My Search
My search began on the Internet. My teacher printed me some material and then I was able to get started. After reading some of the information, I decided to head to the screen myself.
While I was searching, I hit some real low points, for example, I was trying to interview someone through email and I struck out at first. Four email addresses came back “undeliverable”. Finally a lady named Wendy E. Owens emailed me back. I enjoyed talking with her, and the information she provided to me, was very informative and helpful.
Here is my original letter to Ms. Owens:
Hello,
My name is Casey Morong. I am a 6th grader at Acres Green Elementary in Littleton, Colorado. I am doing a project on gladiators, and need to do a short interview with someone on this topic.
I was wondering if you or someone at your agency could answer some questions for me via email. If you would not mind, and would have the time, please let me know.
Thanks for your time.
Casey Morong
After she answered me, these are the questions I asked her:
Ms. Owens,
Thanks for responding and for taking this time out of your day to help me. Here are a few questions I have for you:
What kind of weapons did gladiators use?
Where did gladiating come from?
How did gladiators get their name?
Were there rules to follow when in the arena?
Did the pictures on the shields represent what they were fighting for?
When were "gladiators" born? When did this all begin?
How many different kinds of gladiators were there?
Are there still gladiators in Rome today?
I think this is enough for now. Hopefully this is not toooooo much and I hope you are able to answer these for me.
Awaiting your response,
Casey Morong
I didn’t give up on the Internet. My mom let me go out on the web, and I looked up a general search on “gladiators”. I was able to find a lot of good information there also.
My search also took me to my neighborhood library. It was rather hectic at first, but then the librarian helped me by heading me in the right direction. If it were not for her, I would have been looking in the wrong side of the library for a looooong time.
I took a trip to Blockbuster to find a movie on this subject. I found two movies, one being the actual Gladiator movie. This was a down point in my search, because it is rated “R”. “Dang”, I really wanted to watch it. Inside the Gladiator movie was a tutorial that provide me with very useful information. I did however; find a fairly informative movie called “Ben-Hur”.
