1. I chose to look up Catholicism as I am a new teacher in a Catholic School. I was very interested in the book, Idiot's Complete Guide to Catholicism. I read a few of the pages and found that this is the book I need. I like the fact that we can actually read the real pages. This helps to find the right book and it helps to make finding the information easier. This is a good tool to use if the book you need is not in the local library when you need it.
2. A few books I found are: Illustrated Dictionary of Constitutional Concepts by Robet Maddex
- Bill of Rights by Thomas Lewis
- Colonies and Revolution by David King
- Complete Idiot's Guide to Presidents by Patrick Sauer
- Exploration in Cultural History by T.G. Ashplant.
I do not talk about Constitution Day with my preschoolers, so I am not sure if these books would help with this research or not.
3. I searched for Nebraska in the PB publisher for Western History and found 88 results. Many of the articles are focused on the Native American cultures of the state and their history. The results also focused on baseball history and highlights in the state. I would not have thought of either of these topics when I think about Nebraska, so this is an interesting search result.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Lesson 5: Gale Virtual Reference Library
1. I chose the book Literary Themes for Students: Race and Prejudice, 2007. I looked through the table of contents and chose the article Angels in America. This article could be used to show students how long prejudice has been in our country and how it has evolved from the beginning through the ages and the races. This article would serve to help open the eyes of students to see that prejudice is not just against different races, but also against different sexes and different levels of income people make. It would also be interesting to adults to read this.
2. I chose to look for an answer to the question What foods have zinc in them? There was wide range of books to use as answers, but there was not one book that specifically looked at specific minerals in foods. I was not impressed by the Listen feature. It did not read the text very well. It was too fast to concentrate on and it skipped some words. This would not be good feature for someone trying to write down information at the same time.
2. I chose to look for an answer to the question What foods have zinc in them? There was wide range of books to use as answers, but there was not one book that specifically looked at specific minerals in foods. I was not impressed by the Listen feature. It did not read the text very well. It was too fast to concentrate on and it skipped some words. This would not be good feature for someone trying to write down information at the same time.
Lesson 4: Proquest
I remember using Proquest in college for research and writing papers for classes. It was a great help on difficult topics. I like how broad the articles are and how diverse the publications are that the articles are taken from. I also like how you can have a full article to read, this helps when you are researching broad topics and you have to print off something to read later. It is easier to have the whole article right now than to try to go back and find it later.
1. I chose the topic of Quilting for my first search. This is a hobby I enjoy outside of school. I like the many different ways quilting was presented; as a hobby, some looked upon it as a useless pastime, and how other article taught you more about the hobby and tools used.
1a. I read the Proquest post by Marion the Librarian. I agree with her that Proquest requires time to sort out the information. It is not an easy site to use, and it is used more by the scholarly researcher than most other people. In fact most people do not even know that it exists. I agree with her post entirely.
2. In the Publications Tab, I tried to find the Early Childhood Journal that I have used before for research. I did find it, but it was not the same type of journal. It was a little different. The journal I have used was not in the findings. I was a little surprised that it was not on Proquest. But I guess then it is a good thing, I know where to find issues of it.
1. I chose the topic of Quilting for my first search. This is a hobby I enjoy outside of school. I like the many different ways quilting was presented; as a hobby, some looked upon it as a useless pastime, and how other article taught you more about the hobby and tools used.
1a. I read the Proquest post by Marion the Librarian. I agree with her that Proquest requires time to sort out the information. It is not an easy site to use, and it is used more by the scholarly researcher than most other people. In fact most people do not even know that it exists. I agree with her post entirely.
2. In the Publications Tab, I tried to find the Early Childhood Journal that I have used before for research. I did find it, but it was not the same type of journal. It was a little different. The journal I have used was not in the findings. I was a little surprised that it was not on Proquest. But I guess then it is a good thing, I know where to find issues of it.
Lesson 3 Revisited: SIRS Discoverer and Researcher
I looked up armadillos and many articles came up for the search. Although when I looked through them, many on them were not about armadillos, but things related to armadillos. They were on broader topics. Some articles only mentioned armadillos 1 time. The first article "Awesome Armadillos" was the best article for researching or writing information from. I read this article and learned a few things myself about armadillos. I was not aware of how versatile this animals is. I was not aware they could swim or that they would sink to the bottom of the water and run along the ground. A lot of new information can be found in this article. The other articles could be used to enhance your research, but I would not use them as the basis for a paper or research. A few of the articles had pictures, and most of them were rather lengthy. They would be more for students in upper middle school and high school reading levels.
I then chose Germany for the Country facts. I was impressed by how current the statistics were, they were from 2010. This helps gives students an accurate pictrure of what each country is really like. I also liked the Teacher resources pages. This would help when you are telling facts for students to organize their information and their thoughts. Sometimes facts tend to be boring and students are confused as to what they are hearing.
I also chose a Map of Germany from the Maps section. I was impressed by how detailed the maps are. This map included the primary and secondary roads. It also included the railroad paths. This is something most maps do not include.
I also chose to look at the Biographies section of the Database Features. I chose Dr. Suess, as his birthday is fast approaching. I was impressed by the amount of information, as well as the links to resources teachers can easily use in the classroom. I also liked how the article was linked to other sources and how it included one his more famous quotes. This could be a valuable resource when students are writing reports about famous people.
From the SIRS Issue Researcher, I chose to look at the Leading issue of Banned Books. I like how they show both sides of the issue for students to read and considers. There were quite a few research tools to enhance the research; I especially like the timeline tool. It was interesting to see how long books have been banned (since the 1600's).
I chose Social Studies from the Curriculum Pathfinders. It was nice the way it showed all the different courses that are under the Social Studies Umbrella. I also like the many different resources you can use to do research. The Diaries were interesting. Some were even interactive, which makes it more interesting for students.
Thank you for your help Julie and Jane!
I then chose Germany for the Country facts. I was impressed by how current the statistics were, they were from 2010. This helps gives students an accurate pictrure of what each country is really like. I also liked the Teacher resources pages. This would help when you are telling facts for students to organize their information and their thoughts. Sometimes facts tend to be boring and students are confused as to what they are hearing.
I also chose a Map of Germany from the Maps section. I was impressed by how detailed the maps are. This map included the primary and secondary roads. It also included the railroad paths. This is something most maps do not include.
I also chose to look at the Biographies section of the Database Features. I chose Dr. Suess, as his birthday is fast approaching. I was impressed by the amount of information, as well as the links to resources teachers can easily use in the classroom. I also liked how the article was linked to other sources and how it included one his more famous quotes. This could be a valuable resource when students are writing reports about famous people.
From the SIRS Issue Researcher, I chose to look at the Leading issue of Banned Books. I like how they show both sides of the issue for students to read and considers. There were quite a few research tools to enhance the research; I especially like the timeline tool. It was interesting to see how long books have been banned (since the 1600's).
I chose Social Studies from the Curriculum Pathfinders. It was nice the way it showed all the different courses that are under the Social Studies Umbrella. I also like the many different resources you can use to do research. The Diaries were interesting. Some were even interactive, which makes it more interesting for students.
Thank you for your help Julie and Jane!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Lesson 3: HELP!
I tried to access SIRS Researcher and Discoverer, but it would not let me into the websites without signing up for a trial or buying the program. I am doing these lessons from my home computer, so I am not sure if it will work or not. I need some advice. HELP!
Lesson 2: Library Express
I took the 4th grade reading diagnostic test and scored 6 points. The test was fairly easy to do and it gave steps that were easy to follow. I really liked the way the test showed you how you scored in each area of the test and how you could go back and see which questions you got wrong or right. It helped to have the explainations to understand why you got each question right or wrong. These tests are easy and appropriate for all ages.
I looked over the course Vocabulary and Spelling 1. I liked the way it paced the course so it was at your level and it showed you several ways to read a word or figure out something you did not understand or had not seen before. It worked with your abilities and showed you step by step how to do things to help yourself. I also like how it broke down the course into easy to manage and understand sessions. That is helpful when you only have a few minutes here or there.
For the last part of this lesson I chose the ebook "Becoming a teacher." I wanted to see how a book could explain to someone what becoming a teacher would be like. It was interested to see how the book started with career options for a teacher and took you all the way through the teacher programs, paying for teacher programs and the tests you have to take and then what you do once you have found your first job.
It definitely was interesting to see what path you have to take and how indepth that path actually is.
I like this resource for people that need help studying or who want a sneak peek into what is coming on some of these tests. It is a nice resource to have and suggest to others who are looking for this type of information. It would have been nice to know it was out there when I was studying for my PPST and Praxis tests.
I looked over the course Vocabulary and Spelling 1. I liked the way it paced the course so it was at your level and it showed you several ways to read a word or figure out something you did not understand or had not seen before. It worked with your abilities and showed you step by step how to do things to help yourself. I also like how it broke down the course into easy to manage and understand sessions. That is helpful when you only have a few minutes here or there.
For the last part of this lesson I chose the ebook "Becoming a teacher." I wanted to see how a book could explain to someone what becoming a teacher would be like. It was interested to see how the book started with career options for a teacher and took you all the way through the teacher programs, paying for teacher programs and the tests you have to take and then what you do once you have found your first job.
It definitely was interesting to see what path you have to take and how indepth that path actually is.
I like this resource for people that need help studying or who want a sneak peek into what is coming on some of these tests. It is a nice resource to have and suggest to others who are looking for this type of information. It would have been nice to know it was out there when I was studying for my PPST and Praxis tests.
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