knowledge? Two resources to help you evaluate your performance follow. Use them to monitor your work and adjust your work level to satisfy your boss. If you survive, you may be given opportunities of a lifetime; if you fail, you may be thrown off the boat by the crew or fired for future exciting journeys. The former could earn you a fine reputation among the elite, move you up to first mate or captain, find you as editor of the Providence Press or the London Daily. The latter? Well, who knows if you will even make it home. 

Conclusion

If you are reading this message, you have made it home alive. With luck, you have learned about the 19th century, historical fiction, sailing on the Atlantic as a young person to find a new home amid risk, toil, storms, mutiny, and starvation. Congratulations for making it to the end of this journey in whatever form you have. Best wishes for a fine rest in preparation for your next adventure.