LESSON #4

Dead Man Tells No Tale

I. DEFINE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENT

LESSON OBJECTIVE

Students will meet Christine Brin, an expert with the North

Carolina Maritime Museum. During her visit, students will
learn about Blackbeard as well as the artifacts that have
been unearthed during excavations.

POINT TO PONDER

Those who dont know history are destined to repeat it.

-Edmund Burke

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What is the purpose of studying the past?

CONTENT

I.

Outline the content you will

teach in this lesson.

A.

Excavation

1.

Discovered in 1995; excavation began in 1997

2.

Found in Beaufort inlet

B.

Discovered artifacts

1.

By 2007, of wreck was fully excavated

2.

Over 1600 artifacts have been found so far

3.

First artifact was a bell from the ship

a.

Made of bronze

b.

1705 was inscribed on artifact

Queen Annes Revenge Excavation

Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

c.

Gave archaeologists a date when Blackbeard existed

4.

Most recent artifacts were cannons found in 2013

II. PRE-PLANNING

What will students

UNDERSTAND as a result
of this lesson? How does
this connect to the Essential
Question?

What will students be able

to DO as a result of this
lesson?

Students will learn about the excavation of the QAR.

Important artifacts and their uses will be discussed.
Students will also understand the importance of
underwater archaeology and simulate what it would be like
to unearth artifacts themselves. Students will also develop
an understanding about why recovering history is important
and how it affects our society.

Students will identify and discuss artifacts that

pirates used and their importance

Students will discuss what necessary tools are

needed aboard a pirate ship using video diary
technology

III. PLANNING
TIME: 10 minutes
HOOK
Describe how you will
grab students attention
at the beginning of the
lesson.

Students will be given pirate excavation kits. The pirate kit will
come as a hard casing of sand around pirate treasure. Students
will be given tools and will have to excavate the hidden treasure.
Doing this activity will show students how scientists dig up and
clean historical objects.

BE CREATIVE.

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Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

INSTRUCTION
Explain Step-by-step
what you will do in this
lesson. Be explicit about
ties to Points to Ponder,
Essential Question, and
Interactions here. Include
ALL support and
teaching materials with
your unit.

TIME: 45 minutes

Students will watch this video about the Queen Annes Revenge
excavation to gain an understanding of excavating a pirate ship.
(8:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJfU_bplRJU

1. Where did Blackbeard operate his ships?

2. When he reached the height of his career, how many
ships did he have?
3. What are some of the artifacts that were found?
4. When was the wreck discovered?
5. What is the problem with the wreck?
6. How does the magnetic map help scientists?

Introduce expert: Christine Brin works at the NC Maritime

Museum in Beaufort, NC. She will talk to the students about
what it was really like to be a pirate. She reveals truths about
common pirate myths and explains what pirates really went
through. Brin will bring a travelling trunk and discuss artifacts

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Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

with the students about what they think it is and what it was
used for. She then discusses the actual purpose for each
artifact.
As students finish, they can count their coins earned for the day
and participate in the Pirates of the Carolinas board game.
This will be the final day for the board game. Once students
have had a chance to participate, we will determine each
students net worth. Students will be rewarded coins depending
on how many ships and conquered land they earned throughout
the week. These amounts will be determined based on the
worth of each. The student with the highest coin value will be
awarded the title of Captain of the Carolinas, and will be
rewarded with a prize worthy of a pirate! (hat, model ship)
ASSESSMENT

TIME: 15 minutes

(Performance Task)
What will the students
DO to demonstrate that
they have mastered the
content? Be specific and
include actual
assessment with unit
materials.

Video diary #4
Topic of the day: What tools are needed on a pirate ship?
All video diaries will be strung together and uploaded to the
camp website.

DOES THE ASSESSMENT ALLOW YOU TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE

STUDENTS HAVE MET YOUR STATED LESSON OBJECTIVE?
YES OR NO

ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Insert ALL materials here including Assessments and Instructional Materials.
Explicitly LIST any additional files for this lesson. Be sure that ALL materials have been
submitted for this lesson.

Recording sheet to use with Christine Brin:

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Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

Blackbeards Queen Annes Revenge

What is it?
Name:
Date:
Class:
After artifacts are recovered from the site of Queen Annes Revenge the
artifacts are cleaned and prepared to be put on display at the North Carolina
Maritime Museum in Beaufort.
Before displaying the artifacts archeologists and historians must first study
the artifact and try to figure out what the item is and what it was used for.
DIRECTIONS: As a group or on your own look at each of the items supplied
and see if you can identify what they are and what they were used for.

Artifact #1:
Describe the artifact (size, color, weight, etc.)

What do you think this artifact is?

What do you think it was used for?

Artifact #2:
Describe the artifact (size, color, weight, etc.)

What do you think this artifact is?

What do you think it was used for?

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Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

Artifact #3:
Describe the artifact (size, color, weight, etc.)

What do you think this artifact is?

What do you think it was used for?

Artifact #4:
Describe the artifact (size, color, weight, etc.)

What do you think this artifact is?

What do you think it was used for?

Artifact #5:
Describe the artifact (size, color, weight, etc.)

What do you think this artifact is?

What do you think it was used for?

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Buccaneers, Beware! A Day in the Life of Blackbeard and his Brigade

Holly Anderson & Shannon Schler

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